Most organizations are transitioning from event-oriented leadership development (LD) to a system of continuous learning, according to the latest Brandon Hall Group leadership development research. Only 10 percent of organizations have a fully developed leadership-development strategy yielding strong business results. These organizations’ leadership development efforts are fueled by a culture of continuous learning, including coaching and mentoring, action-learning projects, and other opportunities for leaders to apply new skills in practical settings. Only in this kind of environment, wherein leaders are empowered to take ownership of their development, can LD programs have a real business impact.
High-Level Leader Values
One of the top reasons leadership-development programs are not more successful, according to our research, is that leaders believe they don’t have enough time to learn. The real reason is that the culture in many organizations — which top leadership is responsible for — does not give leaders time to learn.
Continuous development of leader competencies is not part of the fabric of most organizations. Leadership training, most of it still centered in the classroom, takes leaders/managers away from their responsibilities, so the organizations and leaders believe this training diverts them from their work. In fact, self-development should be an important be part of it.
Most organizations surveyed believe their leaders’ behaviors need improvement. The majority also think development is most urgently needed for front-line and mid-level leaders — the ones with the most direct day-to-day impact on employee performance.
10 Most Important Leader Behaviors Needing Improvement
Important Questions
- How do we do a better job converting leadership training to behavior change?
- How do we build a pipeline of high-potential employees who can become the leaders we need to drive business results?
- How do we enable leaders to practice skills and learn continuously?
Strategies to Succeed
Employers should empower leaders to make continuous development part of their jobs as much a part of their day-to-day existence as meetings, emails, and reports. To that end, here are three high-level strategies for success:
Give Leaders Time for Reflection and Self-Development
For too long, learning — including leadership development — has been treated as an event outside of work. That mindset is changing, albeit slowly. Leadership development is becoming more experiential and additional digital-learning experiences and practical exercises are happening in the flow of work (though far more are needed).
But beyond ongoing training, leaders must reflect on their current behaviors and allow time to practice new skills and consider how they can improve. Employers should give leaders space and time to grow. They must not be so overloaded with day-to-day work that they can’t spend a few focused minutes each day to reflect on what they are doing, how they can do it better, and practice new behaviors that can transform them.
When we asked respondents to our 2020 Impact of Leadership Development research what they would do if they could choose just one thing to improve leadership development, the most frequent answer was “empowering leaders to take more time for reflection and self-development.”
The coronavirus pandemic served as a leadership laboratory, with new and often disruptive situations testing leaders’ abilities. Now is the time to build on this experience and give leaders time to reflect, learn and grow through more experiences, skills practice, coaching and feedback.
Enable Skills Practice in a Safe Environment
Practice (and more practice) is critically important for behavior change. However, just telling leaders to practice their new approaches on employees, without having opportunities to struggle and make mistakes in a safe environment, often does more harm than good.
There are many solutions available now that provide online and offline scenarios to allow leaders to tackle real-world situations using a new approach. These mini-simulations — some as short as 2 to 3 minutes — also provide constructive feedback and resources to use if the leader needs more help. Larger-scale scenarios, perhaps with peers and support groups, may also be needed. Whatever way you choose, give your leaders a chance to practice their new skills and competencies — often.
Support Leaders through Coaching, Mentoring, and Peer Groups
It takes a village to educate a child and it takes diverse support to develop a great leader. Leaders benefit from coaching and mentoring and just sharing experiences and insights with peers going through similar experiences, highs, and lows. Change is difficult and the more people involved in a leader’s development, the better.
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