Training Today: Leadership Development on a Shoestring

Even with limited resources, you can provide effective leadership training for your team, says Mike Noble, managing partner at Camden Consulting Group.

Even with limited resources, you can provide effective leadership training for your team, says Mike Noble, managing partner at Camden Consulting Group. Here’s how:

  • Always make sure that there is alignment between the leadership development goals of the individual and the goals of the business. Individuals need to see how their personal development will not only help them in their own careers but also will have a positive impact on the rest of the organization. Alignment of goals will ensure that an individual’s leadership development will be felt throughout the organization and that it is more likely to be acknowledged and reinforced by others.
  • Conduct facilitated peer-learning groups. Identify some of the major challenges employees face on a regular basis and establish a format for pulling together groups of peers to explore best practices and creative solutions. Select specific management challenges and assign a seasoned executive to serve as a facilitator. Ask the people who are more skilled to coach and support those who are struggling.
  • Never ignore work done in past leadership development programs. If you can, build off what has been done in the past. Don’t shift from one approach to another. Employees will write off each new program as “program-of-the-month” initiatives, and you will never get the sustainable development you seek.”
Lorri Freifeld
Lorri Freifeld is the editor/publisher of Training magazine. She writes on a number of topics, including talent management, training technology, and leadership development. She spearheads two awards programs: the Training APEX Awards and Emerging Training Leaders. A writer/editor for the last 30 years, she has held editing positions at a variety of publications and holds a Master’s degree in journalism from New York University.