A study showed that development training accounted for almost $14 billion expenses on an yearly basis. Not to mention the fact that there are already a thousand books on the subject out in the market. Given that data, it’s entirely possible to think that leadership training has been a success for many companies. However, studies reveal that adults tend to forget about 50 percent of any new information they learn within a span of two weeks. Why the disconnect then? What’s really happening?
Mistakes that Affect Leadership Development
Here are three mistakes that often derail leadership development in most companies:
Too Many “the Golden R” or “the 4 Ps to Management” to Remember. While corporate leadership training programs can be incredibly entertaining, even rousing and inspiring, if there are too many ‘goals’ or leadership standards to follow, your team won’t have a chance of remembering everything. Consider the value of a general leadership training that covers everything, from A-Z. Compare that to one that focuses on the importance of teaching managers and supervisors on how to develop confrontational abilities that allow them to communicate with their teams better. Between the two, which one do you think would have greater success in terms of being remembered and put into practice?
Lack of Consistent Practice. Some companies believe that the leadership development starts and ends with the program. Nothing could be further from the truth. While leadership development starts with the program, it doesn’t end there. It’s a constant, on-going process. There’s no point in declaring one team a master of a particular skill if all they’ve done is undergo a 24-hour workshop on how to be more accountable, or develop better empathy, for instance. What should be done, instead, is to recognize that the training is on-going. So don’t stop training your best people. If you do, you’ll risk losing them.
Breaking the safety net. Too many entrepreneurs resources focus on building a safe environment. But the real problems lie in the difficult issues. If one of your team has an attitude problem, address that. If they don’t know how to handle a confrontation, put them in a situation that won’t just test their mental capabilities but their emotional limitations as well. You want your people to learn. And that will only happen if the lesson resonates with them. So make sure it does. Otherwise, you waste your chance of building an intelligent and emotionally-well-adjusted workforce.
If you’re looking for someone to conduct a business leadership coaching, get in touch with Sean Castrina. Make better leaders through the help of a training.
