Leadership development is an HR policy priority of today's companies. Expenditure on developing leaders is growing, but we can't say the effectiveness of leadership development programmes would be growing accordingly. Where are the mistakes? This question was recently posed by McKinsey & Company consultants. In an article for this year's first edition of McKinsey Quarterly, they describe four major causes of corporate leadership development programme failure, together with recommendations on how to prevent these.
1. No context
Many development activities for leaders are based on the same approach for all. They promote the same skills and the same leadership style regardless of a specific company's strategy or culture. One simple question should be answered right at the outset when planning a leadership development programme: What specifically is the programme meant to achieve? Then, two or three key competencies should be defined to help the company improve its performance in a given situation in the best possible way. In other words, you should not define dozens of competencies and styles - as, unfortunately, often happens. The context is equally important for individuals and groups as it is for the whole company.
2. No connection between theory and practice
Leadership development can be effective only if it is connected to real work projects with a real impact on the company's results. Each programme participant should be given a project requiring specific changes in behaviour that will be measured both by feedback and business results.
3. No focus on the causes of behaviour
If a leader is to change their behaviour, it is necessary to focus on the root causes of why they behave the way they do. This may not be fully comfortable for the leader or their co-workers and trainers but real changes in behaviour cannot be achieved without it. A certain degree of discomfort is, on the contrary, very desirable.
4. No measurement of results
While many companies talk about the importance of developing leadership skills, they can't measure the value of this investment. The common practice of limiting evaluation of leadership development programmes only to the participants' feedback is not sufficient either. More efficient methods of measuring include 360-degree feedback, tracking career development of the participants after the programme, the participation rate of senior executives, turnover rate, etc. If the programme includes genuine breakthrough projects, then you must also measure its business benefits - cost savings, sales of a new product, number of newly opened stores, etc.
-kk-