We all recognize that strong leaders are crucial for executing our business strategies. But let’s be honest: most organizations aren’t meeting that expectation. The issue isn’t that traditional leadership development is “wrong,’ but that it’s too vague and indirect—like waiting for a garden to grow without planting seeds in the right soil.
To get everything blooming, we need to fix a few unintentional mistakes in how we develop people. Here is how we can “spring clean” our leadership strategy:
Cultivating Real Growth: Five Shifts for the Season
- Focus on Behaviour, Not Just a ‘Basket’: Having a toolkit you rarely use won’t make any difference. Skills only matter when they show in real-life behaviours aligned with your strategic goals.
- Focus on Moments, Not Generic Competencies: Forget the list of traits. What do you want leaders to do in those high-pressure, “crucial moments” when the weather gets rough? We need to design development around real-time decisions and uncertainty.
- Context is Everything: A leadership book offers general ideas, but a coach guides you through your specific situation. We need to shift from generic “content-driven” workshops to “context-driven” designs that tackle real business issues.
- Focus on Process Over Events: Behaviour remains consistent during a single offsite or conference. True change occurs through real-time learning—by supporting work as it happens and giving people early exposure to major projects.
- Invest in the Whole Garden: We often draw an arbitrary line at “leadership,” but leaders don’t work alone. We need to build organizational capacity by investing in the teams that actually do the work and make decisions.
Co-Owning the Harvest
The traditional way of HR and L&D, just “providing a program,” is a disconnected, transactional approach that won’t help us reach our goals. We need a true partnership where everyone is involved and actively participating.
The Business Leadership Role | The HR/L&D Role |
Co-own the drive for development. | Translate strategy into leadership needs. |
Clarify which strategic priorities matter most. | Design the architecture, not just more programs. |
Develop people as part of daily work. | Enable business leaders to develop others. |
Hold people accountable for their behaviours. | Measure what actually matters. |
The “In-Game” Metaphor
I’m calling for a significant shift in perspective. Traditional methods focus too heavily on the classroom or the “practice field.” Combining leadership with strategy requires learning on the go.
When times are tough and challenges come quickly, that’s when people are most open to new ways of working. The more quickly and meaningfully we implement change, the better our chances of reaching our goals with confident, capable leaders.
If you’re prepared to reconsider how you support your leaders, let’s have a conversation.
I can help you identify what’s working and what you can add to make your leadership strategy truly effective.