How Can Organizations Develop Their Leadership Capability?
Even in ancient Greek mythology, the desire for individual learning and the need for leadership, guidance and direction were apparent. Today, the ongoing challenge of leadership capability is described as the War for Talent, Leadership Capability, Emotional Intelligence and Talent Management. Whatever you call it, this challenge still remains difficult to achieve. Many organizations do whatever it takes to attract, develop and retain those people who demonstrate talent and leadership. Yet organizations may not be sure that they have the right people, the ability to acquire them, or to grow their own.
The Business Environment
In light of this scenario, how do training, learning and development fit? Let's examine the business environment in which we operate. It has shifted significantly over the past decade and will continue to change at an increasing pace as the implications of e-business become further embedded within organizations. Business leadership today is about "doing the right things right." When leaders succeed in doing the right things, the measures of business success inevitably follow. Acquiring talented people is a prime ingredient of this success and the survival of organizations ultimately depend upon it.
The era of standard processes and systems is over, where change initiatives occurred to shake things up and where an organization placed customers at the forefront of everything it did. We now have a technology-driven environment, where products and services become out-of-date within months rather than years, and where competition is increasingly fierce. There is an obsession with being first to market with new products, marketing initiatives, brands and delivery channels. The leadership role now embraces both internal and external customers and has to work across disparate functions to make things happen with extreme speed and efficiency.
The emphasis for the leader is to ensure that both people and resources add value as the stakes become higher.
Change is now a constant way of life. Responsiveness, focus and quality are the watchwords of high-performance organizations and the leaders within them. Change is demanding on leadership and applies pressure to the management of people, processes and systems. As your leader attains greater levels of responsibility and wider span of control, increased levels of complexity must be managed in terms of wider collaborative activity. This includes not only managing people on your team, who may not be based in the traditional office surroundings, but also suppliers, consultants and partnership arrangements. The emphasis for the leader is to ensure that both people and resources add value as the stakes become higher.
The Role of Training
Given that the leadership role is now more results-oriented, more demanding and more complex than ever before, can training and development respond to meet these needs? Leadership ranks second behind quality as the most popular training area; if the significant investment spent on leadership training programs is any guide, the answer to this question is "yes." A buoyant marketplace exists with a vast array of suppliers offering specific skills training including service management, interviewing, coaching and managing of performance issues and continuous improvement.
Professional suppliers will ensure that the training methods used are practical, relevant and easy-to-use in the real world. However, it is important to determine: