Leadership should not be taught in classrooms, but tried in practice

Research shows that leadership development will be one of the top strategic priorities of companies for the coming years. Two examples of its importance might be the Deloitte study entitled Global Human Capital Trends 2015 or the Workforce 2020 study carried out by the British consultancy company Oxford Economics in collaboration with SAP. At the same time, however, studies show that leadership development has not yet brought the expected benefits. What can you, as HR professionals, do about it?

"HR professionals must rise to this challenge by not only reinventing their leadership offerings, but also by stepping up to leadership themselves," writes Herminia Ibarra, a world's leading expert on leadership and professor of the international business school INSEAD, on the HR Magazine website. Her research shows that there is too much focus on formal training of leaders and a fear of necessary experimentation. Most leadership development programs are based on previous experience and an analysis of leadership styles, which keeps us too deeply embedded in the past. Therefore, it is necessary to change the approach.

Authentic leadership

Ibarra is concerned that a more efficient approach lies in a greater involvement of outer perspective - trying new and different things and interacting with new and different people. People will learn most when they are assigned tasks across functions within international or strategically important projects. However, these are often not involved in leadership development programs, and lectures and classes can't replace them. Analysis of leadership styles and self-reflection should come at the end of the program. Authentic leadership is important, however, most people understand it incorrectly. You can read what  it does mean to be authentic in this article.

"By helping people develop new experiences and relationships first – before we ask them to self-reflect – we help them gain the necessary "outsight" on what it means to lead in their specific situation, what kind of leader they’d actually like to become in practice and why stretching way outside their comfort zone and former ways of being authentic is not only worthwhile but indicative of personal growth," says Herminia Ibarra. Change has to come from direct experience if we want them to be sustainable.

Active role of HR

Implementing the above mentioned principles is much more complex than implementing traditional leadership development programs based on analysis of the past. These principles take place not only outside classrooms, but also outside the direct control of HR. This means, for HR professionals, especially, they must work more closely with line managers, and with opinion leaders from outside the organization.