This article offers some practical ways to develop leaders, and I really like that. Of course, practical rarely translates into easy, does it!? Understand yourself, of course — but what a process! Build Relationships — yes! and that means building skills, opening your heart and mind to diversity, and finding commonalities even with the most difficult people. Produce results – certainly! The complexities there are too many to summarize. And help chart careers — not just jobs — that’s the kind of attention employees respond to! But charting careers, and all of the other relationship-focused development strategies here, require a commitment to learning and growing, listening and expanding. It’s good management, good leadership, again — simple but not easy! It is a good thing there are coaches, meaningful leadership training programs and friends/mentors who hold us to our best selves, so we can become the leaders we want to be!
Studies by the Hay Group, Aon Hewitt, Towers Watson, Gallup, and other consulting firms have clearly established the important role leaders play in an employee’s well-being, engagement, and performance.
In its own research into employee work passion, The Ken Blanchard Companies has found significant correlations between perceptions of leader behavior, employee affect, and subsequent intentions to stay with a company, endorse the organization as a good place to work, and perform at a high level.
So why don’t more organizations invest in developing their leaders? What keeps them from taking steps in the right direction?
“For a lot of organizations, it’s just not part of their founding DNA,” says consultant and author Scott Blanchard in the latest issue of Ignite. “Some companies don’t grow up with it.”
That can be a challenge for managers and individuals looking to grow and develop within those cultures. People who want to…
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