Archives August 2021

A friend once asked me what I have learned since venturing out on this leg of my career and life with my leadership development programs. Since then, I’ve thought a lot about this conversation.

Right off the bat, two things come to mind:

1. The desire and the need for developing leaders are HUGE!
2. Time is the only finite stumbling block for advancing leadership development. Resources and commitment are only excuses for not doing it.

It also got me thinking about other people developing leadership programs in their organizations, and how I could help them.

In doing so, I realised there are several obstacles to creating these programs that often need to be addressed before any leadership can be developed. 

Tips for leaders determined to overcome obstacles to leadership development programs

Generally, there are three primary obstacles to leadership development programs: time, size/money, and lack of commitment.

Let’s break down each of these obstacles with specific steps for overcoming them.

If time is the issue

• Add personal and organizational development objectives to the annual performance goals.
• Be deliberate about reviewing the progress of up-and-coming leaders by adding conversations to your calendar.
• Make time to coach and counsel those who are struggling to develop their staff
• Add talent-development goals to the leadership meeting agendas

(Speaking of timing, this post discusses whether you’re spending your time investment on the right people)

If money is the primary obstacle

• Ask whether leadership development has been considered when assignments are handed out and resources are allocated.
• Explicitly factor leadership development objectives into work assignments sends a powerful message.
• On-the-job learning is a powerful driver of leadership development

(Read more about your high-performance people in this post and why they’re not the same as high-potential employees)

If lack of commitment from the top is the primary obstacle

• Put leadership development on the front burner when senior leaders meet.
• Senior Leaders who persistently raise the issue and link leadership development to long-term strategy signal their engagement and should be the ones to set priorities for the team.
• Add leadership development to the board agenda at least once a year.

(You’ll also want to take a look at this post where we discuss if your organization has a culture that expects reports or results)

I know that commitment isn’t the issue with you. So, if I can take money and time off of the table for you, would you say yes to a leadership development program for your people?

Do you want to talk more about organizational coaching and building better teams? Click here to read about the consulting services I offer or get in touch to book a call.

Before I sign off, I’d also like to share two of my favourite quotes with you:

‘Time is the only finite resource.’ – Simon Sinek (https://www.startwithwhy.com/)

‘Many people are silently begging to be led.’ – Jay Abraham (http://www.abraham.com/)

Did you learn a lot from this post about leadership development programs?

Here are three more to read next:

• The Biggest Management Lie Ever Told — Micromanagement Is Bad
• 5 Steps You Can Use To Build a “First Team’ Mindset
• How to Motivate People When Pay is Off the Table

This post about leadership development programs was first published in 2014 and updated in 2021 just for you.

I have seen a theme across clients and potential clients with whom I speak.

It is the same problem regardless if they are a team of 100, 1,000 or 10,000 people.

As they have grown, their Leaders and leadership competencies have not kept pace with the organization’s growth, and they ask:

I don’t think my organization has the leaders required to be successful?

Why am I not getting an ROI on investments in leadership development?

My direct reports hit their objectives, but the whole organization is not seeing improvements?

Gartner Inc (an international HR consultancy) surveyed HR leaders worldwide, and the results are stunning. They found that:

75% of organizations do not have the right Leaders for the future

32% of HR Leaders would replace members of their Senior Leadership Team if given the opportunity

Stunning?

Not to me, as this is what clients tell me. One client sheepishly confessed that they believe that 60% of their supervisors and managers do not have the competencies needed to do their jobs.

What Is Going On?

Most leaders are effective at ‘traditional leadership’ competencies of problem-solving, agility, collaboration, talent management and innovation.

But they are woefully ill-prepared to lead in an enterprise setting or in the leadership environment we have as we close in on the year 2020.

• Personal Relationships have become more complicated:
  • More Stakeholders to Consult – Most agree that the number of people they need to consult with to make a decision has increased
  • Shifting Job Requirements – 80% of leaders feel their job is more diverse and has more responsibilities than before

• Team Dynamics Are Moe Complicated
  • Remote Teams – Over 50% of leaders have direct reports in different locations.
  • Less Time to Spend With their people – most leaders spend less than 3-hours per week with their direct reports

Read this to learn what your employees think of you

The Results:

According to Gartner:

68% of Leaders feel they do not have the control they need to lead their teams successfully

63% of Leaders understand how to contribute to the success of the whole organization

65% of Leaders do not believe they will not get recognition for contributing to the success of the whole organization

Of course, we need to focus on individual objectives, but we desperately need to work together so that the whole organization can be successful.

We need to shift from strong individual leadership to strong network leadership to:

1. Connect Strategies – Leaders need to have performance objectives that incorporate their strategic needs beyond their business unit.

2. Prioritize Cross-Functional Coordination – Leaders need to be encouraged to seek out cross-functional partnerships.

3. Strategically Align Resources – Leaders must prioritize resources to business unit objectives that align with organizational goals.

4. View Talent as a Corporate Asset – – Leaders need to be encouraged to share opportunities to leverage their team’s expertise elsewhere in the organization.

Read how to Lead through rapid growth.

Three Changes You Can Make to Leadership Investments

• Change 1 – Invest in Changing Leadership Skills and Mind-Sets

The current generation of leaders honed their skills by watching the most executives, seemingly, achieve great outcomes on their own.

Organizations need to invest in developing enterprise leadership skills and behaviours proven to drive organizational results.

• Change 2 – Make it Easier to Collaborate.

Enterprise leaders know who they can get help from and who they can help.

Unfortunately, most leaders don’t have all the information they need to understand when to take or help the organization because gathering this information takes time.

Organizations must increase the transparency into leaders’ relative strengths and needs to explain better how those capabilities align with the organization’s strategic objectives.

• Change 3 – Recognize and Reward Enterprise Leadership

Organizational contributions are hidden, go unrewarded, and often are silently punished.

Barely one-third of these leaders say their contributions to others’ work are rewarded or recognized. Often enterprise-level objectives are not specific enough to galvanize action or accurate enough to capture the ways leaders can meet these objectives.