4 Keys to Organizing for Successful Leadership Development

Successful leadership development must be personal, business-relevant, comprehensive and regular. Is your leadership development program organized for success?

Today’s post is by Niels-Peter van Doorn of Borderless.

If you do an online search for “leadership,” you get 493,000,000 results. That means that there is more material on leadership than you will ever be able to read. Almost every leadership expert – self-appointed or otherwise – is talking about example behaviors, coaching and inspiring people, as well as about demonstrating decisiveness and strength.

What is a lot harder to find is an explanation of how leadership development can best be organized. What can you do to make sure that leadership development doesn’t get snowed under the many priorities of everyday business life?

My firm Borderless recently conducted a survey among thousands of leaders worldwide. The results were shocking: Over half of the respondents claim that leadership development in their organization is ineffective and underfunded. Leadership is considered a nice-to-have rather than a business imperative. And although coaching is considered one of the best ways to develop leadership, one third of respondents are not aware of any type of coaching or mentoring going on within their organization.

Based on our own extensive experience in developing leadership in multinational organizations, we have seen a shift in the way leadership development is organized:

Closer to the business; with a double focus on business acumen and soft skills; and as part of everyday work, rather than as external classroom sessions. Here are our main recommendations to make sure your business profits from our experience.

1. Make sure senior management is accountable for leadership development – and that it has an engaging vision on leadership.

Fifty-seven percent of the survey respondents think that support from top management is the critical success factor that most influences leadership development within their organization. At the same time, many people state that their C-suite executives do not ‘walk the talk.’ Senior leaders who have a relevant, inspiring view on leadership and leadership development tap into the collective desires of their workforce and set goals that are motivating for everyone involved.

When Henry Ford started manufacturing the Model T-Ford, he not only pioneered conveyor-belt production processes, he also knew that the American people valued one thing above all else: their individual freedom. In essence, Ford did not manufacture and market cars; he offered freedom and mobility to American consumers on an unparalleled scale. Ford’s strategy demonstrates a phenomenal vision on leadership. By linking the products of his business to a fundamental need of consumers and a fundamental value of society, Ford created a long-term demand for his products. By making efficiency the second leg his company stood on, he also secured financial success. Such a comprehensive vision is a prerequisite for successful leadership development. Executives should develop their own unique, relevant strategic vision and the related leadership principles.

2. Link leadership development to real-life business challenges.

In the past, many organizations organized their leadership development initiatives as off-site events with an emphasis on teambuilding and personal development. This luxury approach is no longer affordable for most organizations, and it is also considered ineffective. Contemporary forms of leadership development often focus on real-life business challenges. By working on problems that need to be solved for real, managers learn and do their job at the same time. On-the-job learning has been popular for some time now, but the main success factor is to make sure that the lessons learned are evaluated and saved. This means that, for instance, a typical management meeting can be facilitated by an external expert, and after the meeting, some time is set apart to see what can be improved. Another advantage of this approach is that learning is not limited to one or two times a year; it can be turned into a steady habit of continuous improvement.

3. Integrate hard and soft skills rather than separating them.

Good executives require a combination of hard (business-related) and soft (people) skills. So why separate them when it comes to leadership development? That is like saying that an athlete needs to choose between cardio and strength. Athletes have learned that they need to focus on both, often at the same moment. So do executives.

It makes sense to approach leadership development as an integrated process rather than as a tick-the-box exercise for isolated skills. The learning experience becomes more powerful and the effect longer lasting.

In a leadership development program for a multinational client of ours, product innovation was chosen as the main topic. The result of this program had to be at least five developed new ideas for their product development pipeline. By setting real targets that required both business acumen and effective cooperation, both were developed. The result was relevant for the business and stimulated creative thinking, a customer-focused approach and good people management skills. All in one go.

4. Make mentoring part of your job descriptions.

Most of us have learned our most important lessons in life through parents, teachers and mentors. This applies to childhood and school, but also to our working life. In many cases, mentoring in a professional environment is left to the individual’s initiative.

Mentoring can be rewarding for all individuals involved – and it can have a profound impact on professionalism and performance. With an aging workforce in many societies, mentoring may be the key to essential knowledge transfer to a new working generation. And it can create the informal support structures that help teams and individuals deal with hard times when necessary.

An American client of ours saw a severe drop in absenteeism among their older employees when they were allocated mentoring tasks on a structural basis. So why not make mentoring and being mentoring part of your job descriptions? It is a win-win for everyone involved.

If you want to be successful at leadership development, make it personal, business-relevant and comprehensive. And remember that leadership is not just about increasing your profits. It is about excelling at what you do – now and in the future.

– Niels-Peter van Doorn is the head of leadership consulting for Borderless.

Did you enjoy this post? If so, I highly encourage you to take about 30 seconds to become a regular subscriber to this blog. It’s free, fun, practical, and only a few emails a week (I promise!). SIGN UP HERE to get the thoughtLEADERS blog conveniently delivered right to your inbox!

Photo: Organize by Daniel R. Blume