Creating a Leadership Development Agenda That Works
Creating a Leadership Development Agenda That Works
By: Ralph Jacobson
Long-term organization success depends on employing effective leadership development solutions. Each year organizations invest billions of dollars with the expectation that their leaders improve performance in the marketplace. Unfortunately most of the current development efforts are only marginally effective.
Studies show that despite continued investment by corporations, only a few top-performing leaders account for the vast success of organizations. For example, in their recent book, Extraordinary Leadership, Zenger and Folkman demonstrate that the top 10% of leaders provide two times the profit of the middle 80% of leaders; the bottom 10% actually lose organizations money.
So what is wrong with the current approaches to developing leaders? For one, leaders in most organizations completely relegate the responsibilities to the Human Resources department, thus failing to weave development efforts into the fabric of the organization. Moreover, after leaders attend outside educational events, and are highly motivated to apply their new learning, they are discouraged from using their new knowledge by the pressures of everyday corporate life
Perhaps the most critical problem is that at least 80% of corporations use the competency approach to build leadership. Among its many problems, this approach typically identifies the wrong competencies, provides inaccurate feedback, and the development plans fail to significantly enhance leader performance. Furthermore, once people receive individual feedback, they tend to focus on weakness and take their strengths for granted.
Organizations should be dissatisfied with marginal leadership performance. Yet, the commonly used patchwork of initiatives, programs, and systems employed by most organizations is not delivering results. Rather than employ outmoded leadership development methodologies, companies must establish leadership development agendas that transform everyday managers into leaders capable of working across organization boundaries to consistently produce outstanding results.
Creating a management agenda that works means expecting a handsome return from the leadership development investment. To do so means relying less on the senior levels by building leadership deep in the organization while focusing on the needs of the organization rather than the development gaps of individuals. It also involves defining leadership results so that people are focused on what they have to do rather than how they have to change. Finally, measuring leadership performance and providing opportunities for leaders to practice and incorporate new skills is critical for creating a successful leadership agenda.
Build leadership, not leaders
The work of the organization is far too complex for leadership work to be undertaken by only the top few levels on the organization chart. Top down decision making for most organizations is ineffective because decisions are based on incomplete information, is slow to move down the organization chain, and often meets with resistance.
It is dangerous to corporate health to assume that leadership is a solo act. People at all levels of the organization need to be brought together to share and process information to ensure that information is quickly and accurately processed. Indeed, distinctions of grade and status can be counterproductive during periods of discontinuous change.
Organizational agility can be attained when leaders at all levels of the organization work and learn together. Rather than build one leader at a time, establish a community of leaders from all levels within the organization who share an understanding of common leadership language, processes, and tools. Together they are more likely to successfully tackle the critical organizational issues.
Focus on the needs of the organization, not the individual
Most people have trouble accepting feedback and would prefer to forgo the experience. It is easier for people to accept an assessment that "the organization is broken" rather than admit to ourselves that we are less than perfect. Rather than deal with the resulting resistance of discounting or ignoring feedback, it is more productive to start the leadership development process by asking leaders to apply their learning to the most critical needs of the organization.
Skip the 360 degree individual assessment process. Rather, define the specific leadership work that must be tackled. Create the linkage between the work and the intended organization improvements. Bring the leaders from various parts of the organization together and establish the expectation that they deliver the results that far surpass historic levels.
When leaders understand that their development is directly tied to organization performance, they are more likely to be open to new learning and behaviors. Focusing on organizational needs rather than individual weaknesses creates an opportunity to establish a leadership agenda that crosses the more traditional organization boundaries. Leaders will be energized to work on those issues that may have plagued the organization for years.
Demystify leadership
Thousands of books portray leadership effectiveness in terms of personal attributes. Lofty words are used to describe human traits few of us could realistically achieve. Consequently, many believe that mere mortals are unable to become great leaders and, as a result, they often shun the more difficult leadership work. It is more productive for leaders to focus on the organizational leadership results to be achieved than trying to get people to change their personalities or belief systems.
Leadership can be understood as a process with specific steps to undertake at various points on the leadership journey. Give people leadership tools to help them see the world from different perspective, to build commitment with key stakeholders, and to create the capacity for learning and change. Learning is reinforced when people successfully use the newly learned processes and tools to address issues in more effective ways that are more likely to consistently achieve higher level results.
Armed with the necessary processes and tools to do the work, leaders will understand that leadership can be taught and learned. When people across the organization use common leadership language and tools, they more easily work across organization boundaries, overcoming many of the sticking points that almost always limit organization growth.
Measure it
Many believe that leadership performance cannot be measured. This is a myth. Leadership is a function just like finance, engineering and sales. These areas, just like leadership, have outputs that can be measured. What gets measured, gets done. But as long as organizations hold onto the myth that leadership is not measurable, leadership performance will only marginally improve because progress will be difficult to establish.
For example, leaders are responsible for setting organization direction. Indeed it is possible to measure whether leaders have adequately established and communicated this deliverable. Here are some examples of possible leadership measurements
• Do we have a viable plan in place to grow the organization?
• Do we have contingency plans in case the unexpected occurs?
• Do people understand and buy into the plan?
• Do we have the systems in place to make the plan a reality?
Create cross-functional leadership agendas that include specific action plans and measurement of the impact of implementing them. Evaluate whether leaders are actively using new skills, leadership processes, and tools. Leaders will find this particularly useful when they see the relationship between improvement in leadership performance and the improvement in leadership and the operational and financial performance of the business. Tie demonstrated leadership improvement with reward and recognition programs.
Create practice fields
When doctors and lawyers complete their education they establish a practice. Months before the start of the season professional athletes attend pre-season practice. Though leadership requires great skill and teamwork, few organizations provide safe opportunities to practice.
Too often, leaders are promoted and expected to instantaneously deliver extraordinary results. Most organizations provide some classroom training but leave the implementation of what was learned to chance. Indeed participants in leadership development programs are often frustrated that the realities of organizational life prevent them from implementing what they learned.
The most effective training is not complete until people have an opportunity to use the new learning to solve critical issues. This creates a win-win situation. Participants are more likely to find relevance from the learning and receive the reinforcement to continue to use newly acquired skills. The organization benefits by tackling important issues.
Structure the practice fields correctly. Form action learning teams of two to four people. Define a significant organizational issue to address. Each team should have a coach who helps the team use the new learning and helps the team work on its own issues and a sponsor who provides necessary resources and receives the recommendations of the team.
Deemphasize finding the right answer. Instead, encourage participants to utilize the new learning and stretch beyond their assumptions. Doing so leads to personal and organizational growth.
Want proof?
One of the best examples of highly effective, less hierarchical leadership is the United States Marine Corps. The organization is known for its ability to consistently and effectively transform ordinary high school graduates and college students into extraordinary leaders.
The Marines understand that the chaos of the battlefield requires spontaneous decision-making and fluid flow of leadership responsibilities that can only be realized through the highest form of leadership. Leadership development is a core organizational competency that is central to its success.
The Marines use a number of innovate leadership development methods. They rotate leadership responsibilities so that everyone can do leadership jobs. They engage highly structured simulations that are debriefed to measure the effectiveness of leadership performance and ensure that proper learning has taken place. In critical situations, they push down authority for making decisions so that those with the best information have the authority to do so. (Inc.com, Corps Values, David H Freeman April 1998)
Why are the Marines more successful in building leadership than the corporate counterparts? They have learned the limitations of bureaucracy in addressing high-risk and rapidly changing situations. They realize that the highest quality of leadership performance is central to their long term success. Most importantly, they are committed to doing so.
You can do this!
Mediocre leadership is expensive and threatens organization health. You don’t have to accept this situation. Be resolved to change it.
Begin today to build the organizational capacity to develop great leadership. See leadership as more important than leader. Define significant organizational issues that must be addressed. Give people the processes and tools to do the leadership work. Measure the improvement in leadership capability. You are likely to find this prescription less expensive and far more powerful than conventional leadership development practices. It simply requires a decision.
Creating a Leadership Development Agenda That Works - To learn more about this author, visit Ralph Jacob's Website.
Like this article? Share it with your friends
Creating a Leadership Development Agenda that Works
By: Ralph Jacobson
Long-term organization success depends on employing effective leadership development solutions. Each year organizations invest billions of dollars with the expectation that their leaders improve performance in the marketplace. Unfortunately most of the current development efforts are only marginally effective.
Studies show that despite continued investment by corporations, only a few top-performing leaders account for the vast success of organizations. For example, in their recent book, Extraordinary Leadership, Zenger and Folkman demonstrate that the top 10% of leaders provide two times the profit of the middle 80% of leaders; the bottom 10% actually lose organizations money.
So what is wrong with the current approaches to developing leaders? For one, leaders in most organizations completely relegate the responsibilities to the Human Resources department, thus failing to weave development efforts into the fabric of the organization. Moreover, after leaders attend outside educational events, and are highly motivated to apply their new learning, they are discouraged from using their new knowledge by the pressures of everyday corporate life
Perhaps the most critical problem is that at least 80% of corporations use the competency approach to build leadership. Among its many problems, this approach typically identifies the wrong competencies, provides inaccurate feedback, and the development plans fail to significantly enhance leader performance. Furthermore, once people receive individual feedback, they tend to focus on weakness and take their strengths for granted.
Organizations should be dissatisfied with marginal leadership performance. Yet, the commonly used patchwork of initiatives, programs, and systems employed by most organizations is not delivering results. Rather than employ outmoded leadership development methodologies, companies must establish leadership development agendas that transform everyday managers into leaders capable of working across organization boundaries to consistently produce outstanding results.
Creating a management agenda that works means expecting a handsome return from the leadership development investment. To do so means relying less on the senior levels by building leadership deep in the organization while focusing on the needs of the organization rather than the development gaps of individuals. It also involves defining leadership results so that people are focused on what they have to do rather than how they have to change. Finally, measuring leadership performance and providing opportunities for leaders to practice and incorporate new skills is critical for creating a successful leadership agenda.
Build leadership, not leaders
The work of the organization is far too complex for leadership work to be undertaken by only the top few levels on the organization chart. Top down decision making for most organizations is ineffective because decisions are based on incomplete information, is slow to move down the organization chain, and often meets with resistance.
It is dangerous to corporate health to assume that leadership is a solo act. People at all levels of the organization need to be brought together to share and process information to ensure that information is quickly and accurately processed. Indeed, distinctions of grade and status can be counterproductive during periods of discontinuous change.
Organizational agility can be attained when leaders at all levels of the organization work and learn together. Rather than build one leader at a time, establish a community of leaders from all levels within the organization who share an understanding of common leadership language, processes, and tools. Together they are more likely to successfully tackle the critical organizational issues.
Focus on the needs of the organization, not the individual
Most people have trouble accepting feedback and would prefer to forgo the experience. It is easier for people to accept an assessment that "the organization is broken" rather than admit to ourselves that we are less than perfect. Rather than deal with the resulting resistance of discounting or ignoring feedback, it is more productive to start the leadership development process by asking leaders to apply their learning to the most critical needs of the organization.
Skip the 360 degree individual assessment process. Rather, define the specific leadership work that must be tackled. Create the linkage between the work and the intended organization improvements. Bring the leaders from various parts of the organization together and establish the expectation that they deliver the results that far surpass historic levels.
When leaders understand that their development is directly tied to organization performance, they are more likely to be open to new learning and behaviors. Focusing on organizational needs rather than individual weaknesses creates an opportunity to establish a leadership agenda that crosses the more traditional organization boundaries. Leaders will be energized to work on those issues that may have plagued the organization for years.
Demystify leadership
Thousands of books portray leadership effectiveness in terms of personal attributes. Lofty words are used to describe human traits few of us could realistically achieve. Consequently, many believe that mere mortals are unable to become great leaders and, as a result, they often shun the more difficult leadership work. It is more productive for leaders to focus on the organizational leadership results to be achieved than trying to get people to change their personalities or belief systems.
Leadership can be understood as a process with specific steps to undertake at various points on the leadership journey. Give people leadership tools to help them see the world from different perspective, to build commitment with key stakeholders, and to create the capacity for learning and change. Learning is reinforced when people successfully use the newly learned processes and tools to address issues in more effective ways that are more likely to consistently achieve higher level results.
Armed with the necessary processes and tools to do the work, leaders will understand that leadership can be taught and learned. When people across the organization use common leadership language and tools, they more easily work across organization boundaries, overcoming many of the sticking points that almost always limit organization growth.
Measure it
Many believe that leadership performance cannot be measured. This is a myth. Leadership is a function just like finance, engineering and sales. These areas, just like leadership, have outputs that can be measured. What gets measured, gets done. But as long as organizations hold onto the myth that leadership is not measurable, leadership performance will only marginally improve because progress will be difficult to establish.
For example, leaders are responsible for setting organization direction. Indeed it is possible to measure whether leaders have adequately established and communicated this deliverable. Here are some examples of possible leadership measurements
• Do we have a viable plan in place to grow the organization?
• Do we have contingency plans in case the unexpected occurs?
• Do people understand and buy into the plan?
• Do we have the systems in place to make the plan a reality?
Create cross-functional leadership agendas that include specific action plans and measurement of the impact of implementing them. Evaluate whether leaders are actively using new skills, leadership processes, and tools. Leaders will find this particularly useful when they see the relationship between improvement in leadership performance and the improvement in leadership and the operational and financial performance of the business. Tie demonstrated leadership improvement with reward and recognition programs.
Create practice fields
When doctors and lawyers complete their education they establish a practice. Months before the start of the season professional athletes attend pre-season practice. Though leadership requires great skill and teamwork, few organizations provide safe opportunities to practice.
Too often, leaders are promoted and expected to instantaneously deliver extraordinary results. Most organizations provide some classroom training but leave the implementation of what was learned to chance. Indeed participants in leadership development programs are often frustrated that the realities of organizational life prevent them from implementing what they learned.
The most effective training is not complete until people have an opportunity to use the new learning to solve critical issues. This creates a win-win situation. Participants are more likely to find relevance from the learning and receive the reinforcement to continue to use newly acquired skills. The organization benefits by tackling important issues.
Structure the practice fields correctly. Form action learning teams of two to four people. Define a significant organizational issue to address. Each team should have a coach who helps the team use the new learning and helps the team work on its own issues and a sponsor who provides necessary resources and receives the recommendations of the team.
Deemphasize finding the right answer. Instead, encourage participants to utilize the new learning and stretch beyond their assumptions. Doing so leads to personal and organizational growth.
Want proof?
One of the best examples of highly effective, less hierarchical leadership is the United States Marine Corps. The organization is known for its ability to consistently and effectively transform ordinary high school graduates and college students into extraordinary leaders.
The Marines understand that the chaos of the battlefield requires spontaneous decision-making and fluid flow of leadership responsibilities that can only be realized through the highest form of leadership. Leadership development is a core organizational competency that is central to its success.
The Marines use a number of innovate leadership development methods. They rotate leadership responsibilities so that everyone can do leadership jobs. They engage highly structured simulations that are debriefed to measure the effectiveness of leadership performance and ensure that proper learning has taken place. In critical situations, they push down authority for making decisions so that those with the best information have the authority to do so. (Inc.com, Corps Values, David H Freeman April 1998)
Why are the Marines more successful in building leadership than the corporate counterparts? They have learned the limitations of bureaucracy in addressing high-risk and rapidly changing situations. They realize that the highest quality of leadership performance is central to their long term success. Most importantly, they are committed to doing so.
You can do this!
Mediocre leadership is expensive and threatens organization health. You don’t have to accept this situation. Be resolved to change it.
Begin today to build the organizational capacity to develop great leadership. See leadership as more important than leader. Define significant organizational issues that must be addressed. Give people the processes and tools to do the leadership work. Measure the improvement in leadership capability. You are likely to find this prescription less expensive and far more powerful than conventional leadership development practices. It simply requires a decision.
Creating a Leadership Development Agenda That Works - To learn more about this author, visit Ralph Jacob's Website.
Like this article? Share it with your friends
 | |
 |
No article feedback found. |
| |
Leave Your Feedback |
 | |
| |||
John BrennanJohn Brennan Ed.D. Dr. Brennan is President of Interpersonal Development, LLC, a training and development firm. Interpersonal Development has provided sales training and coaching to more than 3,000 sales reps from over 100 companies. A native of Australia, Dr. Brennan received his doctorate from the University of Rochester. His dissertation researched the effectiveness of Behavioral Modeling Technology in training people in interpersonal skills. While he has spent most of his career designing or delivering training, he was also a Vice-President of Sales of a training and development franchise with operations in 25 markets. Dr. Brennan has designed and delivered sales training in North America, Asia, Europe, Australia and the Middle East. He has been a guest speaker at numerous national and regional professional conferences. When Microsoft wanted Best Practices articles on sales for their web site, they called Dr. Brennan. The results are at http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/FX011387391033.aspx His firm’s clients have included Volvo, The Prudential, Merrill Lynch, Eastman Kodak, Gannett, Equifax Europe, the Economist Group and countless small businesses. - Visit John Brennan's Website |
|||
Stephanie RobeyStephanie Robey is President and CoFounder of Pivot Positive, LLC - an Internet marketing business focused on helping people start work at home ventures. Previously, she was employed at The Search Agency with over 20 years experience in graphic design and 10 years experience in online marketing. She was responsible for launching the Conversion Path Optimization (CPO) unit where she and her team have conducted hundreds of optimization tests for online companies across multiple verticals. She is a successful entrepreneur having started and sold 2 companies and remains on the board of directors of the third, PhotoSpin.com Stephanie began her career in the direct marketing realm creating and producing direct mail for many of the major cable television companies and directly attributes her understanding of Internet marketing to those early offline experiences. Stephanie is a graduate of San Diego State University with a BFA in Graphic Arts and also holds an Executive MBA from the Graziadio School of Business and Management at Pepperdine University. Read Steph's Blog Meet Steph and Dave Sign up for our Free 7-Day BootCamp: Self Employed & Rich - Visit Stephanie Robey's Website |
|||
Dianne CramptonDianne Crampton is an executive leadership coach, team culture consultant, author and president of TIGERS Success Series, Inc. Dianne has been helping CEO's and Executives connect their employees to their core values and goals for over 20 years using the trademarked TIGERS team culture process, which stands for trust, interdependence, genuineness, empathy, risk and success. To download a free white paper on behaviors that build strong teams and behaviors that will predictably tear them down go here. Dianne's contribution to the 2010 Pfeiffer Consulting Journal (an imprint of John Wiley and Sons Publishers) entitled TIGERS Hearted Teams is available in November 2009. Her new book TIGERS Among Us: 5 Winning Business Team Cultures And Why, Three Creeks Publishing will release in March 2010. To receive publishing discounts, subscribe to the free TigerTracks Newsletter here. - Visit Dianne Crampton's Website |
|||
Dave KurlanDave Kurlan is the founder and CEO of Objective Management Group, Inc., the industry leader in sales assessments and sales force evaluations, and the CEO of David Kurlan & Associates, Inc., a consulting firm specializing in sales force development. Dave has been a top rated speaker at Inc. Magazine's Conference on Growing the Company, the Sales & Marketing Management Conference and the Gazelles Sales & Marketing Summit. He has been featured on radio and TV, including World Business Review with General Norman Schwarzkopf, in Inc. Magazine, Selling Power Magazine, Sales & Marketing Management Magazine and Incentive Magazine. He is the author of Mindless Selling and Baseline Selling – How to Become a Sales Superstar by Using What You Already Know about the Game of Baseball. He created and wrote STAR, a proprietary recruiting process for hiring great salespeople, and he writes Understanding the Sales Force, a popular business Blog and is a contributing author to The Death of 20th Century Selling and 101 Great Ways to Improve Your Life, Volume 2. - Visit Dave Kurlan's Website |
|||
John PowerJohn Power, founder of Biltmore Franchise Consulting, has extensive experience developing and marketing franchises and business opportunities. He has been in and around franchising for over twenty years. From 1980 through 1990 he conceptualized, organized, and developed the American Video Association. He grew AVA to 2,000 national members, before selling the company it 1990. It was later merged into another home video marketing company. From 2000 to 2005 he worked as a contract marketing and human resources consultant to several local and national companies. In 2005 Mr. Power began working as a franchise development consultant on a full-time basis. Since that time he has helped more than three dozen companies initiate and develop their franchising program. He notes that there are many companies interested in developing a franchise program, and who need his specialized assistance. Mr. Power is a “hands-on” franchise consultant. He said, “I am the ‘nuts and bolts’ person who tends to the details for my clients.” Mr. Power holds a B.S. degree with a major in Marketing. See: www.biltmorefranchise.com You may contact Mr. Power at: jpower@biltmorefranchise.co - Visit John Power's Website |
|||
David AchesonDavid Acheson is the founder of DCJA Consultancy. DCJA Consultancy is a management consultancy business specialising in B2B sales consultancy. They offer bespoke and packaged sales consultancy including Sales Optimisation Review, Interim Sales Management, Sales & Marketing Review, 1:1 Sales & Management Staff Analysis, Management Training, Solution Sales Training, Creation of New Pay Plan, KPI's, run Customer Feedback Campaigns, assist with Recruitment, Coaching, Appraisals and set up Strategic Marketing Campaigns. David spent his early career in accountancy and then moved into sales in 1982, working in Office Equipment, IT, Advertising, Training, Outsourcing and Consultancy. He has held many Senior Positions in SMBs and Global Organisations including Head of Sales Operations & Head of Business Development. His knowledge, skills and great experience of the Sales Industry has led to David making keynote speeches and running educational sessions to key businesses through organisations including The Chamber of Commerce and Business Link. - Visit David Acheson's Website |
|||
Linda RichardsonLinda Richardson is the Founder and Executive Chairwoman of Richardson, a global sales training and performance improvement company. As a recognized leader in the industry, she has won the coveted Stevie Award for Lifetime Achievement in Sales Excellence and she was identified by Training Industry, Inc. as one of the “Top 20 Most Influential Training Professionals.” Ms. Richardson is credited with the movement to Consultative Selling and is the author of ten books on selling and sales management, including Sales Coaching — Making the Great Leap from Sales Manager to Sales Coach, and Stop Telling, Start Selling. She teaches sales and management at the Wharton Graduate School of the University of Pennsylvania and the Wharton Executive Development Center. Linda is a frequent speaker at industry and client conferences, has been published extensively in industry and training journals, and has been featured in numerous publications, including The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Nation’s Business, Selling Power, Success, and The Conference Board Magazine. Learn more about Richardson's sales training and performance improvement solutions at http://www.richardson.com web - Visit Linda Richardson's Website |
|||
|
To learn more about the Evan Elite Author Program please contact us. | |||
 | |
|  |
Subscribe to Ralph's articles
 | |
|
|  |
 | |
|
| |
 | |||||||
|
 | ||
|
||
|
||
 |
||
|
| ||
 |
| Have you written articles that would be of value to entrepreneurs? Become an expert on our site by publishing them! Expose yourself to a wide audience, drive more traffic to your website and get more sales! Click Here for details. |
|
|
 |
| Modeling the Masters: Learn the true secrets behind Walt Disney's business success factors & grow your company! Video produced by Phanta Media |
|
|
 |
"Learn straight from Evan how you can Make a Full Time Income (And More) from a Website"
Click Here To Learn More |
|
|
|
|
Get advice & tips from famous business owners, new articles by entrepreneur experts, my latest website updates, & special sneak peaks at what's to come!
|
|
|
 Easy Product Ideas Speed Business Networking Basic SEO Guide Make Attitude Your Ally Hiring An SEO Expert |
|
 | ||
 |
Fortune Hunters
CBC Entrepreneur TV | |
 |
Top 50 SEO Posts - 2008
Top SEO Posts of the Year | |
| ||
 | ||||
| ||||
|
| ||||
| ||||
|
|
|
|
|
||||||||||||
|
Email us your ideas on how to make our website more valuable! Thank you Sharon from Toronto Salsa Lessons / Classes for your suggestions to make the newsletter look like the website and profile younger entrepreneurs like Jennifer Lopez and Sean Combs!
|
|
|
