Leadership development is not rocket science. It is not complex or mysterious. Leaders need training pure and simple. Not complete changes in their approach to leadership, but simple skills development.
Most "leaders" are given the latest training from the latest book by the latest guru. Whether it is Management By Objectives (MBO), Total Quality Management (TQM), Six Sigma or the "blue ocean", does it really matter what style or model of management, leadership, team building or quality control you follow? Profile 100 top leaders and no two leaders have exactly the same approach or model. Yet all great leaders have some core skills but very different approaches to these skills.
These core skills include:
1 Consistency and the ability to care for their people and their successes.
2 Methods of developing their people. Some may coach while others may mentor. Some leaders conduct regular training based upon a plan while others give employees freedom and leeway to develop.
3 Systems for improving the processes their people use. Some do it through a statistical approach such as MBO, TQM or Six Sigma. Others use PERT or FLOW charts and project management techniques.
4 Communication techniques that fit their personality. Some are direct and hands-on. Others are very hands-off and empowering.
In reality, all methods and styles can work if applied correctly. What is essential is that they fit the style of the leader. Leaders need to be taught how to be themselves, how to care about their people, how to listen, make decisions, delegate and grow their people.
Most training is ineffective because it is cerebral, strictly auditory and only in the training room. No one learns in a training room! They get ideas. It is when leaders actually take those ideas out and use them that they learn.
For training to be effective those ideas must be connected to their work, the team's actions in the office or the leader's objectives. Otherwise it will be a potential waste of scarce training resources. This takes far more skill than merely the ability to speak and assemble a powerpoint.
I've worked with HR departments that blew big bucks on a 5-star setting and meals for leaders but did not want to invest in coloured paper for their handouts and materials. While coloured visuals can enhance retention by 65% (according to a Dartnell study) and is the least expensive part of training, some companies would rather give their people cheesecake than retention.
Other times trainings are held on-site and leaders go back to their desks at breaks and lunch and rarely return on time. When they reappear, their minds are glued to the problems sitting on their desks - not their training.
Some organisations won't invest to get the right trainer or facilitator. They bargain hunt and see trainers as generic and even as an afterthought. Anyone can train, however not everyone can transform a group and create a learning environment connected to the workplace that gets results.
A local HR team was tasked with putting on a meeting for 180 people. They conducted a full training needs analysis, arranged the venue, facilitator and all the details. In a short 10 minute meeting, the "big boss" shot down all their plans, changed key details and threw away over 100 hours of their best efforts.
Other times, training dates get moved because the "big boss" from North America or Europe could not make it to Asia that week. All the plans, hotel reservations, flight schedules for dozens or hundreds of people had to be changed.
Training and meetings should be scheduled months in advance and held inviolate. The pace of change is not an excuse for cancelling months of preparation. The pace of change is the reason those meetings and trainings are essential.
Once all the objectives are laid out, it should be about changing behaviours, not delivering content.
When it comes to leadership training and development, less is more. Learn a bit, apply one of a dozen or more forms of group work to understand and apply the learning, then move on to the next point.
While there are many other challenges to leadership training effectiveness like establishing ROI, follow-up issues, budget and time constraints, these tips may be within your scope to influence immediately.
Michael A. Podolinsky CSP
CEO
Podolinsky International
