Leadership - Training
Leadership training
Starting at the top
Leadership training requires support from the top. If this is not forthcoming training at the lower levels will be fragmented and lack direction.
Most managers are used to carrying out processes against the clock to achieve their goals.
This tends to make them want to get on with achieving their goals and time spent thinking is often reduced.
The trouble is, you will have to take time out to think about issues and where you are going before you start and people are often reluctant to do this.
In terms of leadership, organisations may try to look for a quick fix.
If you develop leaders using external training consultants make sure you maintain control over the content.
Vision of what?
Many good leaders will know about creating and casting a vision for the organisation.
What is less obvious is having a vision for people development.
This should be the basis for leadership training.
One key aspect is making sure individuals are released for leadership training.
This needs to be ingrained into the company culture.
The ‘people vision’ can touch on the structure required to implement leadership well, whilst improving the management efficiency of the organisation. For example, many layers of management could be removed or modified in order to make the decision making process swifter.
It has to be made clear to individuals that they are responsible for their own development and it can’t all be left to the company.
Budget
The training budget often gets stretched.
There may be a tendency for more money to be spent at the higher levels for training.
This should not be the case. The training budget should be spent where it is needed most without favouring any particular level of leadership.
The Pareto principle applies to the allocation of the budget for training as well as the effort of training.
That is, put 80% of the budget into 20% of the areas that may be considered the most fruitful.
Timing
Whilst you can teach an old dog new tricks it can be more difficult.
Older and more experienced people are often resistant to change and may be less responsive to training.
It is therefore important to get across the message of good leadership as soon as possible.
This will usually mean training at the lowest levels of leadership requirement.
This makes sense as people will move up the levels taking with them leadership techniques as they gain experience and knowledge.
For some if they miss the opportunity to learn they never will.
In practice, this means training at the team leader level.
This will be more efficient as it is will be easier to tell these leaders to attend the courses.
Senior personnel often have legitimate excuses for missing such courses.
If you try to train key aspects of leadership too early the individual may not have the maturity and dedication required to take on board the necessary information.
Current position
Before you begin to consider a plan for leadership training you will need to assess the current position.
- How many team leaders do you have?
- How long have they held the position?
- What skills do they have currently?
- Do they need extra training – technical or other?
- What leadership programmes already exist?
- How many people are on them?
- What is their cost?
- What is the cost per head?
- Is it internal or external training?
- How is it taught?
Training programmes should have been evaluated as to their effectiveness.
This effectiveness should be reviewed at intervals to see if the training had indeed been worthwhile.
You might find that many of the senior personnel do not need training at the basic level but just a revisit of the principles.
Finding someone for high level positions is not that easy.
On the one hand you can develop leaders in house that are familiar with the business and will eventually reach the top.
This avenue can breed leaders that may have a narrow view of the business and maintain the status quo and lack the ability to instigate any change that may be required for a future vision.
If you choose to recruit a leader externally you may not be able to obtain one of the right calibre.
Very few employees seem to rate the quality of their current leaders and the commitment of their organisations to fund the necessary training.
Many organisations do not appear to have a leadership training development plan.
Senior managers may reach a stage in their development where all training comes to a standstill.
This could be due to time constraints or a lack of desire to continue developing.
Whenever you use a particular course it may be an idea to go along yourself on occasion as this approach affords some validity of the course. If you speak at the introduction of a course then keep it simple and free from jargon.
Make any leadership examples relevant to the organisation.
How many leaders?
How many leaders does your organisation need?
If you know exactly how many you need and you cater for this number your leadership development plan will eventually fail.
A good organisation should develop many more leaders than it needs.
Many of the leaders will leave for employment elsewhere others will not reach the right level of competence.
In short, you should expect to lose some, so develop an excess.
Selection process
This is covered in more detail next [see Leadership training selection].