Leadership Development - Myths and Mistakes

                 Leadership Development – Myths and Mistakes      

Many common myths and mistakes plague the efforts of organizations to provide effective leadership development.  Here are some of them:

Myth One – Leaders are born, not bred. Hire good people, give them a chance, and the cream will inevitably rise to the top. 

Alas, if that were only the case.  It would make things so much simpler.  Sure, a select few don’t need any help to become good leaders.  But most people benefit from having programs that reduce trial and error, expand their skill sets, and improve their ability to respond to the challenges and opportunities at work – all of which reduce attrition, increase motivation, and fill the succession pipeline with qualified candidates.

Myth Two – Leadership is learned on the job not in the classroom. Therefore, spending good money on leadership development workshops is a luxury not a necessity.

It's true that leaders learn from experience.  It's not true, though, that they learn the right things quickly enough.  Many leaders benefit from a helping hand so they learn from their experiences what to do differently to make a difference in their performance now. 

Leadership Development Mistake # 1 – Build the Perfect, Ideal Program

Businesses often believe they need to have a comprehensive, detailed, and complete set of programs. They tend to over think and overanalyze, creating excessively complex, detailed programs that take too long to build, deploy and apply.

Leadership Development Mistake # 2 – Focus on Everything Leaders Should Have.

Organizations often provide their potential leaders with all of the knowledge and skills they may need in the future.  By jamming too much into a course, they lose the focus needed to be effective.  

Leadership Development Mistake # 3 – Focus on Models, Theories, and Concepts

I’m not sure exactly how this came to be, but a lot of leadership development programs include theoretical models, well-known theories, and highly publicized concepts as the bulk of what is taught.  The content may be interesting, but not necessarily relevant to the real problems at work.

Leadership Development Mistake # 4 – Believing that Lecturing is Learning

I’m continually amazed when I observe classes where the instructor spends most of the class time standing at the front of the room lecturing.  Lecturing does not equate or lead to learning.  Learning happens when the participants engage with one another to understand, interpret, and apply a few key tools to situations similar to what they face at work.

Do you want to improve the quality of the leadership development programs you offer?

I can help you evaluate what you’re doing now and improve what you do in the future.

Call me at 703-303-7261 or email me at archie@archietinelli.com.