What is Leadership Development? Definition and Importance

There has never been a more pressing need for leadership development. In order to thrive in the chaotic, risky, dynamic, and complex economic climate of today, leaders need to build new strong leadership skills. Furthermore, it shouldn’t be limited to a select group of people in positions at or near the C-Suite. The advent of collaborative decision-making and digitization entails the participation of employees across the board in business decisions. Thus, it is essential that they possess the required technical, interpersonal, and communication skills.

But what exactly is leadership development? Simply said, it is a combination of actions that equips present and future leaders to successfully carry out their duties. This makes it possible for professionals to develop their abilities in the areas of networking, teamwork, creativity, project management, and mentoring.

In the following piece, we’ll focus on the value of leadership development and how a business may use it.

Importance of leadership development

According to many research, the importance of leadership development lies in 4 areas:

a) Boost financial health

Companies that rank highly for their human capital investments outperform their peers in the stock market by five times. The potential for cost-cutting, generating new sources of revenue, and enhancing customer satisfaction is increased through leadership development.

b) Bring in, nurture, and retain talent

Leadership development raises job satisfaction, improves an organization’s capacity to fill talent pipeline gaps, and lowers the hassles and expenses related to turnover. Outstanding leaders find, hire, and encourage great people. A leader who lacks effective leadership abilities will find it difficult to draw in and keep top performers.

c) Drive Strategy Execution

Development for its own sake is not effective leadership development. Organizations require a leadership plan that closely aligns with the company’s business objectives and gives staff members the managerial abilities necessary to carry out that strategy. Organizations can influence the culture and business strategy through leadership development.

d) Successfully drive change

Leadership development improves people’s abilities to lead in a turbulent world. Agility is increased when firms go beyond focusing on high potentials and top executives to tap into all of the talent, they have available.

Formulating a Leadership Development Plan

Now the question is: How can a business build a practical leadership development plan? Well, keep reading, and you shall see.

1. Identify and evaluate talent

Some organisations have talent pools from which they can choose candidates for a particular leadership development plan as well as formal leadership development programmes. Some businesses, however, lack established methods for identifying and evaluating talent. It would be beneficial for them to use the “9X box grid” paradigm. It compares an employee’s potential to their current performance. For a leadership development strategy, a company should ideally choose strong potency, aces, and achievers.

2. Gain the approval of key stakeholder

A leadership strategy needs a big budget in the individual. Typically, in order for it to succeed, a budget must be set aside. Prior to moving forward, senior leadership would need to approve the budget. How closely the budget plan adheres to the company’s strategic objectives should be looked at by top management before approval. The management should also have the last say over who is chosen to take part in the leadership growth program.

3. Choose a leadership style

Potential leaders inside the company might be asked to follow a certain leadership ethos. Based on organisational culture and business objectives, perhaps. Leaders must, however, be able to work effectively in a wide range of situations due to the current level of business climate volatility and uncertainty. Although it may not come easily, this level of agility is now a necessary ability that must be learned.

4. Identify & evaluate the essential leadership skills

Implementing a leadership development plan effectively requires identifying the critical leadership abilities required for the current and future success. The foundation of the development plan is self-leadership, business leadership, and leading others. The assessment’s findings will show the employee’s competency gaps in certain areas. Making sure the upcoming generation of leaders is prepared for both foreseen crises and unanticipated ones is part of developing them.

5. Designing the leadership plan

Every employee must receive equal and adequate learning opportunities when the leadership plan is being developed. Businesses should offer their staff members self-paced learning, ancillary leadership, job shadowing, job rotation, off-site training, and certification courses to help with this. Combining these elements in the right way can help employees achieve their goals.

6. Continuous 360-degree leadership assessment

To understand if the leadership development program is effective and reaches its goals, a company needs to create a way to monitor the employee’s progress during and to determine readiness after completion of a leadership development plan. One of the ways is a 360-degree leadership assessment from key stakeholders. Continuous feedback and engagement ensure the success of the employee and the plan. This also provides an opportunity to tweak the plan’s objectives to mirror organizational changes in real-time.

Take the next step

Now that you know why investing in your employees’ leadership development is crucial, make sure you do it. However, in order to succeed as a leader, you must update tried-and-true methods, do away with those that don’t align with modern needs, grow more adaptable, and develop digital and cultural intelligence.

Most importantly, leaders must keep an eye on their team members and the leaders of tomorrow who want to be prepared to take on the problems that lie ahead. They may feel threatened by how quickly things might change, but they also look forward to the chances that emerge from crises. By developing leadership development plans, you can invest in the next generation of leaders by ensuring that the necessary talents are recognised and cultivated effectively.

Read More

• 20 Best Leadership Books to Read
• 11 Leadership Principles That Matter Most
• 27 Inspirational Leadership Quotes to Push you Toward Success
• How to Deal with Haters? 7 Most Effective Ways