In too many cases, people find themselves promoted to leadership positions without being given enough training or guidance to succeed at their new jobs. In fact, one-third of employers say they do not teach first-time leaders important skills such as budget oversight and project management, according to a survey from the Institute for Corporate Productivity.
Nearly four of 10 employers say they spend two days or less each year training new leaders , the survey reports. Being a leader means constantly attempting to grasp and master complexities involving industry shifts, organizational politics, personality clashes and conflicting expectations among senior leaders, customers and your teams. At the end of the day, many leaders wonder if they've ever accomplished anything of value, according to authors Linda Hill and Kent Lineback. In their book Being the Boss: The 3 Imperatives for Becoming a Great Leader, Hill and Lineback explore the universal challenges that face first-time leaders, and break things down into three core areas on which to focus: managing yourself, managing your network, and managing your team.
Do you get enough leadership training and mentoring to make you an effective leader?
Here are some strategic leadership nurturing options to consider:
ReplyDeleteRotational Programs. Put your leaders in six-month roles in the business units. This allows them to become much more knowledgeable about the operational aspects of the business. More importantly, it gives them exposure, so they become known across the organization.
Education. Continuing education and conferences are fine, but allow your leaders to enroll in a part-time degree program where they get exposed to a broader education and get to network with other executives. A committed degree program also nurtures a critical and reflective person, one who can think in the abstract—beyond just the concrete needs of the business today.
Diversity. This issue is of paramount importance to our future generations. Diversity goes beyond the legal and corporate requirements. The world is flat, as they say, and having a pool of diverse candidates provides a company with broad knowledge and enhanced decisions. Leaders must promote more women and more ethnicity.
Up and Out. Do not worry about losing those in whom you invest. It happens—and should happen. Great companies develop talented workers and lose some of them; there are only so many positions at the top.
Excellent piece, Mel! From the peanut gallery -- a young professional's perspective:
ReplyDeleteI am finding that often 'enough' nurturing is overlooked because a lot of stock is put in the potential, short-term achievement, so as a result young leaders may not be adequately prepared enough because the basics weren't fully cultivated and mastered in the 'long-term' holistic view of career path.
For the young professional who's seeking guidance, it isn't sufficient to grow while reaching out blindly in the dark, or purely by emulation. Personal attention, and some 101 is necessary. I'm realizing there are dimensions of leadership that are not completely intuitive. The young leader seems to need an all-around training that is multi-dimensional from socialization, expertise, and overall career management that he/she in turn can methodically turn around to nurture junior professional potential.
Young leaders may not realize what they need to put into their junior upcoming leaders if they themselves have not mastered these basics of well-rounded bases within themselves for growing other talent. This creates corporate headaches galore.
Know thyself, the old adage goes. So what can the senior leadership do in their super busy time during an economic downturn that has everyone working double time. Everyone knows executive life has little time to allocate to 'extras.'
My own gut-feeling as a young professional is that the senior leadership needs to be more invested in succession. It needs to recognize the long-term value of nurturing not as an 'extra' but as a fundamental pivotal part of their legacy as an executive to the workforce. What they teach is how the business will be run tomorrow.
In turn, this teaches the young professional that solid training is not a privilege, but a requirement for great leadership.
I'm personally learning I have to craft the map of what the basics are and then choose the leaders to engage who will be responsive to showing me, because leaving it outside these young hands proves itself to be tantamount to failure, as I've recently learned.
If I intend to learn to be an effective leader, right now, I'm learning that first and foremost, I have to scour my own ranks to find a senior leadership that is receptive to the idea of mentoring me...
A question for you: What does senior leadership look for in the young leadership aside from emulation and mimicry? And how do those young professionals in my position navigate synthesized learning versus emulated replication?
I am eager to learn, but I feel like making myself visible as a candidate for cultivation by the senior leadership leaves me just as open to its targeting when a firedrill is happening and someone needs to be 'blamed'... it's a catch-22 ... surely I must be looking at this incorrectly?
i saw your blog and thanks for your valuable knowledge....
ReplyDeleteDesai Group can understand exact requirement of user and base on it they provide the complete business solution that can help to generate more revenue for your
business. if you are intersted to know more information about Business Growth so CLICK HERE..
innovation training