Leadership Development 1 - The Why
Leadership development is expensive, distracts from your core business, and often seems as though it has no actual end. Before I convince you that none of these things need to be true, we should address why you would invest in leadership development in the first place.
Build Capacity
Your organization has seen first hand the importance of having people in place that can respond to changes in the market place. The teams you have in place and the people you have leading them are doing wonderful work. Are they ready for what is coming next when that is getting increasingly difficult to predict? You cannot spend your time and money on reactionary hiring as demands present themselves. The talent you are chasing is also being chased by your competition and you will likely never get caught up. By identifying and developing the talent you already have, you will position your company to be more responsive and agile as challenges develop. More importantly, these team members and leaders will already be operating within a familiar corporate context and culture.
Succession Planning
It is nice to think that what you have worked hard to build will live on and thrive indefinitely. How will your expertly crafted corporate culture be sustained? How will the values that have successfully driven your business planning and management strategies be maintained? It is one thing to have these foundational practices posted where everyone can see them and be able to recite them, but how have your leaders "lived" them? Having the right people in the right places with the depth and breadth of leadership experience to keep your organization moving forward following your departure will not just happen organically. Your next leaders not only need to learn these lessons within their current roles, but they also need to learn and understand them within the corporate culture that you have built.
Forbes contributor Donald Delves (delvesgroup.com) talks about “The Critical Task of Succession Planning.” he says that looking externally can be expensive and does come with risk:
Though executives in senior positions at other companies may be proven products, bringing them in does not guarantee successful leadership.
External Perceptions
A previous post explored the notion of adjusting workplace practices to successful transition New Followers into your corporate community. A report from Gallup (June 2016) indicated that
59% of millennials say opportunities to learn and grow are extremely important to them when applying for a job.
Not only is it important, but is one of the screening questions that Millennials will bring up during their interview when they are deciding if your organization is a match for them, and not the other way around. If your company is one that is known externally as a place where staff and leadership development are integrated into your corporate culture, you have already taken the first steps to attract the largest demographic entering today’s workforce.
Now that you have reminded yourself why it is so important to establish an internal leadership development program, the next piece is figuring out just “What” it is you will be doing.
Next Week … Leadership Development 2 - The What –
“Choosing Your Weapons”