Monday, March 30, 2009

Leadership Development

By Bart Icles

Organizations these days face a lot of changes, most of which are unlike those that they have encountered before. As organizations deal with changes and challenges, it is vital that they are led by people who have a clear idea of what leadership is and its role in the development of the organization. This trend has given rise to the concept of leadership development.

Most people think that leadership is merely being on top of the hierarchy. Being the first, the strongest, the most popular, and the biggest are oftentimes thought of as traits of a leader. In an organization, leadership takes a more profound description - leadership is the direction of efforts to a common goal and it influences people on many different aspects. In setting the direction and in guiding others to pursue such a direction, leaders must continually adapt to the different factors that affect the organization. Leaders must be able to manage their own learning as they need to be kept highly motivated and self directed. Thus, the concept of leadership development was born.

Leadership development requires continuous learning. There are numerous methods and programs available for leadership training and development. Such methods and programs can be formal or informal. Others may be directed by a third party or they can come in self-paced learning styles. Leadership development programs come in a variety of these combinations, whatever best suits the organizational leaders.

In preparing leadership development programs, there are some key points that one must keep in mind. Start with determining the goals of the leadership training. An easy way to kick things off is through identifying gaps in performance, growth, and opportunities. Conducting self assessments and gathering input from other members of the organization would also be valuable. It is also important to identify competencies present in the organization and those that the organization still need. Leaders must possess the skills needed in various areas of knowledge and in different roles and functions.

Next to be determined are the learning objectives and the activities that would facilitate the achievement of such goals. Then, you can move on to developing all the materials that would help leaders better understand and visualize the objectives of the program. Implementing the leadership training program would come next. Include short tests to ascertain that participants are able to understand new information and the training materials. See to it that continuous feedback, coaching, and mentoring are present in rolling out the leadership training program. Keep track of changes that might occur during implementation, have a plan for redesigning program should there be changes, and always check how the program can be effectively communicated to the right people - the organizational leaders.

Evaluation is critical area in leadership development. Not only should the organizational leaders be evaluated, it is also as important to assess the leadership training program. Leadership development is a continuous process - this makes assessments vital to the concept. Other than evaluation, there should also be follow-up so that leadership is not left to stand still in just one area and to ensure that leadership is constantly meeting the needs of the changing organization.

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