We’re losing our best people.” It’s a common lament and the number-one business reason to implement a leadership development program in an organization.
Emphasis should be placed on the term “business reason.” If leadership development is not identified as a top business priority, it may be relegated to “just another HR program.”
With all due respect to HR programs and HR staff, leadership development is too important to be associated with a single area of an organization.
There are three common misconceptions about leadership development.
Myth #1: Leadership development is solely an HR initiative.
Fact: HR has a vital role to play, but it cannot go it alone. Leadership development is a strategic business initiative.
Leadership development starts at the top. Unless the CEO and the senior management team actively drive leadership development and get personally involved, leadership development will not become part of the organizational culture.
Leadership development must be aligned with the organization’s strategy, business goals, and values. If it isn’t, it will be relegated to a flavour-of-the-month program and quickly forgotten.
Myth #2: Leadership development issues can be solved with a training program.
Fact: Leadership development requires much more than classroom training programs.
Life would be simple if leadership development could be imparted in a training room equipped with flip charts, white boards and PowerPoint presentations. However, in the real world, a leadership development workshop can only contribute about 10 per cent to a leader’s development.
Among other things, leadership development requires ensuring future leaders are recognized and valued, so that they are motivated to stay with an organization. It also involves offering challenging assignments to potential leaders that provide opportunities to demonstrate abilities and learn new aspects of leadership. Including leadership competencies in the performance management system is also required, along with a robust succession planning process.
Myth #3: Leadership development should focus on the high-potential employees only.
Fact: Leadership development needs to involve all managers, with a targeted sub-strategy for high potential.
Every organization has A players (the high flyers) and B players (the secondary future leaders or leaders within a particular area of the organization). These people are necessary to provide ongoing leadership in strategic positions within an organization in the years ahead.
Any program that focuses only on the A players will alienate those B players and many others who are an essential part of the organization’s long-term success. Everyone in an organization can benefit from a leadership development program that allows all employees to reach their maximum potential. Leadership development programs must be big-picture, long-term programs, not narrowly focused, short-term efforts.
Creating an effective leadership development program
The first order of business in leadership development is to identify “what leadership should look like around here.” That means taking a good, hard look at the:
•organization’s business strategy;
•organization’s values;
•challenges posed by the competition and the market;
•type of business (professional services, manufacturing, public-sector, and so on); and
•nature of the talent within the organization that needs to be managed.
This is a job for the existing leaders of the organization, who are most familiar with the strategy and the challenges. They need to come up with a profile of the leaders who can take the organization into the future.
The next step is to match that profile with the talent pool available to identify the A and B players. HR can play an important role here, since the existing leaders may not be aware of the value of people who are new to the organization, or who are working well at lower levels and have the potential to move up.
Third, for each person identified, the leaders, working closely with HR, must develop a plan that includes:
•an assessment of the individual’s strengths and weaknesses;
•specific coaching and mentoring plans;
•assignments that offer learning opportunities about different areas of the business; and
•a targeted curriculum to fill in any gaps in knowledge or skills.
The role of HR in leadership development
Although leadership development must begin at the top, it should not end there. The CEO and senior management must drive the process, but the support and participation of the HR department is vital in providing follow-through.
In particular, HR can ensure success by:
•aligning HR programs with the leadership development strategy;
•helping define the preferred leadership profile and evaluating the talent pool against it;
•designing a targeted curriculum for the development of both high-potential individuals and promising secondary leaders, as well as a general leadership development curriculum for all others in the organization;
•developing the capability of top executives to act as mentors and coaches; and
•administering executive decisions to appoint potential leaders to developmental assignments.
HR can help ensure that leadership development is embedded in the organizational culture, so that developing new leaders becomes a way of life. Once the preferred leadership profile has been established, HR can use it in recruiting, promotion decisions (or decisions to remove an employee), recognition programs and performance management.
HR must partner with the CEO and the top management team to give leadership development the prominence it requires to be successful.
John Swain is director of the leadership, learning and talent management practice at Johnston Smith International, a strategic change management firm. He can be reached at (416) 645-5311 or visit www.johnstonsmith.com.
Emphasis should be placed on the term “business reason.” If leadership development is not identified as a top business priority, it may be relegated to “just another HR program.”
With all due respect to HR programs and HR staff, leadership development is too important to be associated with a single area of an organization.
There are three common misconceptions about leadership development.
Myth #1: Leadership development is solely an HR initiative.
Fact: HR has a vital role to play, but it cannot go it alone. Leadership development is a strategic business initiative.
Leadership development starts at the top. Unless the CEO and the senior management team actively drive leadership development and get personally involved, leadership development will not become part of the organizational culture.
Leadership development must be aligned with the organization’s strategy, business goals, and values. If it isn’t, it will be relegated to a flavour-of-the-month program and quickly forgotten.
Myth #2: Leadership development issues can be solved with a training program.
Fact: Leadership development requires much more than classroom training programs.
Life would be simple if leadership development could be imparted in a training room equipped with flip charts, white boards and PowerPoint presentations. However, in the real world, a leadership development workshop can only contribute about 10 per cent to a leader’s development.
Among other things, leadership development requires ensuring future leaders are recognized and valued, so that they are motivated to stay with an organization. It also involves offering challenging assignments to potential leaders that provide opportunities to demonstrate abilities and learn new aspects of leadership. Including leadership competencies in the performance management system is also required, along with a robust succession planning process.
Myth #3: Leadership development should focus on the high-potential employees only.
Fact: Leadership development needs to involve all managers, with a targeted sub-strategy for high potential.
Every organization has A players (the high flyers) and B players (the secondary future leaders or leaders within a particular area of the organization). These people are necessary to provide ongoing leadership in strategic positions within an organization in the years ahead.
Any program that focuses only on the A players will alienate those B players and many others who are an essential part of the organization’s long-term success. Everyone in an organization can benefit from a leadership development program that allows all employees to reach their maximum potential. Leadership development programs must be big-picture, long-term programs, not narrowly focused, short-term efforts.
Creating an effective leadership development program
The first order of business in leadership development is to identify “what leadership should look like around here.” That means taking a good, hard look at the:
•organization’s business strategy;
•organization’s values;
•challenges posed by the competition and the market;
•type of business (professional services, manufacturing, public-sector, and so on); and
•nature of the talent within the organization that needs to be managed.
This is a job for the existing leaders of the organization, who are most familiar with the strategy and the challenges. They need to come up with a profile of the leaders who can take the organization into the future.
The next step is to match that profile with the talent pool available to identify the A and B players. HR can play an important role here, since the existing leaders may not be aware of the value of people who are new to the organization, or who are working well at lower levels and have the potential to move up.
Third, for each person identified, the leaders, working closely with HR, must develop a plan that includes:
•an assessment of the individual’s strengths and weaknesses;
•specific coaching and mentoring plans;
•assignments that offer learning opportunities about different areas of the business; and
•a targeted curriculum to fill in any gaps in knowledge or skills.
The role of HR in leadership development
Although leadership development must begin at the top, it should not end there. The CEO and senior management must drive the process, but the support and participation of the HR department is vital in providing follow-through.
In particular, HR can ensure success by:
•aligning HR programs with the leadership development strategy;
•helping define the preferred leadership profile and evaluating the talent pool against it;
•designing a targeted curriculum for the development of both high-potential individuals and promising secondary leaders, as well as a general leadership development curriculum for all others in the organization;
•developing the capability of top executives to act as mentors and coaches; and
•administering executive decisions to appoint potential leaders to developmental assignments.
HR can help ensure that leadership development is embedded in the organizational culture, so that developing new leaders becomes a way of life. Once the preferred leadership profile has been established, HR can use it in recruiting, promotion decisions (or decisions to remove an employee), recognition programs and performance management.
HR must partner with the CEO and the top management team to give leadership development the prominence it requires to be successful.
John Swain is director of the leadership, learning and talent management practice at Johnston Smith International, a strategic change management firm. He can be reached at (416) 645-5311 or visit www.johnstonsmith.com.
