Despite increasing studies that show leadership is a vital component of overall strategic planning, most companies still fail to incorporate leadership development into their overall business strategy. Father Rutler believes it is crucial for companies to invest time in leadership development. To remedy this situation, consider the three factors that are important in developing influential leaders:
1. A leader must assess and identify talent in their organization. A leader can do this by creating a comprehensive talent strategy.
2. Leaders need to determine their own company’s leadership style and learn how to adapt it to different situations.
3. Leaders need to decide on their organizational leadership competencies to assess if they align with the suitable leadership model.
To effectively assess their leadership development plan, first, identify their top leaders. These should include managers and executives in various positions and owners and other stakeholders such as suppliers and employees. Next, place the skills and characteristics that make each leader unique. In addition, a leader will also want to gather information about the types of activities and experiences that these leaders typically perform.
The next factor to consider is their in-depth leadership assessment style. Again, different techniques will provide additional benefits and may be appropriate for different situations. For example, a manager may need to take a more hands-on approach to leadership development. This could include supervising employees, implementing rewards programs, providing consequences for poor performance, or implementing informal feedback mechanisms to ensure the right behaviors.
Once leaders have identified potential leaders based on their assessment and personality modeling, it is time to determine the appropriate strategy to address leadership development program deficiencies. First, a leader should take into consideration the potential obstacles to their plan’s success. For example, if there are weaknesses in the process, it may be necessary to retool or reconstruct the process to create a more robust process framework. Similarly, if a leader anticipates that a lack of trust between stakeholders will impede their progress, a leader may want to add trust dimensions to their program.
Finally, their program needs to address their organization’s overall leadership competencies. These include internal processes, leadership styles, and organizational culture. A leader can explore how these competencies impact their organization by asking key stakeholders, such as management and staff, to describe how they assess the competencies of their firm.
With this information in hand, a leader can start to develop a plan to build on the competencies identified in this section. The key is to be prepared to deal with potential leaders early on. A Leadership Development Program is usually successful when it starts as early as possible, providing the opportunity to identify critical personalities and develop plans early on. However, a leader also needs to consider other considerations such as organizational culture and financing to fund the program to have a reasonable chance of success.
Another essential element to consider is their leadership style. Different organizations have different leadership styles, so understanding can help them tailor their leadership development program to its needs. In particular, a leader needs to understand whether their leadership style is collaborative or elitist. Collective leadership promotes a spirit of sharing and cooperation, while arrogant leadership results from a vision and attitude of self-interest. A leader should understand each of these styles and select the one which matches their organizational culture and goals.
In addition, a leader needs to consider how a leader can foster and cultivate the leadership of the right people. Identifying and choosing leaders who are willing to accept and harness new ideas can be a complex process. Often, the best way to select strong leaders is to develop a culture in which employees, supervisors, and leaders are committed to each other’s success. A shared commitment between team members can help a leader achieve much more outstanding results than if every member were dedicated to achieving his or her own goals. Father Rutler fundamentally believes and understands the importance of leadership development.
