Challenges in leadership development programs is a major concern for any CEO as there are so many to choose from and so little time. Or resources. Or decent programs. The business of training and development is a $366 billion a year industry.
Yes, you did read that correctly. The most annoying thing is that a lot of those programs are not working as they should and there is a whole range of reasons why. Leadership training is so important to any business strategy that’s been designed to keep your global organization adaptable and innovative. But if the training is not up to standard, you run the risk of spending a lot of money and time, and not getting the value you hoped for.
Challenges in leadership development
Listed here are few challenges that’ll hit you when implementing a leadership development program and also on how do you deal with challenges.
Generic leadership development content
Leadership development programs that reminds you of the content you learned 20 years ago at university is generic and not up-to-date. You know in your leadership heart of hearts that the whole landscape has changed since then. Leadership styles and techniques have moved on, the impact of technology has permanently changed the way we interact with consumers and manage our teams. The qualification looks nice on paper, but the outdated content will fail to deliver that innovative spirit you need your leaders to have.
Generic training creates generic, mediocre managers. You’ll get by, but it’ll be nothing to write home about. So how to overcome this leadership challenge?
Build your own leadership development program
Getting an expert will require a lot of time and resources, but by doing this you create an opportunity to embark on a training journey that will help the leaders in the organization discharge their leadership duties more effectively. That is the end goal after all. You want to be as prepared as possible to manage the unique challenges presented by the industry and the nature of the teams that are being led.
Building your own program makes sense to capture all of that knowledge that will benefit your up-and-coming leadership team.
Customize leadership development program with training organization
Building leadership development program from scratch might not be completely necessary. Working with an external training organization to build a custom program for one’s industry is a great solution to the problem of generic content. Any excellent leadership development training provider should be able to customize the program to suit the individual needs presented by your organization.
The advantage of doing it this way is that leadership development schools are very well connected, which means they can draw on a wide range of expertise to build a program that really stands head and shoulders above the rest.
Programs that are not extensive
One of the challenges in leadership development for an organization is standardizing the quality of leadership development training across the business. Global organizations feel this more acutely because of the geographical barriers presented by doing business across borders. This means that the overall development of your leaders will become lopsided. Some will have the tools and others won’t.
Traditional classroom-based learning is a great idea if everybody is physically in the same location, but if everybody is everywhere, what’s the answer?
Take advantage of virtual learning
Thanks to the internet you can now deliver high quality courses online and leadership development programs are not excluded from this. Creating or making use of an existing virtual learning platform will make your leadership development goals scalable. You can use training videos, online exercises, interactive virtual classrooms and video calls which will deliver that immersive training experience without physical presence.
Actionable application of the program
The temptation of many leadership programs is to reflect heavily on ‘leadership laws’ and the achievements of successful leaders without encouraging the practical application of that knowledge. One way to overcome leadership challenges is to focus more on the actionable rather than the philosophical.
So how do you go about this challenge in leadership development and have a streamlined leadership development program?
Context over content
Context should always triumph over content; every module should tie to either the personal development of the leader in training or it should tie to a context specific to your organization. Knowledge gained should be able to equip leaders to manage in the environments they find themselves in.
At this stage, it’s likely that you’ve already gotten a foundational knowledge around leadership, so it’s a waste of your time and resources to repeat those learnings in-depth. The more niche you are, the more effective you are likely to be.
Importance of company culture
One of the problems you may encounter is sending your leaders on a leadership development course that disconnects them from the company culture. In order to be effective, they are going to need to have a clear understanding of the culture of the organization so that they can seamlessly integrate innovative strategies without alienating and discouraging their teams.
So how do you deal with this challenge as a leader?
Choose modules that create transformational leadership
Transformational leadership modules will help global leaders understand the dynamics that affect whether the changes they want to implement will be successful or not. An excellent leadership program will make sure that leaders can keep one eye on what is happening in the present within their teams and another eye on the kind of innovations that change the game completely.
Make sure this aspect of leadership development is weaved into the program — you will never get the results you desire without it.
Keep eye on return on investment
Last but not least, the real challenge is actually seeing the return on your investment.
Decide on what improvement needed in leadership development program
Developing soft skills like leadership techniques can be difficult to quantify in terms of results but there are things you can track.
Metrics like increased revenue, decreased staff turnover, general staff satisfaction, and team cohesion go a long way to showing you that the investment has been worth it. Ensure that at the time of launching you have a clear idea what the leadership development program should have a positive impact on. If data has not been collected initially, you won’t be able to track the changes.
Leadership development programs have the capacity to add huge amounts of value to your organization. Many programs will compete for your attention but pick a program that will genuinely give you what you need to succeed as a leader and help you and your company grow.
