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PT Strategic Development for Managers |
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Improving Performance |
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Eventually, most organizations learn that they do not have a sufficient pool of future leaders. Ad-hoc development of leadership skills does not lead to a sufficient number of people ready for senior positions. Even managers that understand the development of individual leadership skills often struggle to develop a targeted leadership development program.
How do you establish a leadership development program? First, identify a pool of future leaders. This is usually based on a combination of strong past performance and strong future potential, but there are many ways of calculating both of these. Secondly, establish concrete objectives for the program -- how will we know if we have succeeded? Thirdly, build support for the program among all managers.
What does such a program include? First, it is generally based on some form of succession plan. Leadership skills are learned through experience, so a strategy for getting candidates appropriate experience is a logical starting point. Challenging, new jobs are absolutely the best way to develop leadership skills. In fact, challenge is the common element of all leadership develop opportunities.
Beyond appropriate job experience, however, there are a number of other tools we often use:
 | Job Enhancement: Making the employee's current job larger. By giving additional responsibilities, the future leader can be challenged and will develop new skills and abilities to handle skills of greater complexity in the future. The key is to add activities which extend the employee's range of skills, not just assigning additional tasks. |
| Task Forces, Cross-functional Teams, etc: Serving on a Task Force can provide valuable exposure to different areas of an organization, giving a broader perspective on organizational challenges. Leading a Task Force provides invaluable experience in motivating a group of people with diverse interests, and is one of the best ways we know to develop leadership. |
| Mentoring: The use of a structured, well-designed mentoring program can give employees knowledge of different parts of an organization, an example of an effective leader, and a guide to managing his or her own career. |
| Use of an External Coach: In some cases, employees will be able to become leaders faster when assisted by an external coach. Such assistance needs to be structured, with specific deliverables and "performance contracts" agreed by the coach, the employee and his/her immediate supervisor. PT SDM Indonesia offers executive coaching services; click here for more information. |
| Classroom Training: While opinions vary, most observers do not believe that classroom courses are significant influences on leadership. The skills and behaviours we associate with leadership are learned through experience only, in our opinion. |
Finally, as in any development program, it is necessary to build in a schedule for monitoring progress and evaluating the program, and evaluating the progress each participant has made.
Email us for more information on institutionalizing your leadership development activities.