Most companies nowadays have a leadership development program in place. This is because it's been a proven way to get an internal pool of talent for running a company. This is a lot cheaper than going outside of the company to headhunt a professional manager. The problem is that like all types of educational programs, leadership development isn't an automatic solution.
There need to be several factors in play for it to work the way it's supposed to. It is important to note that participation in a leadership development program means you're earmarked for a promotion – this is why some people want to be able to get the most out of such programs. If you're one of those people, here's a few hints on what you should be focused on:
1) Be open-minded – One of the hallmarks of being a good student of a leadership development program is being open-minded. Leaders are flexible individuals – they are able to accept most situations and turn it into their advantage. There's an emphasis on this during training and hopefully you manage to absorb it into your work ethic. Being open-minded means more than being able to accept changes in your work environment – this also means that you should be open to the chance that you ar mistaken. Negative feedback helps you improve and make you more efficient as a leader.
2) Be a planner - Another thing that leadership training emphasizes is planning. Good planning will almost always assure you of a positive for any situation that you are in. You will not believe how difficult it is to plan sometimes. This is because most people prefer to take things as they come. This is mostly because most of the time we have a laid-back culture. Leadership training does the opposite. It will encourage you to plan – you're not an employee anymore, which means you have to worry about more than yourself. Goal and problem identification, brainstorming solutions and implementation will be focused on in this part of the program.
3) Being pro-active – Leadership isn't just about spouting orders left and right. Leadership is about being an active part of the process. This is what is called “leading from the front”. Haven't you had that energizing feeling when your boss pulled up his sleeves and got down and dirty? Inspirational leadership goes hand-in-hand with active leadership. Don't be passive and sit behind the desk all day; admittedly it's a part of your job but going into the trenches and getting active feedback from your subordinates and gauging the morale of the group is also part of that. Learn to connect with people in a way that establishes a rapport, making you easily approachable. Also, familiarizing yourself with what your people are working with is a great way to win over your team.
Leadership development isn't exactly a snap but it can be condensed into these three things. Try to work on them and you'll be well on your way to the title of the “Boss of the Year”.
More and more companies these days are seeking for help from various firms that offer leadership development. This is because they believe that the trainings that they give would be beneficial not only to their individual employees but for the betterment of the company in general.
Leadership development is very important for a company because it helps the employees and its leaders to be updated on how to make the company stronger in terms of strengthening its human resources. It is also important because the activities during leadership development reintroduce the employees various concepts that will help them adjust in the company and how to deal with its leaders.
New trends in leadership development training
As defined, leadership development pertains to activities that aim to enhance the skills of leaders of individuals or those that belong in an organization. It is usually categorized into two that include individual leadership development or collective leadership development. Individual leadership training focuses on the behavior of the leader when it comes to achieving the goals for the company and in interacting with employees.
The collective leadership development on the other hand refers to the entire process of enhancing leadership skills. This involves not only the leader him or herself but also include those that surround that person including the people that he or she works closely with. Here, interpersonal skills, social skills and networking skills are assessed to gauge the effectiveness of the leader.
Before, leadership development is conducted through traditional setting which is formal and more on theories on. These are usually through seminars wherein participants usually sit down the whole day listening to lectures and jotting down notes from Powerpoint presentations prepared by the speakers.
Now, there have been drastic changes when it comes to leadership development because it is less formal and more interactive. Aside from prepared presentations, leadership development these days are more personal because it focuses on the issues that hinder the person from bringing out his or her inner leadership skills.
Successful leadership development training
To ensure the success of leadership development training, an effective program is needed. It should be designed in way that integrates a range of developmental experiences over a given period of time. The program should also include monitoring scheme and gathering of feedback.
In making leadership development training effective, it should also combine experiential classroom style programs and business school style coursework. It should also include reflective journaling, executive coaching, and well as continuous mentoring. It should also involve goal setting that should follow an assessment of key developmental needs. Then, the evaluation of how goals can be achieved after a given period of time.
An effective leadership development training should include not only have the component of experiential learning but should also focus on self efficacy which include the right training and coaching as well as visioning which aims to develop the ability of the leader to formulate a clear image. This image should reflect the aspired future of the organization based on skills of the leader that heads it.