Today, the question isn’t whether you should invest in Leadership Development Program or not, many top MNCs like EY, Amazon and Marriott International throughout the globe are investing heavily in their leadership program and reaping the benefits.
The real question is, how can you build an effective leadership program to help your organization and identify the right leaders?
Every company – big or small – understands that to lead an organization from the front, their platoon leader has to be the wisest, sharpest and the most skilled. After all, on his shoulders lies the responsibility of the whole company. Still, 58% of managers confessed they didn’t receive any form of training on becoming a manager!
Although we have often seen that in saving time, energy and resources, leadership programs often get axed. But Organizations need to understand that when you have identified a strong leader, the chain of succession itself becomes easy.
So,how does a leadership development program help the company and its employees?
Leaders understand how important it is to appreciate and empower your employees. In fact, 79% employees quit their job because of “lack of appreciation”. Hence, a leadership program fulfils this gap and promises better retention rate among employees along with 114% higher sales, 90% lower absenteeism and 71% higher customer satisfaction.
An effective leadership program teaches the leader the significance of “people bias”. He consciously starts learning more about his employees and brings out the best in them by keeping the employees’ interests at heart.
For instance, if the company is going through a dynamic change, understanding how to steer through that change at a personal level is important. But a good leader will implement strategies that will LEAD people through that change seamlessly.
A powerful corporate leadership program empowers the leader by helping him learn various soft skills including building a network, encouraging and engaging employees, improvement in performance management, establishing long-lasting client relationships, formulating and executing strategies among other everyday leadership tasks.
A happy surprise is 81% employees who worked with recently trained managers/leaders felt more engaged at their jobs. Isn’t that proof enough?
Now that we’ve established the efficacy of leadership programs, the next big question is –
What does a framework of Leadership Development Program constitute?
One Size DOESN’T Fit All – Every individual is different and so is his skillset. A compelling leadership program identifies the qualities a leader possesses, understands his proficiencies and gives him room to self-assess his areas of improvement. Thereafter, it draws everything together to show how can he use his competence to lead the team forward.
Focus on Imparting Principle Based Leadership Training – Today, with the young leaders coming in the forefront, you cannot just lecture them about what will make them a good leader. You need to tell them the ‘why’ behind it. An efficient leadership pipeline program makes them aware of the principles and then gives them the space of self-discovery to implement these principles in their own work environment. Moreover, real world examples and autonomy should form the basis of every discussion.
Continuous Process Improvement – A leadership program should be a sustainably blended process. The learning should involve constantly implementing tools and techniques to make a swift transition along with measuring the impact at every stage. It should give the participants a morale boost along with an assurance that they are ready to ascend the career ladder.
Measure Results – A proficient top leadership development program will offer a positive environment where growth and development are in prime focus. Schedule regular meetings with the leader to check up on the process, growth and how is the individual advancing to the next level. Ensure that the mapped-out outline is thoroughly followed to polish and develop the next leader in-line. Take feedbacks from the team to know if they sense a difference in their lead and work on the pain points.
Only when a leadership development program constitutes these fundamentals can it create a successful leadership pipeline which nurtures the most valuable asset of a company – its employees.
