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With only a couple of days left till the HR.com webinar on “Transformational Leadership and Mentoring” I thought I should touch on some things that I have been observing.
My Top Five Observations:
1. We spend a lot of money on leadership development. In 2009 US companies spent approximately $12B on leadership development training – which equates to about 24% of their training budget. Other studies place the number around 21%. We spend a lot of money on developing our future leaders.
2. We have a deficit of leadership talent. In a Harvard Business Review Blog article it was quoted that nearly 60% of companies are facing a lack of leadership that is impeding their performance today. Another 31% anticipate that a lack of leadership talent will impede their performance over the next several years.
3. There is uncertainty around what type of leader should I be to lead my company into the future? Different leadership experts will tell you that the best answer to this is that you may adopt a number of different styles and you would use each style where the situation warrants it. I am more inclined to look at it from what is my dominant style – which one am I best at (strength based leadership) and develop those skills to the best of my ability. That is where I find transformational leadership to be a front runner. It is very much people focused and focused on the development of others. That is our future leader.
4. We spend a lot of money on training but we have no follow through after the training has been completed. I have seen it far too often where we send people off on expensive leadership training and the organization does not follow through on the training. The employee comes back and they are told, “You are now a leader – go forth, lead and manage!” The baby leader or manager encounters some challenges in the first week that did not work out like they had learnt in the classroom and they are frozen. They are unable to deal with the situation or choose to deal with it poorly. Their credibility begins to suffer. Implement a mentoring process as part of your leadership development program and you are on the way to creating great leaders for the future. It has been said that the best learning comes from real life experiences. That can be a positive learning experience with a mentor as your guide for the journey.
5. Most leadership programs target senior people – where is our succession planning? I see this far too often for it to be viewed as a one of! Most organizations that have a success plan – do very little to develop the successor(s). The people that are getting the training are those already in senior roles and who are more than likely already planning their exit strategy. Ironically the exit strategy does not include a knowledge transfer strategy with their identified successor!
One could easily develop a Top Ten (10) list as I ponder all that I have read and seen over the years. The interesting element of all this is that most organizations are not ready to accept that trouble is brewing just over the horizon. This will impact organizations of all sizes and in all industries. So now we add yet another business challenge that we have to work with. Those are, talent shortages, lack of succession planning, aging work force, Generation “Y” that will change jobs 20 times over the course of their career, a disengaged work force and a leadership talent void. For the small to medium sized business this could mean the eventual closure of your business and the end to your legacy in the community that has come to depend on you.
Ultimately it seems that, by and large, people are no longer afraid of wanting to improve their leadership qualities. With companies like Aubrey Daniels International catering for a market who are seeking courses in diverse areas like behavioral leadership and safety solutions, it's expected that the general desire for self-improvement training will continue well into the future.
The time has come to move forward. Embrace the “power of mentoring” and begin the journey to keep your legacy alive.
References:
2. http://compforce.typepad.com/compensation_force/2008/02/companies-spend.html
4. http://www.businessthoughts.org/leadership/What-Kind-of-Leader-Should-I-Be--21.html