Leadership development is one of the most important activities inside organizations today. It reaches beyond recruiting, beyond retention, beyond next generation leadership, and even beyond succession planning. Leadership development is not an event, it’s not a program – it’s a strategy that provides the foundation for your culture.
Leadership development is not an HR issue. It’s a high-level strategic issue. And getting good at it is a matter of survival.
Leaders – Born Or Made?
“The most dangerous leadership myth is that leaders are born—that there is a genetic factor to leadership. This myth asserts that people simply either have certain charismatic qualities or not. That’s nonsense; in fact, the opposite is true. Leaders are made rather than born.”
Warren G. Bennis
Founding Chairman of The Leadership Institute
University of Souther California
This is good news for us all. We don’t need to look for born leaders – those with the golden ticket. We simply need to find people who share our values, then give them the tools, training, and opportunity to become effective leaders.
Improving Leadership – Is It Worth It?
“Better leadership practices can improve an organization’s bottom line by hundreds of thousands—or even millions—of dollars, depending on the size of the organization and current gaps in management practices.
David Witt, Researcher
The Ken Blanchard Companies
We bet you could use thousands, hundreds of thousands, or even millions more dollars in profits. Leadership gaps are profit killers. Ineffective leaders slow work flows, make more mistakes, miss growth opportunities, react to problems instead of anticipating problems – and most importantly, have an overall negative impact on the people they lead.
Poor leaders make for poor profits.
Change Leaders or Change Leadership Styles?
In Daniel Goleman’s study, Leadership That Gets Results, 3,000 managers were studied for three years. The connections he discovered between leadership styles and bottom-line results is remarkable.
“Six distinct leadership styles were identified. Each style has a distinct effect on the working atmosphere of the company, and in turn, on its financial performance.”
How much of an impact? 30%!
The research showed a manager’s leadership style is responsible for 30% of the company’s bottom line profitability. That’s too much to ignore.
The good news: helping leaders and managers improve their leadership style management can be just as effective as improving a process, or upgrading equipment when it comes to improving profitability.
Want An Even Bigger Impact? Create Leaders That Serve.
“If serving is below you. Leadership is beyond you.”
Anonymous
Many are confused (or scared) by the term “servant leader.” Don’t be. A servant leader is simply one who wants to serve others first, and then, as a result of that desire to serve, their leadership desires follow. They want to lead because they want to make others better. They want to lead because they want what’s best for the company. They want to lead because they want things beyond material possessions for themselves.
“…servant leaders are the beneficiaries of important contacts, information, and insights that make them more effective and productive in what they do even though they spend a great deal of their time sharing what they learn and helping others…”
Forbes
Leadership development is a Top 3 priority for all organizations. It has a proven impact on the bottom line, and doesn’t require huge disruption to create a huge impact. Promote leaders who share your values, help them master the 6 different leadership styles, and – for an added boost – encourage them to put others first. Your people and your profits will thank you.
Training, coaching, mentoring, interim leadership/shadowing. Developing people and their skills is a key part of our success formula. (People+Process+Metrics = Transformation) People impact profits, that’s why we impact people.
Not sure how your leaders stack up? Our assessment and evaluation tools can help you find your leadership gaps. Not sure what to do about your gaps? Our development and consulting services can help. Let’s get started.
ADDITIONAL REFERENCES:
Training Magazine: Effective Leadership Development
The Ken Blanchard Companies: Make Time To Develop Your Leaders
Fast Company: 6 Leadership Styles, And When You Should Use Them
Harvard Business Review: Leadership That Gets Results
Forbes: Why Isn’t Servant Leadership More Prevalent?
