Undermine your organization's atmosphere not to impede leaders' advancement opportunities.
Empowering Leaders: A Culture that Nurtures Growth
Effective leadership development hinges on a company culture that aligns with the organization's values and promotes desired behaviors. While individual training programs are indispensable, they aren't enough to foster genuine leadership change and permanent behavioral alteration. This is where the actions of the leadership team come into play, playing a pivotal role in creating an environment conducive to leadership skill development.
The All-too-Common Barrier
Many potential managers attend training programs and acquire valuable skills, but often falter in applying them due to a work environment that doesn't support such behaviors. Traditional leadership development programs often focus excessively on the individual, disregarding the impact of the organizational context.
The Influence of Context
One's environment significantly shapes behavior. The norms and expectations of one's peers carry great weight - people are more inclined to adopt behaviors they encounter frequently. If we witness others behaving in a particular manner, we are more likely to emulate their actions. This insight is underscored by experts like Edgar Schein, who emphasize that leaders' actions mold the culture. Leaders who shy away from challenging discussions impart the message that such actions are insignificant. Their actions, not just their words, communicate what behaviors are valued and expected.
The Pivotal Role of Senior Leaders
Senior leaders wield significant influence over shaping the environment for leadership development. Their actions speak louder than their words: if they do not exhibit the desired behaviors, leadership development initiatives become ineffective.
They should cultivate an environment that encourages and reinforces leadership development. This entails demonstrating the desired behaviors, recognizing and rewarding leadership, and creating opportunities for growth and learning. Moreover, they must ensure that performance management systems, remuneration structures, and recruitment processes align with the desired leadership behaviors.
Crafting a Culture that Cultivates Leaders
Insights from companies like Intuit offer valuable lessons for building a culture conducive to effective leadership development. Here are four key actions they've taken:
- Articulate a Clear Leadership - Define what good leadership looks like at your company by concentrating on three core capabilities: Lead with clarity, Foster a high-performance culture, and Achieve winning results. Establish a leadership framework outlining desired behaviors.
- Model Leadership - Senior leaders should personally embody the desired behaviors and kick off leadership development efforts by sharing their experiences. Leaders should receive feedback on their demonstration of these behaviors and set development goals based on that feedback.
- Teach Leadership - Train leaders to become educators, allowing them to leverage their experiences and passion when leading training programs. leaders should develop a leadership philosophy and approach.
- Recognize and Reinforce Leadership - Tailor talent management systems around the desired leadership behaviors by embedding the leadership framework into hiring, onboarding, performance management, and promotion processes. Recognize and reward leaders who embody the desired behaviors.
The Outcome
By nurturing a culture that supports leadership development, companies can empower individuals like Taylor to apply their skills and become impactful leaders. This requires concerted efforts from senior leaders to model the desired behaviors, provide opportunities for growth, and align organizational systems and processes to support leadership development. Many organizations face similar challenges, and this cultural shift could offer hope for improvement in leadership development efforts.
Empowering Your Leaders: Combating Culture Stifle in Leadership Development by Joel Constable, August 03, 2023
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- In order to establish a business environment that encourages professional growth and fosters effective leadership, senior leaders should model the desired behaviors, provide opportunities for training and development, and ensure that performance management, compensation, and recruitment systems reflect the company's leadership values.
- A comprehensive leadership development approach should encompass articulating a clear leadership vision, modeling these behaviors at the senior level, educating leaders to deliver training programs, and reinforcing leadership development through talent management systems, all aimed at creating a culture where individuals like Taylor can excel and become impactful leaders in the finance, business, and careers sectors.
