Business Operations

By Mike Leigh

Executive Summary:

The state of leadership effectiveness in organizations is not good.

Send your questions or comments to Mike@ OpXSolutionsllc.com

State of leadership

There is nearly universal agreement that strong leadership pays huge dividends, and now more than ever, leadership skills are needed to help organizations attract and retain their workforce. You would think that most organizations would be investing in effective leadership development (LD).

Consider a recent Fortune survey where only 7% of CEOs believe their companies are building effective global leaders, and only 10% believe their LD initiatives have a clear business impact. Maybe that’s why roughly half of all managers receive no leadership training.

Effective leadership development is possible and needed in most organizations, but most popular methods don’t work. Books, podcasts, seminars, webinars, E-learning modules, and most university courses are simply not effective.

That last statement might be controversial, but consider this – when have you seen these methods result in leadership behavior changes and measurable results for their organization? The information and knowledge they provide are good, but knowledge alone doesn’t change behavior. Unless LD training, or any other training, creates behavior change and measurable results, there will be no impact for the organization. To be effective, LD methods should incorporate the following:

• Mindset/Attitude change – Without changing the attitudes that drive behavior, leaders won’t put into practice the new knowledge they gain.

• Spaced repetition – Psychology and neuroscience show that we quickly forget information when we are exposed to it only once. Repetitive exposure, spaced over time, is needed for long-term retention. For this reason, advertisers bombard us repetitively with their ads, so we internalize their message, remember it, and change our attitude toward their products.

• On-the-job application / mentorship – Until a leader puts new concepts into practice, the learning is not complete.

Application is even more effective with a mentor or coach to provide guidance and feedback. Adults typically retain just 10% of what they hear in classroom lectures, versus two-thirds when they learn by doing (McKinsey

Quarterly).

• Goal-focused objectives – Isn’t this why we train people – to achieve better organizational results? Training efforts should include clear, measurable objectives and out comes that help the organization, and its leaders, improve.

Consider these elements to ensure leadership development efforts are effective and not just a waste of money.