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Leadership Development Done Right! 

Connect with an account specialist today to review examples of successful leadership development programs in a live session or learn and insights.
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Workplace Leadership Development Insights

LocalMasters offers a platform as well as strategic insights for your success. Connect with us today for a free personal consultation or if you are interested in implementing leadership development into your workplace. If you need more information first, below are some frequently asked questions about leadership development so you have a better understanding of what it is and how it can benefit your work environment.

Fundamentals

Objectives

Implementation

Tracking

Management

Reference

Methodology
For Success

Step 1

Defining Leadership Development

Step 2

Importance of Leadership Development

Step 3

Implementing Leadership Development

Step 4

Measuring Leadership Development

Step 5

Sustaining Leadership Development Efforts

Fundamentals

Fundamentals

What is Leadership Development?

If you ask a company to define what leadership development is, you may receive a different definition depending on whom you ask. Why? It’s probably due to the fact that leadership is more of an artform, not a science. Leadership isn’t limited to any particular field either, it’s not just for the military, governments, education, athletics, religion, or business…it’s universal, it exists in every team, in every organization. Leadership, again, will be defined differently depending on the goals of the organization. A good working definition is: leadership is the art of persuading and influencing employees to achieve your business mission and goals.

Leadership Skills Change?

Leadership evolves. While some attributes of leadership are foundational, others may change and adapt as time passes. There are many different leadership styles, so leadership can be defined and interpreted many different ways. For example, here is a few of the more common styles of leadership:

 

  • The Commanding Style – made famous by General George S. Patton:  “lead me, follow me, or get out of my way!” 
  • The strong willed but humble and kind style emulated by Nelson Mandela “it is better to lead from behind and to put others in front, especially when you celebrate victory when nice things occur.  You take the front line only when there is danger.  Then people will appreciate your leadership”
  • The blended charismatic and authoritative style of John F. Kennedy “leadership and learning are indispensable to each other”

Ask Questions?

Asking questions is a great place to start when considering a leadership development program in any organization. You must first establish a foundation, a solid baseline upon which will be built the many skills and attributes good leadership consists of. Put your thinking cap on, and keep the following questions in your mind as you consider your organization’s leadership development journey. Whom do you consider to be a great leader? What was it in particular that made them stand out? What does leadership mean to you? The answers to these questions will give you an excellent foothold, a solid starting point for considering what you want your leadership development program to accomplish.

Objectives

Objectives

Leadership Development: More Important Than Ever Before?

No matter the industry, there is an urgent need for leadership. According to the United States Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics, in the next five years by 2024, 41% of the U.S. labor force will be over the age of 55, and one third of that group will be over the age of 65. The department estimates that the oldest generation of workers, named Baby Boomers, people born between 1946 and 1964, within ten years will be completely absent from the workforce.

So what are these numbers really saying? That these next five to ten years are pivotal. All organizations, no matter the industry, will be losing an unprecedented sector of their workforce, particularly those employees who hold management and leadership positions.

Is Your Organization Willing to Change?

Organizations need to change and adapt corporate standards and traditional methods of leadership development if they want to not just succeed, but survive. An average of 10,000 workers retire each day over the age of 55. This will continue to happen for the next several years. The troubling trend of retention with today’s younger workforce – around 9 out 10 millennials plan to stay at their current job for less than 3 years – has many companies realizing that the leadership vacancy issue is moving from important to urgent.

Throwing Good Money After Bad?

The long held standard for leadership development training in a corporate setting has focused on experience. Employees stay in a field or industry for decades, and after a certain amount of time has passed, say 20 years, it’s their “turn” and it’s generally accepted that because they’ve had those decades of experience that it’s their turn to become leaders. Most organizations simply do not have established leadership development programs in place. In the past twenty years alone, the manner in which work gets done, global expansion and the pace of business have drastically changed. On average, companies can spend between 7 and 10 thousand dollars per year per person on leadership and development. Despite this, there remains a disconnect between today’s younger workforce and most company’s leadership training initiatives: these training programs are just not meeting the needs of today’s workforce.  Despite organizations pumping in more money on leadership training than any other area of corporate learning, the alarming trend continues: companies are not confident their leaders are able to lead.

Is Closing Leadership Skill Gaps a Top Priority?

If your business has the desire to thrive, then it will need top leaders to translate it’s initiatives and goals into actionable steps for it’s workforce to achieve and complete. Leaders provide the blueprint for success. They also provide guidance and action plans to workers on how to build what’s on those blueprints. What skills in particular are needed for effective leadership? There is a wide assortment of skill sets when it comes to leadership. Communication, Negotiating, Delegation, Dependability, Integrity, Trust, Conflict Management, Team Building, Decisiveness, Accountability, Motivation, Goal Setting and Planning, the list is extensive and more attributes and qualities are being added as time progresses. As the business landscape evolves, delegation and decisiveness have seen their stock rise. Today’s leaders need to communicate clearly and effectively, so large initiatives and projects can be worked on collaboratively by teams. Leaders must handle more and more complex responsibilities to keep up with new tech and the speed of business. 

Implementation

Implementation

Where to Begin?

Organizations wanting to launch a brand new leadership development program or implement considerable changes to existing programs need to begin by understanding what it’s main priorities and objectives are. This is important because no two businesses are alike. Reasons for developing leaders differ and can depend upon a variety of factors. What’s the current state and direction of the business, and where is it headed? Is the business in its infancy? Then leaders who are driven, ambitious and have creative vision for the future should be pursued. Is the business needing to scale back and reduce costs? Leadership skills such as flexibility, resourcefulness and interpersonal communication skills should be the focus. What about businesses facing intense challenges with attracting top talent and keeping their staff engaged? Then leaders should take on more of an inspirational role and promote behavioral change inside teams. Know what your needs are first, then design the leadership development program around them. This gives the program the best chance to connect and succeed with its intended audience.

What Does a Leader Mean to You?

After the company’s objectives and priorities are established and identified, it’s time to describe what leadership means in the context of the business. There are many ways to define leadership, and sometimes if these qualities and skills aren’t honed in and focused, leadership training can be too broad, lose relevance and not have the desired impact.  How important is influence in your company culture? Inspiring teams? Mentoring or coaching staff? Narrowing down the definition of what your company considers exemplary leadership is essential to any leadership development program. A great way to determine this is to ask the company itself. Send out a survey, discuss this topic in the next town hall meeting, or send out an email stating the company is interested in obtaining feedback from everyone on what leadership qualities are essential for success.

Is Your Leadership Development Scope Too Narrow?

Instead of relying on the traditional approach of classroom training, seminars and on-the-job training, consider the needs of your leaders on an individual basis. Rotational programs, where leaders are cross trained and learn skills of all types across the organization, are very beneficial for long term growth and development. This can also be done virtually as well, at the convenience of the learners. Give them the autonomy and freedom to learn what they want, when they want.

What are the Benefits of Leadership Development?

  • Leadership Development Improves Financial Performance? Every business has the baseline goal to be profitable.  After accounting for all of it’s expenses, the company produces positive earnings. You’ve probably heard a variation of the following business adage “as goes the leader, so goes the organization”. Companies that invest in leadership development understand the undeniable link between the bottom line and their leadership team. The key to a successful leadership development initiative is the company’s priorities and goals must be aligned with the training approach. When this alignment occurs, businesses see dramatic increases in the following areas: deadlines are met, projects execution, employee performance and productivity, resource management.  These benefits are merely scratching the surface, a focused and tailored leadership and development program can be one of the biggest difference makers a company can implement. The return on investment from a good leadership development program can be off the charts, because excellent leadership is invaluable to organizations.  

 

  • Leadership Development Increases Retention of Top Talent? To appeal to the best talent out there, companies have to offer what good leaders want. Opportunity to grow with clear paths for upward mobility, flexibility where leaders are free to use their creativity and develop their skills. Quality leaders understand that they too are always learning, so they gravitate towards organizations who have robust training and leadership development programs. Companies who promote their investment into development internally and externally, providing it visibility and championing their culture towards growth and improvement are those that not only attract top talent, they also keep it. 

 

  • Upper Management is Better Calibrated? A key component of companies that maintain a strong culture is having leadership at the top that are in alignment. To run a successful business, leadership has to model the actions and behaviors they want to see from employees. Leadership development helps leaders of all types, from middle management, VPs all the way up to c level executives. When everyone is on the same page and pulling in the same direction, that’s another sign your leadership development is working. 

 

  • Customer Retention Increases? Good leaders can galvanize both employees and customers alike. How? By modeling the behaviors and actions they want seen from their staff, that in turn impacts how customer facing employees treat customers. Customers receive better service, which increases their loyalty. A tailored leadership development program will have elements based around customer feedback, which allows leaders to directly address relevant issues that are current. Customer retention will rise, which positively impacts profits.   

 

  • Advances in Change Management? The pace of change and the unpredictability of modern business is difficult to manage. Companies that have implemented a strong leadership development program benefit from leadership that can respond quickly to change. Leaders need to be flexible and adapt to situations as they unfold. Leaders closed off to change will not be well received to their staff, and will cost the company in many areas. If leaders are trained in a linear fashion, they will effectively be leading with blinders on.

Tracking

Tracking

How Do I Measure Results?

Several of the most important leadership qualities such as integrity, trust and influence are indeed hard to quantify. There are no real metrics to compile when it comes to these attributes. However, a great way to determine the impact of a leadership development program is through obtaining feedback from employees who are being led. Leadership surveys will provide a data set that will provide a big picture. Are the employees recognizing certain leadership qualities are rising since management has undergone training? Always follow up when asking for feedback. Oftentimes leadership development programs falter due to the companies lack of follow through on survey feedback. If action isn’t taken, then employees will quickly become disinterested or provide disingenuous feedback when asked to deliver it in the future.

Are Your Expectations Realistic?

KPI and ROI are incredibly important for any business when determining what business decisions to make and budget planning. Make sure your goals for success are measurable and trackable in the first place. Wanting your employees to increase their problem solving and critical thinking skills is a fantastic goal to have, but how would you go about tracking these to demonstrate improvement? Outcomes need to be time bound as well, so ensure your desired results have a specified target date. Tying in measurable outcomes that are influenced by better leadership is another way to mark the success of a leadership development program. For instance, if you want to increase your customer satisfaction rate by a certain percentage next quarter, then what will leaders need to be trained on that will cause their staff to drive higher scores for this KPI? That KPI was most likely low to begin with due to poor leadership in some aspects.

Is There Criteria For Leadership’s Effectiveness?

Roadblocks can occur when upper management can’t decide on what criteria to evaluate their leaders on. You might be hearing that the training program is going well, but without solid criteria in place, how will you really know? It will be quite difficult for leaders to learn, develop and grow if the organization is unclear with what they consider an effective leader. What specific skills are essential? Which ones may not apply too much to your industry – and may not need emphasis? The clearer this criteria is, the easier it will be for leadership to meet expectations and accomplish goals.

Management

Management

How Do I Keep Leaders Accountable?

Adult learning requires repetition and also following up. Leaders need to be held accountable to ensure your program has the desired return on investment. Including a custom development plan for each leader is a great way to track progress, compare and contrast strengths and weaknesses, and utilize for future performance reviews and development. It’s important that leaders are made aware that these plans are for their own personal growth, and not be used as corrective measures or for punitive reasons. 

Are You Following Up?

People are busy. Whether you are training existing managers or aspiring leaders, it’s very important to follow up after leadership development initiatives take place. Whether those consist of in person meetings, training sessions and seminars, speaking engagements, or anything held online virtually – you must follow up! Be creative here to grab your attendees attention. Instead of a survey, quiz or task for them to complete, incentivize them. People love to compete, think gamification. Adults learn best through repetition, if you don’t touch base with learners after sessions and check their knowledge, it’s likely that your content won’t have the desired impact.

Is the Intended Audience Informed?

Again, people are busy! Are they even aware that leadership development is now available to them? Who is your target audience for your program? What’s the best way to reach them so they are informed and enthusiastic about participating? You’d be surprised how ‘out of the loop’ some of your managers might be if information about the leadership development initiative isn’t consistently made available. 

Is the Program Being Promoted?

Do you have buy-in from upper management? They may have approved your new leadership development project, but will they champion it? Sometimes executive leadership are too busy or don’t see the value in training – they might just see it as another cost they have to incur in their annual budget. Part of the challenge with getting organizational-wide on board with development is gaining the approval and encouragement from the people at the top. Demonstrate to them the value of the program, and get them to promote it at every opportunity! 

Reference

Reference

Leadership Development Trends Gaining Attention in 2022

The world has gone through a major change in the past two years. From the COVID-19 pandemic, to global lockdown, remote working, economic recession, all these factors will continue to have a current and future impact on business. Here’s where leadership development programs are heading in 2022 and the coming years. 

Here are a few trends that companies should pay attention to while rethinking, updating, and developing their leadership development initiatives. 

  1. Team Building – Team Building at its core, is about taking care of the people. If you want to lead a team, you need to shift your mindset: Team Building is about building up others. Employers seek those who understand the importance of how to motivate, inspire, instill confidence and create mutual trust with others. Building an effective team increases productivity, driving earning potential, maximizing efficiency to deliver faster and more results. According to recent research conducted by the Harvard Business Review 15 percent of job candidates state they turned down job offers due to negative work culture. Another survey by The Predictive Index shows executives attribute 64 percent of a strategic initiative’s success or failure to their employees. Leadership is also about creating a positive work environment.  It’s also about understanding the team comes first. 
  2. Conflict Management – As we know, people are emotional beings, and on a long enough timeline, conflict will arise…it’s in our nature. Conflict is something that comes with the territory: it’s “not an if…but a when”. Why is conflict mediation so important? In most workplaces, you can count on the following to occur: a staggering number of employees deal with conflict on some level. A key component of workplace conflict is a result of personality clashes and “warring egos”. Another big chunk of workplace conflict is caused by heavy workloads. Conflict will always be around, because it’s part of the human experience. It’s no surprise that it’s trending even though conflict mediation and conflict management have been around for quite some time. 
  3. Straight Talk. – This is a tricky one, as leaders are seeing every day that their words matter, and if they aren’t careful and mindful of what they say, it can have dire consequences. Finding that fine line is an artform, so it’s easy to see why straight talk is currently trending as a desirable leadership quality. As a leadership trait, straight talk can be defined as being honest, being straightforward with an individual as well as a team. The data, year after year, points to a big gap in a leader’s ability to talk straight. Results from an engagement survey recently held by The Predictive Index?: executives submitted responses that their biggest weakness as a leader was getting rid of underperformers and hiring the best people. Another question on that survey showed this response: 33 percent of executives say improving our employee’s loyalty and faith in the company is a top priority. If leaders aren’t able to be straightforward, and make tough decisions, like removing an underperforming team member or being clear with what they need out of a new hire? Then teams won’t choose to follow that leader, which drives loyalty in the company down. 

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