Reimagine your approach to leadership development

Nowadays, it sometimes feels like the 21st century learner won’t even stay in their job, much less in the classroom. As learning and development professionals, it is our responsibility to design learning content to meet them where they are at, with their unique gaps. If we have learned anything from our journey toward a post-pandemic world, it is that people want options. When it comes to developing leaders, the same holds true.

Unfortunately, time and money are wasted every year forcing leaders through classes they may not need, and likely will not benefit from. Why do we do this? We believe that all leaders must all possess the same skills to be successful, so clearly, we must train them in these areas to ensure that they will be able to grow and be successful. If every would-be leader came to us as a blank slate with no knowledge, skills or abilities, then this might just work. 

But over the past year, it struck me: Rather than developing leaders through a series of required, standardized training, we would be better served to assess leaders in a series of competencies that are required to be successful in their jobs. Then, we could build content to help them grow only in the competencies where they have skill gaps.

For instance, let’s assume that to be a successful leader, you must be skilled in communication, motivation, accountability, performance management and strategic thinking. With a group of blank-slate leaders, we might be tempted to build classes around these five competencies and require all new supervisors and managers to attend these classes. The problem is that not all leaders come to us with the same level of proficiency in each of these skills.

Now, imagine that we are delivering learning to three new supervisors: Barry, Sue and Maria. If Barry excels at communication but struggles in the other four areas, perhaps he should spend a considerable amount of time learning about those competencies and practicing them in his daily work. Although it is likely that spending any time in training on communication skills would not be beneficial for him.

Sue may struggle in motivation and performance management, but have some skills in the other three areas. It may be valuable for her to spend less time in communication, accountability and strategic thinking, but she will still likely need to work somewhat on each of them.

Meanwhile, Maria may have vast experience with each of the five competency areas, and not require any training or formal learning whatsoever. So why are we putting them all through the same standard training?

Leadership development of the future needs to be individualized, flexible and oftentimes asynchronous. This could look like a series of content that builds on itself — beginning with the most fundamental concepts being delivered in online, self-paced classes, to more intermediate skills being facilitated in live classes. As learners continue to grow in knowledge, they may begin to teach others, and eventually may become subject matter experts. 

If I want someone with no experience in accountability to become a subject matter expert, that will never be fully achieved in the classroom, and will likely take years. However, if we break it into smaller steps, we can teach them about accountability and why it is important through a series of online modules. We can facilitate them through a live class to discuss how to hold other people and themselves accountable. 

There may be a series of intentional work assignments, coaching and mentoring sessions or opportunities for them to shadow or work with others who have mastered the art of accountability. Eventually, they may begin sharing what they have learned with others who are less skilled, as well as collaborating with their peers on how they find success in accountability.

To cross that final hump into subject matter expertise, though, there must be a desire that comes from within the individual to transition from consuming content on accountability to creating content. They give the keynote speeches, write the articles and become the person others go to for their take on how to hold people accountable… after many, many years of work and learning.

Looking back to Barry, Sue and Maria: If we wanted all three to become subject matter experts in accountability, Barry may likely need to begin with the online modules. Sue may benefit from starting with the live classes and some intentional work assignments. However, Maria may be able to begin discussing the concepts of accountability with her peers and may be someone that Barry and Sue could come to for some coaching and mentoring.

The key to all of this is learning where your leaders are at and offering enough content for them to stay engaged in learning without wasting time or money!