Leadership Development: Not Pushing It Off A Cliff

Being a leader is a constant reminder that you are a manager of people. Leadership development has never before been more recognized in the World of Work than it is today. Leaders have to be able to drive and manage change effectively. The truth is there a doubt that lingers in the World of Work that believes leaders are not capable of effectively driving and managing change, and it comes from at least 44% of executives that expressed their doubt, during a global study conducted by Oxford Economics and was commissioned by Sap SuccessFactors. This week our #TChat Community was joined by Mary Haskins, Vice President of Leadership Experience at SAP, who shared with us how to avoid any steep cliff falls with leadership development and reminded us of the importance in developing future leaders.

If there’s anything to be said about today’s leadership expectations, it’s that leaders have to be able to change and adjust to their working environments. People affect these working environments and have to be accounted for. That’s why leaders have to view change as a wheel that never stops spinning. Still, organizations are struggling to develop leaders:

A1: Because Leadership dev is disconnected from other ITM process such as performance management, succession planning, & recruiting #Tchat

— Mary Haskins (@MaryHaskins) October 29, 2014

Are we destined to fail at developing leaders? Or are we simply failing to connect the business development dots? Leadership development is about harnessing the power of people and their growth potential. Building effective leaders means understanding they are existing components of any business plan. How an organization performs depends on how leaders perform and how it trickles down to affect employees. Developing leaders also means understanding the most effective means for them to harness their leadership. We have to remember that:

A2: Every generation wants to lead in their own way. We have to stop looking at age and start looking at leaders within #tchat — Jen Olney (@gingerconsult) October 29, 2014

Yes, every generation does want to lead in their own way. Is it wrong to want to do so? No, but if we do not connect how we lead with how we meet organizational goals then how can we expect to develop future leaders? We often view great leaders as individuals who are wise, respected, and experienced. So it’s easy to forget that:

A2 Good leadership looks different for every individual, it’s not linked to generational brackets #Tchat — Linda Jonas (@LinJonas) October 29, 2014

Part of leadership development means having the courage to recognize generational differences and learning how to bridge them together. Being a leader is about managing people, but it also extends to understanding what makes people different and unique. This involves being progressive enough to actively drive and manage the change that happens naturally over the course of an organization’s lifespan, because its employees change and they also grow. Smart and trendy companies that are:

A3: Progressive orgs are actively engaging with teams, assessing their industry trends & needs, staying on lookout for dev’ment opps. #tchat

— Qwalify (@Qwalify) October 29, 2014

Developing effective leaders comes from constantly looking for developmental opportunities. Not letting your business fall over a cliff happens when you look for opportunities to stay current. Organizations, employees, and technology are constantly evolving around us. Standing still is the last thing we should ever be thinking about. Actively engaging employees, keeping up with industry trends, and not being afraid to experiment with developmental opportunities is how we can work to develop future leaders. We also mustn’t ignore generational differences that affect leadership, but instead educate ourselves to bridge generational differences together so we can grow together. Developing leaders means managing the change necessary to be effective and drive the business results that we all seek.

What Our Community Had To Say About Leadership Development On #TChat!

What’s Up Next? #TChat Events Kicks Off On Wednesday, Nov. 5th!

We’ll be discussing The Excellence Of Email Productivity At Work during our Social Hour on #TChat with our guest host: Marsha Egan, CEO of The Egan Group, and a leading authority on email productivity.

#TChat Radio Kicks Off at 7pm ET / 4pm PT — Our weekly live broadcast runs 30 minutes. Usually, #TChat-ters listen in and engage with our community on Twitter during this time. Checkout this week’s BlogTalkRadio show preview here: The Excellence Of Email Productivity At Work.

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Photo credit: Nicki Varkevisser via Magdeleine cc