We all know that strong leaders are essential to the success of any business. The big questions usually are:
"Where can I find good leaders" and "How can I develop leaders?”
Research over the last few decades has helped us understand that leadership can be developed – if you start with the right talent and provide the right type of experiences.
When thinking about developing leaders, it is important to be clear about what excellent looks like.
Objective Talent Assessment
Some companies use a competency model to assess talent while others use values or company norms to frame “what good looks like”. Whatever the model might be, it is important to create an objective way to identify emerging leaders in order to provide a sense of fairness and maintain an engaged workforce. Leaders need to make sure they are not selecting future leaders based solely on performance. They need to guard against biases and ensure objectivity by gathering multiple, independent observations when assessing their people.
Learning Through Doing and Feedback
We know that most adult learners gain skills through doing. Research on leadership development indicates, while some learning comes from training and independent study, most happens through on-the-job assignments. Since feedback is essential to learning, on-the-job assignments are not enough — you need to be willing to coach your people so that they gain the most from their experiences.
When thinking about stretch assignments, it is important to know what motivates employees. Daniel Pink, a best-selling author whose books address business, work, and behavior, suggests there are 3 core learning drivers: autonomy, mastery and purpose. It is important to embed these drivers into the experience.
The assignment needs to stretch the leader beyond her/his comfort zone. The learning experience needs to:
- Allow for initiative
- Have clear success/failure outcomes
- Provide a broader view of the organization — that could focus on strategic topics or exposure to other functions
- Require learning in new, unfamiliar situations — leaders need to learn how to rely on others who know more than they do
- Reinforce organizational values
Developing leaders does not necessarily require a large budget. It does require keen observation of your employees, thoughtful assignments that challenge people and consistent feedback loops to include on-the-spot coaching. LUMEN is a cutting edge technology that provides real time feedback and accelerates the learning cycle.