Inspired leaders. Inspired workforce.
Leadership development has become a necessary focus for any organization that wishes to separate itself from the pack and become established in markets that are always changing the rules.
Leaders must have the capacity to do so many things. While it can be tempting to wait 20 years for this to happen in a ‘trial and error’ type of experience, organizations that are forward-thinking can structure leadership development into their plan to cultivate very specific leadership skillsets. This massively streamlines the process and actively prepares organizational leaders to do an excellent job leading teams and inspiring high levels of productivity.
But first, let’s have a look at what Leadership Development is.
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What is Leadership Development?
Leadership development is the active process of cultivating the necessary traits, skills, confidence and practical knowledge in individuals wishing to pursue leadership positions. It generally applies to the skills an individual needs to manage teams effectively.
Organizations have the option to prepare high caliber individuals to take over leadership positions within the company by giving them the tools they need to manage teams.
This is a great stepping stone. Many companies have internal mechanisms to identify and nurture individuals to prepare them for challenging management roles; examples include fast track schemes and schemes for university and college graduates.
What is Leader Development?
Leader development is a complementary facet of leadership development. Close in name, different in application. Leadership development focuses on the external management of teams. Leader development focuses on the internal and personal development of the individual leader.
It focuses on challenging the internal mechanisms that allow people to become the best leaders they can be. In this inward-facing context, a person can be challenged to think critically about their levels of self-discipline, their management style, and their emotional intelligence.
All leadership programs will likely touch on this but the best programs will incorporate these two elements together to create transformational leaders that are prepared for what they will face from within and from without.
What Are The Benefits of Developing Leaders?
Developing people is a costly task. It takes a lot of time and resources. In the beginning stages, it can be difficult to quantify any positive impact or get a clear picture of what the ROI is. So why invest?
Increased Productivity
Accomplished and effective leaders know how to inspire their teams and increase the creativity and productivity levels that will ultimately improve that bottom line. Leaders increase productivity when they know how to create a clear roadmap for their team to follow.
This competency is one among many others that leadership development programs help to cultivate.
Talent Retention
Organizations with a clear leadership development program structure are more likely to retain the world-class talent they’ve invested huge amounts of time and effort into bringing in.
A clear way to progress is a feature that high-quality leaders-in-waiting are looking for in their careers. If there are no opportunities to develop, staff turnover is likely to increase — your best talent will not be content to sit in a flat structure in a junior position forever.
The very nature of global leaders means that as soon as possible, they are going to want to make a positive difference in the lives of their customers and colleagues. They’ll stick around if they know that there’s a clear way for them to do this.
In addition to this, poor management will cause you to hemorrhage talent like you’ve never seen. If you’ve got great people running out the door, check out those who are leading. Organizations that teach their leaders how to value their teams will find that turnover drops significantly, leaving more time to get on with those projects that will make a real difference to customers.
Improved Organization Culture
Investing in your employees helps to create a culture where employees will want to invest in the strategic aims of the business. A company’s relationship with its employees should be a symbiotic relationship where both parties feed into the overall development of the business.
Leadership development programs are one of the many ways organizations can use to create this kind of dynamic.
Increased Organisational Agility
When a company invests the time to train leaders, you give people the tools they need to confidently respond to changing circumstances. If your leaders have a very limited skill set, they will be far less likely to be able to innovate in a different context.
This will slow your business down and cause a lot of frustration within the teams. Adaptability in a business environment that’s in a constant state of flux is a strength you cannot afford to be without in today’s climate.
Why is Leadership Development Important in a Global Context?
Global leadership expert Joyce Osland describes global leadership as “extreme leadership”. Whatever your expectations of domestic leaders are, you can 10x that when compared with the things expected of global leaders. The challenges multiply and leaders wishing to enter this arena need to be prepared in a different way to their domestic peers.
In a global context, leadership development programs need to take into account the constantly changing demands of an organization that operates in a global market. Layers of complexity that arise for global leaders like dealing with different cultures, determining how much is physically required in terms of face-to-face contact with teams across nations, and cultivating having the internal traits and skills to deal with all of these things is no mean feat. Domestic leaders would do very well to have a leadership development program in place. For global leaders in global organizations, it’s imperative.
How can you go about Developing Global Leaders?
Having discussed what leadership development is and why, as an organization, you stand to gain so much from investing, it’s time to look at ways you can go about building an executive development program.
Internal Training Programs
Leadership tasks vary between organizations. If you want to standardize management practices that are tailored specifically to the needs of your organisation then this might be a way to go. Context is exceedingly important when creating a program, so if you’ve got the budget to develop a comprehensive program in-house, this will go a long way to producing great leaders in the company. At this point, you can properly prepare leaders for challenges specific to the market environment you operate in.
A con of doing this is that it’s incredibly costly and time-consuming to set up. There is also an element of trial and error; you definitely don’t want to invest lots of resources for the leadership program to fail in its aim to draw out the next generation of company leaders. To avoid this, it is a good idea to at least consult with established leadership development programs. That way you can customize the program and even get it accredited.
External Leadership Development Programs
If it’s not viable for you to create a program in-house at this stage, you could find an accredited business school program to enroll future leaders in. Lots of universities do programs that can be done whilst remaining at work. Upon completion, the employee would get an accredited qualification that they could add to their portfolio.
A word of caution here; not all leadership development programs are created equal. Ensure that the leadership development program you choose adequately prepares your leaders. If you know that the leadership roles within your business require a global outlook, then a course that focuses on a more domestic style of leadership will not be sufficient no matter how much you pay.
Find out more about what you should be looking for in a program to develop global business leaders here.
Mentorship
This style of leadership development is invaluable, especially if you have lots of leaders with plenty of knowledge and experience to pass on. If a completely comprehensive program seems a bit of an overkill for what you need right now, then mentoring is a fantastic tool to help coach more confident and competent leaders.
If there are people within the organization who could fulfill this role, it makes for a really rewarding dynamic, where hints, tips, and tricks can be passed along through each generation of company leaders. This is all well and good, as long as you aren’t trying to change a toxic organizational culture; if you aren’t happy with the performance of managers at this point, it’s definitely not wise to replicate what they’re doing.
If that’s the case then getting some external input will be your best bet. It’s a great way to expand the vision of your future leaders as well and give them access to fresh ideas and new ways of doing business.
Global Leadership Development With EURAC
However you decide to proceed, what is clear is that organizations succeed when they have excellent leaders to drive that success forward. Investing in leadership development is very rarely a wasted venture if done correctly, and you stand to gain a highly effective and productive workforce.
It’s a win-win.
So if you’re looking to get started on global leadership development for your company or organization, check out our Global Leadership Development Program here. Together we’ll discuss organizational development, approaches to implement it and getting to the bottom of challenges your organization faces in developing your leadership on a global scale.
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