Although the executive education debate still rages on whether leadership is learned or innate, there is no doubt that the subject is being taught.
Training interventions were originally built around the classroom, and many organizations have been reluctant to stray from their roots.
Back in October 2003, BusinessWeek reported that 134 companies from 20 nations spent $210 million to enroll 21,000 employees in executive leadership programs. Since leadership development is not an event, that's a significant investment in classroom activities that may or may not produce company leaders or even better managers.
Stanford University is introduced leadership coaching into their MBA program and the University of Michigan Executive Education Program offers a 3-day "Becoming an Exceptional Coach" for about $4,000. Compare these classroom training programs with six-months of weekly personal executive coaching for under $8,000 to create a positive leadership mindset.
A survey of 3,000 leaders and associates in 117 organizations reported that 63% plan to increase spending on leadership development programs that 75% of HR executives surveyed don't give a high quality rating to.
The paradox of spending more on what's not working is due to leadership development being seen as a classroom event. Yet, you don't fix people by sending them off to training. Managers need ongoing coaching to get in the habit of being good leaders.
The survey reported that two-thirds of the respondents said leaders at their company exhibited at least one potentially fatal flaw or "derailer"--a personality attribute that interferes with leadership effectiveness. Derailers are more personality-oriented than skill-based and are more difficult to change than teaching someone a new skill.
For all the money spent on them, many still don't know if leadership programs work.
Bottom Line: Leadership development is self-development. Learning how to not micromanage, not be overly concrete, not fail to explicitly state expectations and other unproductive inter-personal behavior only happens through the increased self-awareness gained in a personal coaching or mentoring relationship.
Effective leadership development produces higher-performing leaders and organizations. Companies with the most mature leadership-development practices report stronger bench strength, higher retention rates and accelerated business growth.
Smart leaders are realizing that most learning happens outside the classroom walls and organizations are building more collaborative and experiential components into their development programs.
Generally, the more skills a leader acquires, the less time he or she spends in formal training. Their newly learned skills are reinforced through on-the-job activities and exposure to others through coaching, feedback, networking and discussion groups.
As leaders progress through the ranks, the development profile becomes even more heavily weighted toward the exposure and experiential components. By the time an individual reaches a senior leadership position, approximately half of the development is focused on coaching, mentoring, peer networking and job-rotational experiences, with less time in formal education programs.
Source: Human Resource Executive, July 2012
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