Send to KindleWhen did you first begin to learn the concepts of good leadership? Did you receive formal training? Did someone help you along, or were you just thrown to the wolves to fend for yourself? Unfortunately, too many beginning leaders find themselves to be wolf-bait. If they survive, they might receive some type of “leadership development,” which often emphasizes management principles more than actual leadership. The smart, successful organization will design a leadership development program that develops leaders incrementally, beginning with first level managers.
The first step in a good leadership development program is to decide it’s important. By that I mean determine just how important leadership development is to your organization. The return on investment can be quite substantial, but it’s often difficult to measure. Surveys of people who quit their jobs reveal that a majority quit because of things leaders, often at the manager level, could have changed. Think about what bad leadership may be costing in employee turnover. How about customer service? What sort of image do employees who are unhappy with their leadership present to the customer? Another consideration is the overall efficiency of your operation. Employees who suffer under poor leadership are much less likely to be work to better the organization.
Next, determine what it is you want to develop. While leadership development may be included in an overall program designed to develop a worker to become a senior leader or executive, it’s important to be clear that leadership is about leading people and therefore should be one of the first parts of any overall program. What’s often missed is that it’s the lower- and mid-level managers who actually do the day-to-day leading in most organizations.
Finally, budget for a development program. The program doesn’t have to be a great expense, but does require a commitment, in time and manpower as well as money. You must be willing to dedicate the time for potential leaders to attend training courses, workshops, seminars, and coaching and that dedication must start with first-level managers. You may decide to hire an outside contractor to help develop and run the program, but I strongly recommend someone within the organization be assigned to at least provide oversight. Also, more senior leaders must be able to make time available to adopt and coach protégés.
I’ve seen two problems that really baffle me. The first is people who complain that leadership within their organization is either bad, or apparently non-existent. Those organizations appear to suffer because of this lack of leadership. Because their people don’t excel, the organization never realizes its real potential.
The other is organizations which appoint people to positions that require them to lead people, but give them no training, and often little support. When those leaders fail, the common refrain is, “I guess they just weren’t leadership material.”
As a leader, you can prevent these things from happening, and avoid the associated costs, by designing a good leadership program.
Look for the next installment in this series on Thursday – Where to look for potential leaders!
