Leadership Lessons
A recent membership survey from the Canadian Society for Training and Development listed the following as the top priority for workplace learning and performance practitioners:
Leadership and Development 70.7%
This is consistent with research findings from Bersin & Associates. A recent Bersin report listed leadership development as one of the top trends for 2007. From the report:
“Leadership development takes center stage – Research in 2006 showed leadership development and management training to be the highest area of program spending. Spending will likely be higher in 2007 as companies scramble to fill the leadership pipeline.”
For my clients, leadership development is now front and centre. The stakes are high, and results are demanded. The question now becomes: What will work in corporate leadership development?
Those of you that have been following my learning experiment with ChinesePod have seen that I have made some observations about what works for me as an adult learner. I think we can apply some of these principles to corporate leadership development programs:
1. Tailored program: I see a shift away from the one size fits all business school style courses towards more customized, personalized and contextualized learning.
Leadership development programs will increasingly blend best practices in instructor led training with leading edge action learning, e-learning, and virtual collaboration techniques. Leaders are looking for “Just What I Want” learning.
2. Learning at my own pace: Leaders need to be in control of when and how they learn. The design of a good leadership development program should provide flexibility for learners to determine their own pace.
3. Self Service: Leaders should be provided with a menu of learning options that they can access on a self service basis. This menu could include courseware, learning activities, job aids, archived audio and video presentations, manuals, PDF articles, self assessment tools and more.
4. One to one coaching and mentoring: I often hear from leaders I work with that they feel isolated. They find it difficult to discuss personal development issues with colleagues and co-workers. Working with a coach or a mentor will accelerate the leadership development process by providing access to positive and constructive dialogue about workplace leadership issues.
5. Community: A community of practice (CoP) refers to the process of social learning that occurs when people who have a common interest in some subject or problem collaborate over an extended period to share ideas, find solutions, and build innovations. An innovative leadership development program will finds ways to promote social networking amongst a cohort of leaders, and implement strategies that promote community building and collaboration.