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How committed are your leaders?
Despite all the buzz around the word leadership many are still finding it hard to gain enough time commitment from managers to take part in significant leadership development.
On 14 February 2008, Human Qualities ran the latest in our series of seminars. This was the 18th event and the topic was ‘Leadership Discovery: Transform your Managers into Leaders’.
This time we opted for a change of time and scenery. Delegates were invited for a breakfast in the bright and airy atmosphere of The Old Laundry near Baker Street. It proved to be a popular choice and representatives of over 20 organisations attended. We received consistently positive feedback on this new venue and look forward to seeing many of you there again in the future.
The main topic of the day was the official launch of our Leadership Discovery programme. Rod Vincent, founding partner of Human Qualities, introduced the philosophy and approach behind Leadership Discovery. Helen Fosh elaborated on this with a case study and quotations from the delegates who had undergone exciting transformations during the programme.
This was followed by an open forum with a lively debate on topical issues faced by the delegates. There were many themes to this discussion but we just wanted to highlight one: how to gain buy-in.
Some leadership development specialists seem to be struggling to get the commitment they would like from managers to attend leadership programmes. For example, some of our delegates reported that a three day programme would be much too long for their managers. This is particularly the case where the delegates in question are giving up billable time to attend any development – professional services such as lawyers, for example.
There are no easy answers to this, and delegates shared a variety of approaches to gaining commitment. Some that caught our attention, or come from our own experience, are:
Role-modelling from the top is essential. Unless you have a true belief in the importance of strong leadership from the most senior managers, you are swimming against the tide. We’ve found it essential to engage with the key stakeholders and get them involved. Some of our most successful leadership interventions have started with the CEO and top team.
Make it part of the day job. When managers say they don’t have time for leadership they probably haven’t grasped that it’s not an optional extra. It is only when they see it as a fundamental part of what they are paid to do that they will be open to receiving development to do it better. This can be addressed by communication from the top, and also by reward and recognition – are they paid more to do it well?
Demonstrate the business benefits. To engage with managers in commercial roles you have to show that your leadership development adds value to the business. The case study we presented meant working alongside senior financial managers who wanted the programme to have a direct impact on the effectiveness of high potential managers.
In the case of Leadership Discovery, we have found that the profound depth of the experience does generate excitement in line managers. In fact our most enthusiastic programme sponsors are senior line managers rather than the HR function – and that’s probably the way it should be. If you let them see the results, they want more.
