Planning for success with an effective leadership development program

To analyse the advantages which can be found with effective leadership development we must first fully consider what leadership truly consists of. Leadership can be considered, a triad of three dimensions; goal setting, aligning people, and motivating people, according to Mia Glamuzina, (2015). Each of these dimensions, can be further broken down into subdimensions. Goal setting consists of creating the vision, explaining the vision, goals, and methods of transmitting the vision, and setting the strategy to achieve it. Aligning people involves aspects of communicating the vision, team building, and creating commitment. While motivating people includes inspiring followers, empowering people, and satisfying unmet needs.

If these are the target skills and abilities for leadership, then leadership development is the process of creating or improving these traits in an organization’s supervisors and managers. The goal of which, as detailed by Carol Pledger (2007), is to build critical managerial skills for individuals, improve overall team performance, and to create a framework to pursue organizational development to further improve individual and team performance. Hughes, Ginnett, and Curphy (2015) agree with this goal, however, they infer that in order to have truly successful leadership development it must utilize a multi-tiered approach. This approach would include personal growth, skill building, feedback, and conceptual awareness.

Leadership development sessions can look very different across different cultures and industries but for most organizations can be summarized into the following main group types as described by John Storey (2004).

• Learning about leadership

• Self-analysis, team analysis, and exploration of leadership styles

• Experiential learning and simulation

• Professional development courses

In addition to these types of courses, there are many activities which are employed by organizations for leadership development such as coaching or mentoring, 360-degree feedback, accelerated development programs, special project assignments, seminars, and career planning. While all these courses and activities are valuable in their own ways; I am going to focus on those which satisfy Hughes, Ginnett, and Curphy’s assertion that to be truly successful leadership development must utilize the multi-tiered approach. This reduces our available tools to professional development courses, coaching, and mentoring.

Of the three methods remaining to us; they are all valid options for consideration. Mentoring has a long and distinguished history of providing valuable knowledge and skills transfer. It is generally an unstructured strategy where a senior member of an organization provides advice and guidance to a junior one by acting as a model, coach, and advisor (Delahaye & Choy 2017). Mentors will act as advisors and internal advocates, helping to reinforce the positive aspects and minimize negative ones. They can also assist in reinforcing how a mentees contribution can fit into the entire scope and vision of the organization.

Coaching is a tried and true method of creating plans to help people get from where they are to where they want to be. It can be done informally, but we will focus on the formal method as we are considering a purposeful organizational development strategy implementation. Formal coaching is generally performed as a one on one relationship between manager and coach for a period of six months to a year, that consists of regular meetings, feedback, skills development, and role play (Nuade 2014). However, David Lindbom (2007) states, that for an effective coaching program companies must first detail specific behaviours and expectations of desired coaching results. With the consultation of human resources (HR), the coach, the coachee, and the employee’s manager, a consensus should be reached. By formalizing these expectations, it can be confirmed that the coach has the expertise, skills, training, and experience necessary to act successfully.

Top tiered strategy courses and education could be considered the crown jewel of any leadership development program. However, most organizations, especially small businesses simply cannot afford to send their managers to Harvard or INSEAD. Thankfully, they no longer have to; while probably not of the same calibre, many universities and business schools are developing programs specifically designed for leadership and professional development. With entire programs created with the courses needed to turn managers into leaders. This is a critically important niche as many internal hires are lacking required formal educations or key skills and abilities and these deficiencies may go unnoticed. It cannot be stated just how important it is for internal, and of our external, hires to receive comprehensive orientations with the hope to gauge their strengths, successes, and development needs. These needs can then be targeted for professional development whether they are related to formal education, skills, abilities, interpersonal skills, or other needs.

Professional development courses and formal coaching and mentoring activities all provide excellent value which can be expected to deliver positive results as the core of any leadership development programs. Inversely there are downsides to all three methods as well, which will need to be considered.

Mentoring is an excellent source of career guidance and development, but also has its limitations. Debby Carreau (2016) discusses five common reasons when mentoring programs stop being effective:

• The mentee not being fully committed

• The mentor is not invested

• The relationship is not an ideal match

• The mentor has no further advice to offer

• The mentee is unwilling to establish their own identify and grow.

While having a person who not fully committed to development is a problem for any system. The issue of having matches that are not ideal is a serious problem, as many public works departments and infrastructure management companies are small businesses and do not have large pools of experienced staff to draw on in the first place. Those who are available may not be ideal matches for individuals targeted for mentoring.

While the business costs for informal coaching programs are low, the high cost and lack of availability of formal coaching in non-urban areas are serious considerations. Although, with increases in communication technologies, such as video conferencing some of these limitations are lesser now than they may have been in the past.

Formal professional development courses and education face similar problems with costs and availability to those of formal coaching. However, with increases in quality and availability of distance education for professional development and the stiff competition between the multiple providers are helping to keep costs reasonable.

Regardless of whether an organization is a small team of 20 people in a rural setting or a global powerhouse multi-national enterprise; the evidence is clear. Leadership development has a positive effect on both financial and operational performance. However, with the high costs of formal coaching programs, the possible lack of availability of ideal coaches and mentors, and the negative effects from poorly matched pairs the ideal practice for leadership development are professional development courses. While top tiered schools would be excellent to recommend, their lower cost competitors will often suffice. Training courses can align to fulfill all development needs including segments of personal growth, skill building, feedback, and conceptual awareness. It would be beneficial to incorporate this method along with coaching (formal or informal) and mentoring activities where they can be successfully arranged.

In consideration of the above findings, the following action points are recommended for consideration to support leadership development within the infrastructure maintenance industries.

1. The qualities and skills of each leadership position in the organization must be clearly defined. With no formal programs for development in place, there is no record of what the knowledge, skills, and abilities (KSA) are required for each leadership position. Once these KSA’s have been identified there is an end goal which can be worked towards.

2. A thorough assessment of a current skills inventory and required development needs of managers. By comparing current management against our identified KSA’s there will be a list of areas which are exceeding requirements and any possible deficiencies. A clear picture of the state of leadership in management can be viewed once this is completed. An inventory of leaders who may be ideal for coaching or mentoring roles can be compiled after the assessment is completed.

3. Implement, create, and provide ongoing support for personalized improvement plans for current leaders and potential leadership candidates. The next logical step is to create personalized development plans to reduce any identified threats and weaknesses discovered. By developing leaders for more strategic alignment with the firm’s vision, mission, and values there is less risk of resistance from culture adjustments from leaders who are trusted and already in place over external hires.

4. Support leadership and career development with access to educational learning. Given the specialized nature of the infrastructure management industry, there has consistently been a history of filling positions from internal candidates. Consequently, there can be expected to be deficiencies in meeting the needs for formal education in certain areas which are required for successful leadership and management positions.

5. Utilize technology to support development goals and assist with skills and knowledge transfer. To ensure successful development and to prevent backsliding into undesirable practices; all development must be fully supported. There should be an analysis performed on the best current practices and options for technology to assist with organizational development such as enhanced communication, remote training and development sessions, podcasts and web videos on applicable theories, etc…

6. Implement coaching and mentoring programs and provide support to ensure program success. Referring to the list of candidates created after completing recommendation #2, utilizing suitable candidates to assist in developing others can have nothing but positive consequences. However, just as a leadership development needs a detailed plan for execution so does a coaching and mentoring program even an informal one. All care must be taken to ensure the correct KSAs are transferred and that the people involved are compatible.

If these recommendations are implemented, they can become the basis of a customized leadership development program. By first identifying the skills and traits which are found to be desirable then checking for deficiencies and opportunities for development they can then create thorough development plans on personal and organizational levels. These plans, however, must be supported with technology, leadership, and time for learning and reflection. By having detailed plans documented, it allows for realistic action plans which can be carried out, results can then be compared to expected and desired outcomes and adjustments can be made to increase alignment to more desirable levels. These actions form the base of an effective Plan-Do-Check-Act cycle, which can be used for continuous improvement in processes and development programs.

So, whether a small business with a small number of employees or an multi national enterprise with 37,000 preparing for and executing leadership development has a chain reaction of positive effects throughout organizations. From more qualified management teams to increases in performance in terms of markets/operations and profits. The only way organizations without successful leadership development can compete on an equal playing field is against firm’s which also do not operate with them. The reality of business today is that if there is a weakness to exploit or a competitive advantage to be found, there will be a company to rise to take advantage of that weakness.