Leadership is the capacity to translate vision into reality.
—Warren Bennis—
Leadership Development
How to be a Good Leader? How to nourish leaders in your organization?
Foreword
In early history, people believed that leadership was inherited. Leaders were born, not developed. Scholars and philologists identified the talents, skills, and physical characteristics of men who rose to power. Of course, this idea has changed. A series of qualitative reviews of studies take a drastically different view of the driving forces behind leadership. We now learn more about what we can do to develop leadership qualities.
Importance
Nowadays, organizations spend copious amounts of time and money on leadership development to improve the competence of managers and leaders. The importance of leadership development is undeniable. Yet, companies may find that the effectiveness of leadership-development programs can be variable and even unpredictable.
Our Understanding
Developing Leadership Capacity to Accelerate Business Transformation
Under Talent Management, one of the most imperative business strategies used to build up and maintain talent is leadership development. Leadership development is an essential ingredient in the recipe of corporate success as the decision makers will define the achievements of the company. As such, leaders are not just an asset, but a vehicle for corporate achievement.
Our Model
SENSE observed some common mistakes of many leadership-development programs in the market and formulated its own package with the characteristic listed below:
(Reference: http://www.mckinsey.com/insights/leading_in_the_21st_century/why_leadership-development_programs_fail)
1. Context is a Critical Component of Successful Leadership
A brilliant leader in one situation does not necessarily perform well in another. At SENSE, we provide leadership programs with different focuses and objectives, so as to suit the client’s in-situ condition and need. To customize our programs, we will engage in data gathering for our clients, before confirming the tools we will use. Further, we link-up leadership programs with personality traits, as different people have different styles of leadership which can all be successful provided they are appropriately and effectively utilized.
2. Transfer of Learning
Off-site training programs are good for inducing insight and facilitating innovation and change. Nonetheless they are effective only when the training outcome (insight, changes, etc) could be transferred and applied to BAU (Business As Usual). At SENSE, we stress the bridge between off-site training with BAU. Training packages combine off-site activities and in-situ follow-up, to fortify the continuity of training outcomes.
3. Mindset Change is Essential
Becoming a leader requires changes in behavior. However, changes in behavior require a change in mind-set. SENSE adopts a person-centered approach, executed by trainers with psychological qualifications to ensure mindset change. Among other effective programs, our wildlife training programs provide a visceral opportunity for leaders to experience sharp challenges to their comfort zone. Such intensity consolidates insight and change. Participants experience a powerful change in their values and the way they see the world.
4. Evidence Based
Too often, effectiveness of training programs relies on participants’ feedback, but there are factors that alter the reliability of the results (such as the relationship between trainer and participants, the concern of disclosure of feedback). Thus, additional methods are required in addition to participants’ feedback to reflect program effectiveness. SENSE training maintains a participant-observation database that collects objective information about participant reaction to programs.
Management is to make sure things are done right. However, when managers focus on this and lose sight of the leadership aspect. Leaders facilitate themselves and others to do the right things. They set the direction and build an inspiring vision. Leadership is about mapping out where you need to go to "win" as a team or an organization; and it is dynamic, exciting, and inspiring. Turn your managers into leaders today.
