The problem with being a leader is that it can be often a burden. This is because it's a hard thing to be responsible for other people. Most people try to avoid responsibility as much as they can. However, sometimes, you're drafted into being the head honcho of a team. It can be a small group of people or maybe even an entire department, but the pressure is all the same for you to lead them to success. This pressure to succeed is why leadership development programs are highly in demand nowadays.
Leadership development may sound like some archaic business buzzword but all it boils down to is that leadership can be trained into people. Of course, this is a fact – leading people is a skill like any other and can be taught. Some people are naturally skilled in it but not everyone can be Napoleon or Alexander the Great. Leadership development seeks to inculcate skills and values that will help you lead successfully. How does it do this?
First of all, leadership development focuses on planning. This is why you notice that most programs like these emphasize you to develop a personal plan for yourself. Plans are generally very helpful – like the old saw says “Measure twice and cut once”, it means that you have a clearly defined path to follow. This way there will be no confusion on the way you have to go to improve yourself.
Next, leadership development emphasizes strict self-assessment. People often say that they know enough about themselves but that is, most of the time, wrong. This is because most people like to think well of themselves – they don't like to get into the nitty-gritty details of their personality. This is why self-reflection is often unpopular – people would rather point out other people's faults than having their problematic traits pointed out to them.
Leadership development counselors are strict about you identifying your faults because it will help you deal with them in the future. People need a leader who can inspire them to do their best. A fumbling idiot or an arrogant micromanager is not an inspirational sight. The ability to recognize the problematic aspects of your personality and to either minimize or remove them is one of the hallmarks of good leadership.
Finally, leadership development isn't all just about navel-gazing. It's also about learning skills that are helpful in your job as leader. Some of these skills are administrative ones like balancing a schedule or writing an assessment report. Some of them are about interpersonal skills; part of being a good leader is being able to relate to your subordinates in a way that does not stifle them. Learning how to establish a positive rapport with your team is something that is very useful for a leader. Leadership development also teach you how to bring out the best in others – coaching and developing talent is an integral part of making a world-class team.
That's what leadership development is all about in the end – being able to do your best and to be able to get the best out of others.
Leadership development is a process wherein the leadership skills of a person are enhanced through a set of activities. Today, more and more companies make it a point that their employees undergo through leadership development to ensure that they will realize the importance of being a responsible leader.
Aside from enhancing the leadership skills of people, leadership development also serves as a way for people to reflect on their own sets of values towards work and their co-workers in general. It also paves the way for people to be inspired and motivated at all times despite challenging times and without depending so much on others.
Experts say that leadership development is a very important factor in a leader's life because this will help him or her see things in a positive way. This will also enable him or her to overcome challenges by developing an attitude that could withstand trials and failures.
If a leader is inspired and motivated, he or she is able to develop a good outlook in life and this will pave the way for good leadership. In fact, he or she might even be surprised of the things that were able to accomplished in that span of time.
Leadership Development thorough inspiration
If you are one of those who are conducting leadership development, it would be best to include motivation in your talks and sets of activities. To help leaders who are being hindered by their personal issues, it would be best if you encourage them to:
- re-assess themselves. Many leaders think that they know themselves already that is why they decline to do self-assessment regularly. Experts say that these people don’t realize that the more that they decline doing self-reassessment, the more that they get stuck to their own routine which leaves them lesser room for improvement. During leadership development, make them understand that it is best for them to know themselves very well. If they know themselves well, they will know their weaknesses as well as their strengths. Once they were able to identify all of these, it will be easier for them to set goals for themselves that are within their reach and their capabilities.
- start with small and simple goals. Tell them to not put too much pressure on themselves. If you are just adjusting in becoming a leader, it will be best if you tell them to start small and simple so they won't feel defeated when they weren't able to meet the standards the company has set for them. If they start with small and simple things, they are giving themselves the chance to accomplish bigger things ahead.
- keep track of their progress. Monitoring how well or bad they are doing will help them maneuver things and find ways that would best work for them. For new leaders, it would be best to advise them to keep track of how they are doing while you are conducting leadership development. If you do this, they will know what the areas that they should improve on are and what are the things that they should continue doing.