If we are to embrace Albert Einstein’s definition of insanity being doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results then perhaps we should explore what we might consider doing differently.
Our legacy of 20th century leadership development practices.
The Content
Leadership development content has largely remained unchanged over the last few decades. This is true for much of, but of course not all leadership development in corporations, corporate executive education and MBA programs. This is certainly not to say that the foundations or traditional models are not useful; however, one might argue that it is far from enough to properly equip leaders for the very different and complex workplace of the 21st century.
New world of work leadership derailers
In the past, leaders were more likely to be passed over for promotions or let go due to gaps in functional or industry knowledge. Today, mastering these are no longer nearly enough. Despite considerable traditional business strengths, many leaders struggle without adequate skills or insight to master or at least better manage the multiple challenges of dealing with ambiguity, navigating the complexities of multiple stakeholder relationships, influencing, politics, use of political capital, applying different lenses and horizon scanning which are key to their ability to succeed in this evolving world of work.
Context matters
Leadership development is often dispensed with a generic, one size fits all approach. However, we know that previously successful leaders who are put into new contexts can and often do struggle and sometimes fail. How one would approach a turnaround versus opening a new market, taking over from an icon or leading in a new culture all require different strategies and approaches. Company culture and where the organization is in their journey also matter. Furthermore, as leaders transition from level to level and as they progress up the ladder, they require learning new skills and leaving behind old practices. They need to acquire new lenses and manage time and priorities differently all of which is too often absent in leadership development.
From providing answers to developing complex, critical thinking skills
Today’s complexity does not lend itself well to being solved by memorizing stock answers or business models. Leaders today need to build complex analytical and critical thinking skills. Programs and facilitators need to embrace the reality of not having a single right answer for each question, push thinking skills, expand perspectives and build the ability to generate potential scenarios and envision the short medium and longer term implications that flow from them. Learning in context should take into account the broader system. For example, analyzing how decisions are made in one part of the business may cause ripple effects across other parts of the value chain or system.
Developing teams and building trust
Building leadership capability and thinking of it in terms of a talent supply chain where each level takes a more active responsibility and actual accountability for the next could be one of the strategies towards leadership development and sustainability. The capability gaps combined with the disconnects between leadership and their employees as reported in the global workforce survey 2014 from Towers Watson could create a powerful lever for leadership development to address trust, consistency between words and deeds and leader led development to address some significant engagement and retention drivers.
Currently, only 48% of employees’ report that their top management is doing a good job of providing effective leadership and less than half of employees think their senior managers care about their well-being. Further, less than half think that their bosses have time for the people aspects of their jobs. These findings indicate some clear opportunities for leadership development.
Leadership Development Feature