Three Paths to Development

Welcome back!

If you thought effective leadership development was all about teaching people new ways to lead, think again. The ultimate aim of any development is to enhance the impact that existing leaders have in your organisation. And, as I will show you in this article, you can use three different paths to achieve this result:

3 Paths to Effective Leadership Development

1. The tried and true
2. Executive renewal
3. Connection and alignment

Path 1: The Tried and True

There is absolutely nothing wrong with teaching managers new things about leadership. We know a great deal about what effective leaders do, and connecting leaders to that knowledge is a worthy endeavour.

However, you should not assume that you are the font of all knowledge and that your managers are just empty vessels waiting to be filled with your pearls of wisdom. Nor should you operate under the assumption that “knowing what to do” is the same as “doing what you know”. Developing leadership skills and turning these into lasting habits requires a very different approach to the traditional academic model of learning.

Path 2: Conscious Renewal

Leading other people can often be thankless and draining work. The countless demands on a manager’s time, coupled with the irrational nature of the people around them, only add to this stress. Over time, this relentless giving of themselves while fending off attacks from others gives rise to what psychologists call the sacrifice syndrome. However, you don’t need to be a psychologist to recognise the signs: cynicism, resignation, marking time and lacklustre mediocrity.

Enhancing the impact of these leaders requires renewal, not skill development. Athletes, musicians and other performers intrinsically understand that they cannot perform at their peak all of the time. They cycle between intense periods of giving their all, periods of more moderate maintenance and conscious periods of recuperation. However, executive renewal is far more than a little bit of R&R. It requires deep levels of introspection, a rediscovering of purpose and a rekindling of the passionate hope that fuels a leader’s energy.

Path 3: Connection and Alignment

Traditionally, efforts to develop leadership have focused on the skills and capabilities of individual leaders. Yet, one of the most notable trends in leadership development in this century is the idea that you can also strengthen the impact your leaders have by connecting them to each other and having them work out ways of aligning their efforts.

Leaders, by their very nature, are not very good at following. Their inclination to take charge and establish a direction for others to follow often results in turf wars and a silo mentality. Within such an environment, it is all too common for one person’s solution to inadvertently become a problem for someone else in another part of the organisation.

However, when leaders work like an orchestra, with each member sharing their gifts and playing a role that complements the work of other leaders around them, they can produce results that that no single leader could achieve on their own.