Winners Are Born In Difficult Times

At best, leadership development is a fun day out, at worst it is a gut wrenching, annoying exercise that leaves you cringing as someone teaches you to suck eggs. In neither case does it make you into a leader. Harsh? Perhaps, but that’s how most managers and executives I work with see it…. and in the majority of cases, I agree.
In today’s environment, employees have to deal with complexity and ambiguity at a much higher rate than before. Functions and clear roles and responsibilities have been replaced with multiple bosses, cross-functional teams, working with partners all over the world and a general sense of never quite standing still. In this brave new world, the only constant is change. And it is managers’ ability to innovate, collaborate and adapt to a constantly changing environment that are the leadership skills we most need to develop.
Despite the billions invested in leadership development every year, the vast majority of programs fail to deliver their intended results. In the US alone, US$ 156 billion is invested in learning and development every year, or US$ 1,182 per employee ⁽¹⁾. And even though classroom training (live and virtual) is perceived to be the least effective⁽²⁾, over 50% of organizations report using it⁽³⁾.
In this tough economic climate and rapidly changing business environment, it’s not enough to advocate leadership development on the back of competency models. HR professionals these days need to show how they deliver measurable business results and develop the leaders of tomorrow.

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