Some of today’s leadership development initiatives are now generally conducted inside workplaces. These would usually feature performance support and real world skills applications.
This is done by way of several methods: training programs, coaching and mentoring, action learning and developmental assignments, among others. Real skills application means making potential leaders gain crucial skills within a working organization and facing relevant and real-time issues.
Along with proper performance support (coaching, mentoring, training, action learning, etc.) candidates are immersed with real issues, not lectures. This is in line with the ultimate goal of leadership development which necessitates action rather than just knowledge.
Learning from work
One of today’s development methods provides candidates with opportunities to learn from their present work rather than taking them out of the workplace (and presumably herded to a stolid classroom) to learn. The goal is to integrate their experiences at the workplace with other (leadership) developmental techniques.
There is now an increasing number of organizations whose CEOs are committed to teaching and developing leaders internally. (One big reason is that this leadership development is usually tied to the company’s own business goals.)
In addition, most organizations are starting to recognize leadership as an important component to jobs at all levels. As such, they are committed to producing leaders in their organizations.
Leadership development methods
Some effective leadership development methods outside of the workplace had also been noted by these organizations. One significant factor that came out: the better forecaster of effective executive leadership is emotional resonance with others rather than the expected general intelligence.
Researchers had also uncovered data that specific parts of emotional intelligence and specific behaviors are connected with effective leadership.
Effective leadership
Today, effective leadership is now commonly perceived as crucial to organizational success. Also, there is now more weight placed on leadership development than before.
Even if it is still an important factor, producing individual leaders is no longer the main target in leadership development. Also, the definition of leadership had undergone some shift these days.
More and more, leadership is perceived as not what leaders do. Rather, it is seen as a process that results from relationships – interactions of both leaders and collaborators and not just the competencies of leaders.
Experiences and business objectives
The practices on leadership development inside a working organization are geared to integrate various developmental experiences and their business objectives. This is done in order to produce a larger combined impact.
Some critics declared, however, that this approach is rather more events-based than systemic. One method of systemic leadership development is to make sure participation involves more than simple training.
Meaningful integration
They contend that there should be an array of developmental experiences to be designed and implemented that should be meaningfully integrated with one another. These efforts must also be ongoing and not just a single program or a one-time event.
Ideally, leadership development within organizations should aim in linking a variety of developmental practices (including the work itself) and those of the other HR systems and strategies.
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