In the next decade, leadership will be the difference between the companies that thrive and the companies that fail.
In fact, leadership will be the difference between the companies that meet their goals this year and the companies that don’t.
This has always been true, at least to an extent. But in today’s world – where the pace of change is rapidly increasing, and markets are fluctuating more than ever before – leadership has taken on even more importance. When the storms hit, the guidance of a captain matters more than ever.
There are leaders at every level of your organization, and they will be responsible for success (or failure) up and down your business. You know this – and it’s why you’re pursuing leadership development.
You’ve come to the right place.
Leadership development efforts are crucial in empowering leaders to get better results. We’ve put together this guide to offer you a better understanding of what that means. Below, we’ll cover the following questions:
It’s time to build better leaders. Are you ready? Here’s the guide to leadership development.
This has always been true, at least to an extent. But in today’s world – where the pace of change is rapidly increasing, and markets are fluctuating more than ever before – leadership has taken on even more importance. When the storms hit, the guidance of a captain matters more than ever.
There are leaders at every level of your organization, and they will be responsible for success (or failure) up and down your business. You know this – and it’s why you’re pursuing leadership development.
You’ve come to the right place.
Leadership development efforts are crucial in empowering leaders to get better results. We’ve put together this guide to offer you a better understanding of what that means. Below, we’ll cover the following questions:
- What is leadership development?
- Who is leadership development for?
- What is the importance of leadership development?
- What are the models of leadership development?
- What’s the best leadership development framework?
- What should be included in a leadership development program?
- How do leadership development trainings work?
- Why do leadership development programs fail?
- How can you measure leadership development?
- How can you get started with leadership development?
It’s time to build better leaders. Are you ready? Here’s the guide to leadership development.
What is leadership development?
Leadership development is an activity designed to improve leadership skills. Most leadership development includes a focus on improving communication, management abilities, and people skills.
Often, the term refers to organizational leadership development – activities coordinated by an organization to improve the leadership capabilities of its own people. This may involve creating an internal program, hosting workshops, bringing in an outside consultant to facilitate trainings, or encouraging individuals toward continual education in the form of classes, seminars, or skill-building events.
Often, the term refers to organizational leadership development – activities coordinated by an organization to improve the leadership capabilities of its own people. This may involve creating an internal program, hosting workshops, bringing in an outside consultant to facilitate trainings, or encouraging individuals toward continual education in the form of classes, seminars, or skill-building events.
Who is leadership development for?
Leadership development is generally tailored toward three classifications of leaders.
Emerging leaders are employees who demonstrate high skill or leadership potential. These people are new-to-role, early career leaders, or are being considered for future leadership positions. Leadership development for these people equips organizations with a strong pipeline of potential leaders to maintain and advance company culture and success. Without leadership development for emerging leaders, organizations will struggle to fill leadership vacancies and may have higher rates of turnover.
Mid-level leaders are employees who manage a team of front-line or back-office direct reports. These people form the backbone of company culture; leadership development for mid-level leaders aims to equip them with the tools they’ll need to navigate complex situations and adjust to rapid change. Without leadership development for these people, crucial roles can go unsupported, organizational culture can suffer, and results can stagnate or decline.
Executive leaders are C-suite level individuals who report directly to the CEO, President, or the board. These people are at the highest positions within an organization, and their leadership skills go a long way toward influencing their organization’s success. Leadership development for these leaders is designed to help them communicate with stakeholders, effectively manage direct reports, cast vision, and navigate high-stakes leadership scenarios. Without leadership development for these people, burnout and failure are more common.
At Mendelow Consulting Group, we offer trainings designed for emerging leaders and mid-level leaders, and provide executive coaching services, too.
Emerging leaders are employees who demonstrate high skill or leadership potential. These people are new-to-role, early career leaders, or are being considered for future leadership positions. Leadership development for these people equips organizations with a strong pipeline of potential leaders to maintain and advance company culture and success. Without leadership development for emerging leaders, organizations will struggle to fill leadership vacancies and may have higher rates of turnover.
Mid-level leaders are employees who manage a team of front-line or back-office direct reports. These people form the backbone of company culture; leadership development for mid-level leaders aims to equip them with the tools they’ll need to navigate complex situations and adjust to rapid change. Without leadership development for these people, crucial roles can go unsupported, organizational culture can suffer, and results can stagnate or decline.
Executive leaders are C-suite level individuals who report directly to the CEO, President, or the board. These people are at the highest positions within an organization, and their leadership skills go a long way toward influencing their organization’s success. Leadership development for these leaders is designed to help them communicate with stakeholders, effectively manage direct reports, cast vision, and navigate high-stakes leadership scenarios. Without leadership development for these people, burnout and failure are more common.
At Mendelow Consulting Group, we offer trainings designed for emerging leaders and mid-level leaders, and provide executive coaching services, too.
What is the importance of leadership development?
We’ve gotten a start toward answering this question already, but it’s worth digging into more deeply. All leadership development activities should improve organizational success, meaning that they will empower the accomplishment of organizational goals. Depending on the approach, the granular benefits of leadership development will vary, but four key examples include:
So, those are the positive reasons leadership development is important. But the question can also be answered in the negative sense: leadership development is important because it helps to prevent the following outcomes:
Whether you view the question through a positive or negative frame, the bottom line is that leadership development is important.
- Leaders who receive leadership development have higher job satisfaction.
- Leadership development creates more effective leaders.
- More effective leaders drive better results and improve organizational culture.
- Organizations are able to navigate change well and take advantage of opportunities.
- Employee engagement rates increase and employee turnover decreases.
So, those are the positive reasons leadership development is important. But the question can also be answered in the negative sense: leadership development is important because it helps to prevent the following outcomes:
- Leaders feel unsupported and discontent.
- Leaders lack the tools to lead effectively.
- Results and organizational cultures suffer.
- Organizations are unable to cope with change well and are beaten out by competitors.
- Employee engagement rates decrease and employee turnover increases.
Whether you view the question through a positive or negative frame, the bottom line is that leadership development is important.
What are the models of leadership development?
Models of leadership development are inherently dependent on an understanding of leadership itself. In other words, what you think makes a leader good will impact how you develop your leaders.
There are three general models on leadership. Each one takes a different view of how it happens and how it can be improved. According to Oswald-Herold, Elbert, and Feit, these include “leader-centric theories which place the individual at the core of leadership, relationship-focused theories which emphasize the dynamic that exists between leader and follower (and the situation in which this dynamic occurs), and leadership theories that look beyond individuals to recognize leadership in collectives and groups.”
Each of these theories leads to different applications in leadership development.
Leader-centric theories tend to result in intellectual construct-based leadership development efforts. In these models, information is presented (often in a classroom) as the means toward better leadership. Certain skills and behaviors are viewed as positive in a leadership context; these are encouraged. Others are viewed as negative and are discouraged.
Relationship-focused theories tend to lead towards more lab-based development efforts. Leadership development may attempt to simulate business relationships in safer contexts, allowing leaders to practice their relational skills.
Collective-leadership theories lead towards development efforts that focus on systemic reform; leaders may be brought together to discuss how organizational systems can be changed or improved.
There are three general models on leadership. Each one takes a different view of how it happens and how it can be improved. According to Oswald-Herold, Elbert, and Feit, these include “leader-centric theories which place the individual at the core of leadership, relationship-focused theories which emphasize the dynamic that exists between leader and follower (and the situation in which this dynamic occurs), and leadership theories that look beyond individuals to recognize leadership in collectives and groups.”
Each of these theories leads to different applications in leadership development.
Leader-centric theories tend to result in intellectual construct-based leadership development efforts. In these models, information is presented (often in a classroom) as the means toward better leadership. Certain skills and behaviors are viewed as positive in a leadership context; these are encouraged. Others are viewed as negative and are discouraged.
Relationship-focused theories tend to lead towards more lab-based development efforts. Leadership development may attempt to simulate business relationships in safer contexts, allowing leaders to practice their relational skills.
Collective-leadership theories lead towards development efforts that focus on systemic reform; leaders may be brought together to discuss how organizational systems can be changed or improved.
What’s the best leadership development framework?
We believe that the best leadership development framework is based on dynamic engagement. Under this framework, instead of idealizing one way to lead, leaders recognize that there are multiple ways to lead; instead of fearing mistakes, they recover from mistakes; instead of leading independently, they lead interdependently.
This incorporates elements of multiple leadership theories – it recognizes that leadership is dependent on self-awareness, relational awareness, and situational awareness. Accordingly, under this framework, leadership development involves the presentation of insight, hands-on learning activities, and context-specific takeaways to be applied inside of business systems.
This incorporates elements of multiple leadership theories – it recognizes that leadership is dependent on self-awareness, relational awareness, and situational awareness. Accordingly, under this framework, leadership development involves the presentation of insight, hands-on learning activities, and context-specific takeaways to be applied inside of business systems.
What should be included in a leadership development program?
While they may take a variety of forms, all leadership development programs should include four characteristics to be effective. They should:
Leadership development should be experiential. Instead of being confined to a slide deck, a screen, or a seat at a desk, a leadership development program should involve active participation. Hands-on, active learning is scientifically proven to better re-enforce concepts than simple auditory or visual presentation alone.
Leadership development should focus on “being” more than “doing”. Traditional programs focused on teaching a set of behaviors. Unfortunately, the reality is that in a world of increasingly rapid change, behaviors quickly become outdated. If they’re taken outside of specific contexts, they’re ineffective. Leadership development focused on “being” will equip leaders with better self-awareness and allow them to tailor their behaviors to match changing contexts.
Leadership development should provide insight into wider organizational contexts. Often, leadership development programs serve as “mountaintop” experiences – but they don’t affect lasting change because they’re so far out of context from normal organizational activity that practically insight is impossible. All leadership development programs should be facilitated with organizational contexts in mind and should seek to make insights easy to apply.
Leadership development should be led by guides. Unlike guides, experts teach from a position above the participant – they have knowledge to pass down. Guides teach from beside a participant – they have knowledge, but they work with participants to apply it, test it in context, and analyze feedback, allowing for greater growth.
Leadership development programs that incorporate these four factors will be more likely to succeed – no matter what form the engagement takes.
- Be experiential
- Focus on “being” and “doing”
- Provide insight into a wider organizational context
- Be led by people who facilitate less like experts and more like guides
Leadership development should be experiential. Instead of being confined to a slide deck, a screen, or a seat at a desk, a leadership development program should involve active participation. Hands-on, active learning is scientifically proven to better re-enforce concepts than simple auditory or visual presentation alone.
Leadership development should focus on “being” more than “doing”. Traditional programs focused on teaching a set of behaviors. Unfortunately, the reality is that in a world of increasingly rapid change, behaviors quickly become outdated. If they’re taken outside of specific contexts, they’re ineffective. Leadership development focused on “being” will equip leaders with better self-awareness and allow them to tailor their behaviors to match changing contexts.
Leadership development should provide insight into wider organizational contexts. Often, leadership development programs serve as “mountaintop” experiences – but they don’t affect lasting change because they’re so far out of context from normal organizational activity that practically insight is impossible. All leadership development programs should be facilitated with organizational contexts in mind and should seek to make insights easy to apply.
Leadership development should be led by guides. Unlike guides, experts teach from a position above the participant – they have knowledge to pass down. Guides teach from beside a participant – they have knowledge, but they work with participants to apply it, test it in context, and analyze feedback, allowing for greater growth.
Leadership development programs that incorporate these four factors will be more likely to succeed – no matter what form the engagement takes.
How do leadership development trainings work?
While the four factors mentioned above are critical in any leadership development approach, there are three primary methods to implementing a program: labs, coaching engagements, and team building environments.
Here’s how we implement each at Mendelow Consulting Group.
Leadership Lab: Our flagship training offering is built to help leaders with 3-10 direct reports. Its format is flexible, but it’s most often provided via small group cohorts over a six-month period of time to allow leaders to put the theory into practice immediately with their own teams. It’s a scalable approach that will allow your people to learn, experiment, and grow with new leadership behaviors that get results.
Executive Coaching: We offer short-term and long-term coaching engagements that incorporate leadership assessments, involve stakeholder input, and give leaders the insight they need to lead more effectively.
Team Building: We provide team building and development programs crafted for teams that work together on a regular basis. Through analysis and dynamic engagement, we help teams to improve cohesion and enhance their team culture.
Note that what’s not included here: the traditional chalk-and-talk approach. That’s because we’ve found it doesn’t work nearly as effectively as these learning formats.
Here’s how we implement each at Mendelow Consulting Group.
Leadership Lab: Our flagship training offering is built to help leaders with 3-10 direct reports. Its format is flexible, but it’s most often provided via small group cohorts over a six-month period of time to allow leaders to put the theory into practice immediately with their own teams. It’s a scalable approach that will allow your people to learn, experiment, and grow with new leadership behaviors that get results.
Executive Coaching: We offer short-term and long-term coaching engagements that incorporate leadership assessments, involve stakeholder input, and give leaders the insight they need to lead more effectively.
Team Building: We provide team building and development programs crafted for teams that work together on a regular basis. Through analysis and dynamic engagement, we help teams to improve cohesion and enhance their team culture.
Note that what’s not included here: the traditional chalk-and-talk approach. That’s because we’ve found it doesn’t work nearly as effectively as these learning formats.
Why do leadership development programs fail?
There is a huge variety of reasons why leadership development programs fail – but here are some of the most common mistakes organizations make.
Organizations take a traditional approach to leadership development. If you’ve tracked with what we’ve been covering so far, you know that this is the most obvious mistake to avoid. Organizations that take a traditional approach to leadership development – one that is static and based on outdated perceptions of leadership – will fail to see results. An innovative, dynamic approach is needed.
Organizations don’t have clear goals for their leadership development program. This is another obvious mistake, but, unfortunately, it’s still made far too often. Many leadership development programs fail due to poorly defined goals. Often, this happens when organizations view leadership development as a box to check. Instead, programs should be purposed to demonstrate measurable impact.
Organizations don’t get top-level buy-in. Top-level apathy toward leadership development kills the chances of program success. It’s as simple as that, really. Support from senior leaders is needed for a program to be sustainable. (It’s worth noting that without clear goals and metrics to track success, it’s harder to get top-level buy-in.)
Organizations don’t offer program participation to the right people. This is a common mistake, but it’s also somewhat complicated. Leadership development programs can fail if they aren’t offered to the right people. This is correlated to having clearly defined goals; an organization must know who it’s seeking to develop to ensure the right people participate. But, even past that, it’s sometimes hard to know how to identify leadership candidates, especially if the program is targeted toward emerging leaders.
At Mendelow Consulting Group, we can help you to develop leadership candidate criteria that can improve your success rates.
Organizations don’t offer follow-up. Finally, programs fail when organizations don’t offer any sort of follow-up. This is harmful for two reasons. First, a lack of follow-up makes organizations seem uncommitted to leadership development and can hamper employee morale. Second, a lack of follow-up precludes an organization’s ability to measure success.
Organizations take a traditional approach to leadership development. If you’ve tracked with what we’ve been covering so far, you know that this is the most obvious mistake to avoid. Organizations that take a traditional approach to leadership development – one that is static and based on outdated perceptions of leadership – will fail to see results. An innovative, dynamic approach is needed.
Organizations don’t have clear goals for their leadership development program. This is another obvious mistake, but, unfortunately, it’s still made far too often. Many leadership development programs fail due to poorly defined goals. Often, this happens when organizations view leadership development as a box to check. Instead, programs should be purposed to demonstrate measurable impact.
Organizations don’t get top-level buy-in. Top-level apathy toward leadership development kills the chances of program success. It’s as simple as that, really. Support from senior leaders is needed for a program to be sustainable. (It’s worth noting that without clear goals and metrics to track success, it’s harder to get top-level buy-in.)
Organizations don’t offer program participation to the right people. This is a common mistake, but it’s also somewhat complicated. Leadership development programs can fail if they aren’t offered to the right people. This is correlated to having clearly defined goals; an organization must know who it’s seeking to develop to ensure the right people participate. But, even past that, it’s sometimes hard to know how to identify leadership candidates, especially if the program is targeted toward emerging leaders.
At Mendelow Consulting Group, we can help you to develop leadership candidate criteria that can improve your success rates.
Organizations don’t offer follow-up. Finally, programs fail when organizations don’t offer any sort of follow-up. This is harmful for two reasons. First, a lack of follow-up makes organizations seem uncommitted to leadership development and can hamper employee morale. Second, a lack of follow-up precludes an organization’s ability to measure success.
How can you measure leadership development?
As we’ve noted, one of the ways to facilitate program success is to ensure that there are clear metrics that demonstrate it. So, how do you measure leadership development?
The answer depends on the program, but there are typically two approaches: measurement of stakeholder feedback (such as 360 reviews or feedback from managers or reports) or measurement of self-reported analysis (by asking participants how their leadership has changed before and after program participation).
At Mendelow Consulting Group, our participants of our trainings rate themselves before and after each program on a variety of leadership behaviors, and post-training performance shows a significant improvement.
For example, 35% of the leaders we work with report an increase in a development-centered culture, 22% report improvement in efforts to mentor others, and 16% report that they are better at encouraging collaboration.
The answer depends on the program, but there are typically two approaches: measurement of stakeholder feedback (such as 360 reviews or feedback from managers or reports) or measurement of self-reported analysis (by asking participants how their leadership has changed before and after program participation).
At Mendelow Consulting Group, our participants of our trainings rate themselves before and after each program on a variety of leadership behaviors, and post-training performance shows a significant improvement.
For example, 35% of the leaders we work with report an increase in a development-centered culture, 22% report improvement in efforts to mentor others, and 16% report that they are better at encouraging collaboration.
What’s the first step toward leadership development?
Hopefully, the information included here has been helpful as you consider leadership development at your organization. The organizations that grow and thrive in the years ahead will be driven by great leaders – and investing in those leaders is a bottom-line foundation to that success.
If you’re looking to improve your organization’s approach to leadership development, let’s talk.
At Mendelow Consulting Group, we take a dynamic approach to leadership trainings that drives real results. The old way of authoritative and positional leadership does not work. Employees and companies are changing too quickly to subscribe to a leadership style that is one-size-fits-all.
Our unique leadership framework, called Dynamic Engagement, is specifically designed to help leaders succeed in a rapidly evolving landscape. We recognize that not only do leaders need to focus on the next play, they also need to focus on the changing playing field.
From leadership labs, to executive coaching, to team building programs, we can help your leaders to see the bigger picture, expect the unexpected, and creatively navigate through complex problems.
Ready to drive your organization forward? Get in touch with us today.
If you’re looking to improve your organization’s approach to leadership development, let’s talk.
At Mendelow Consulting Group, we take a dynamic approach to leadership trainings that drives real results. The old way of authoritative and positional leadership does not work. Employees and companies are changing too quickly to subscribe to a leadership style that is one-size-fits-all.
Our unique leadership framework, called Dynamic Engagement, is specifically designed to help leaders succeed in a rapidly evolving landscape. We recognize that not only do leaders need to focus on the next play, they also need to focus on the changing playing field.
From leadership labs, to executive coaching, to team building programs, we can help your leaders to see the bigger picture, expect the unexpected, and creatively navigate through complex problems.
Ready to drive your organization forward? Get in touch with us today.
