WHY LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT?

 

PRESENTATION

Every.Black Caribbean – Masterminds Meeting via Zoom

Tuesday 24^th May, 2022 from 7.00 p.m.

WHY LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT?

For years it has been recognised that leadership development has enormous power in both shaping and changing the culture and strategic direction of an organisation.  

Some of the ways we can achieve this objective is through, training, leadership coaching, mentoring, whole person growth which sustains organisational outcomes.  Leaders are not necessarily Managers and not all Managers are necessarily leaders. This is why leadership development can be an organisation wide initiative, and an integral part of the organization's culture.  To achieve this, employers must make availability tools and other resources, appropriate technology, opportunities for learning and growth, creating an environment where “Sharpening the Saw” (Habit 7) is the norm. There are numerous leadership development process and framework to choose from. E.g, FranklinCovey, Ken Blanchard, John Maxwell, Dale Carnegie to name a few.  These companies mentioned here all feature amongst the Top 20 Training Companies globally.

Leadership Development in Organisations boosts employee engagement. It increases the organization's ability to deal with gaps in the talent pool.  It reduces the headaches and costs associated with turnover. There are costs associated with turnover.  The recruitment process is time consuming and time means money.  The time it takes to advertise, prepare for interviews, the actual interview process and the time of the panel, the time it takes to train the new hire all of these are costly.  To repeat that process in quick succession is even more costly, so getting it right the first time is an imperative.  High rates of turnover can also negatively impact the quality of your customer experience both internal and external. Be mindful that great leaders attract, hire and inspire great people.

Talent management and retention is important.  Let us look at some reasons why we should invest in developing leaders;

It Improves the bottom line, our financial performance improves; if we offer the enabling environment, we have the ability to attract and retain talent; people are looking for good employers, employers of choice to be exact. With a well-developed team you are more likely to achieve your strategic objectives utilizing cutting edge technology, tools and processes such as the Balance Scorecard and 4 Disciplines of Execution (4DX) etc.   A further benefit is the ability to increase success in navigating change, which in our dynamic business environment has become the norm. Change is the only constant.  Where leadership development is a given, we experience minimal disruption, we are able to retain good staff and a positive organisation culture emerges.  People are inspired to come to work, because there is something other than a healthy salary to be had.

Research shows that leadership development is one of the most pressing issues facing organisations today.  It has been touted that there is a shortage of “Ready now leaders”.  The positions are available but the talent, skill and experience needed to fill these positions is usually lacking.

Leadership development calls for a holistic approach to development.  It is the development of the whole person body, mind and spirit. It is about personal effectiveness which leads to team effectiveness and ultimately organisational effectiveness.

Some leadership competencies that are needed are Emotional Intelligence, popularized by Daniel Goleman, 4 components (Self Awareness,  self-management, social awareness and relationship management), Competence/Job Knowledge (Commercial Acumen, sound Business Judgment) , Strategic Thinking, Decision Making, Excellent Communication Skills, written and oral, Creativity & Innovation, ability to embrace diversity, equity and inclusion,  Planning, execution through others, inspiring others,  Visionary, Personal integrity (trustworthy, honesty, ethical standards) Other critical skills are coaching and mentoring.

In organisations where the opportunity to grow and develop does not exists employees, feel stifled and they stagnate.  Where the modus operandi is to micromanage, hovers over people’s shoulders, employees are not engaged, prospective leaders lose their creativity.  Innovation is non-existent and this result in a sterile environment of highly under motivated people, doing just enough to earn that pay check while looking for the next opportunity to get out.

How employees are lead, makes a huge difference in the quality of their work life. Team members should be clear on what the goals of the organisation are, and how this cascaded into what every member of the team does. People need to understand the importance of what they do, how their work contributes to the achievement of organisations goals.  Communication skills and use of appropriate technology can provide the inspiration for managers to convert strategic plans into action that achieve the desired results.  There is merit in developing leaders at all levels of the organisation. We should all aspire to lead learning organisations. With the use of the internet and LMS complete learning journeys can be established for each employee taking into account their competency/skills gaps.    

The Board and senior management are responsible with input from their executive teams for the strategic direction they do not execute to bring about the success; they are only part of the equation.  They provide guidance, they set direction, make the resources available, sets the culture for the organisation.  It is the people who have been hired to perform the various tasks, to explore, innovate and create that make it happen. The quality of leadership is the differentiator. We cannot afford to pay scant regard to leadership development, it is required if we are to make progress in our businesses and achieve a return on our investments.  The command-and-control style of leadership no longer works. It is a highly motivated, well trained, skillful, Tec savvy, resourceful, disciplined and committed workforce that is needed.  

Managing performance starts at the hiring stage followed by the orientation and onboarding process.  New hires must understand why they are employed, what is expected of them, what are the standards, what are the goals, the targets, the objectives of the organisation and the objectives of their specific jobs.  If there are organisation specific processes, that information must be shared and appropriate training given, they may also be given the opportunity to adopt more creative ways to arrive at the stated outcome.  

New hires and those who hire them need to be aware of the leadership skills needed for the job at hand and for the execution of the strategic goals of the organisation.  This speaks not only to skills for the present, but capacity to develop skills needed for the future.  We need to be clear on what the competency gaps are in our organisations?   We need to understand that we need “X” and what we have is “Y”. How do we reverse that?

We should be in a position to identify competency gaps in our top performers by utilising scientific tools such as psychometric assessments of which there are a variety, such as Saville Wave, DISC, Profiles, and Myers Briggs etc.  These, if used properly are not only useful for the purpose of recruitment but also to determine where the gaps are in terms of skills. That knowledge will enable us to establish “learning journeys” utilising various medium to upskill and upgrade the talented individuals on our teams.  FranklinCovey in addition to its standalone solutions also offers access to it material in various modalities via an annual subscription process titled All Access Pass.  (AAP)

In order to attract and retain good talent we have to be prepared to invest in developing our people.  The fear or concern is usually that we train people and they leave.  I want to suggest in small islands states such as the Caribbean countries that when we train people we enhance the capacity of our workforce, who become global citizens and repatriate funds to their respective islands.   Consider not training people, and reap the cost to our businesses in not realizing their full potential. I also want to suggest that if we spend sizable sums on leadership development on any one individual e.g., a degree programmes, or professional qualification we should BOND that individual for approximately 3 years. Then we are likely to realize some direct value from our investment.

There are a number of modalities by which we can inculcate a culture of learning in our organisations, exchange articles, books, hold group discussions on issues pertaining to business, forming mastermind groups, cross training, peer training, coaching, mentoring, setting up accountability partners within the work place, partial financial support for relevant degrees, allowing employees to take turns to chair department meetings.   Leadership development can be viewed as an incremental process.  We get to learn on the job, from each other and from the experts.

It is not uncommon for highly qualified millennials and other skilled employees to want to move from job to job approximately every 3 years. But the onus is on the leadership to provide that enabling environment where good workers want to continue to contribute.  Provide the necessary equipment, treat people equally and fairly, reward excellent performance, ensure resources are available and distributed equitably, dispense with bias and favouritism, keep team members engaged, foster a culture of open communication and feedback, facilitate the achievement of work/life balance, etc.

During challenging times, the first area that is usually under resourced is training and development.   Some organisations during this COVID pandemic took the opportunity to keep their team members motivated by offering virtual training.  Effective training serves as an excellent means of keeping team members alert, engaged, motivated, focused and goal and results oriented.  Those who did not take that opportunity may actually feel that they have stagnated and, in some instances, reversed gains made prior.  For some, the process of relearning has to begin.  The good news is that if the mindset is one of growth, then hopefully the learning curve will be short and the damage/setback in efficiency, lack of goal and target achievement, and poor customer service will be minimal.

I want to repeat here for emphasis, that research conducted by FranklinCovey globally indicates that due to lack of Leadership Development including coaching and mentoring “There is a lack of ready now leaders”.  What are we doing to reverse this trend?   This is where Leadership Development can save the day, particularly in this era of “the great resignation”, I ask you to play your part, do it for yourself, your valued team members and the viability and sustainability of your business.  I THANK YOU