The Elements of
Business Leadership
Guiding your business in the right way
WHAT IS LEADERSHIP
Vision
Leaders understand the situation and their complexity, sees it holistically, can assess what's important, and makes good decisions effectively and efficiently.
Assessment
Leaders anticipate market and company forces, define the changes they'll require, and sets the direction and priorities.
Values
Leaders set the values, behaviors, and norms of individual departments, and for the company overall.
Influence
Leaders get the team to buy in and go beyond what they initially imagine to be possible. Leaders also create opportunity for collaboration.
WHAT IS LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT
Developing the depth and breadth of the leader through:
Awareness
The ability to recognize what's happening within and around the leader.
Open-mind
The flexibility to see and understand things in multiple ways.
Learning
Consistently expanding the leader's knowledge and capabilities.
WHY IS LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT NEEDED
Impact
A developed leader enables their employees to have the highest impact possible.
Productivity
A developed leader is able to increase productivity through effectively engaging employees.
Retention
A developed leader will retain great employees. The workplace becomes a place of growth and accomplishment for the whole team.
Succession
A developed leader will be able to ensure the future of the business through a solid succession path.
Resilience
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A developed leader will make the business more resilient with a pipeline of talent, and an eye toward upcoming hurdles that will need to be overcome.
WHAT ARE THE CHALLENGES OF LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT
Development programs take time away from work: Most rising leaders play important roles in their companies, and it’s hard for them to get away from the day-to-day work they have to do.
Leaders have high expectations: “Pedestrian” training programs will not work for future leaders – they want strong, sharp content and experiences for their training.
The best development is multi-discipline: Leaders learn best when they are getting help in multiple ways – focused classes, executive coaches, just-in-time resources they can reference, etc.
Development can make them unhappy with current leadership: Future leaders usually have their own opinions. As they learn about leadership, they may find that they don’t like how things are happening currently. That is both a threat and an opportunity for a company. It's important to ask:
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How can I use this new leader to make the business better
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Is that new leader a potential flight risk if not on a growth trajectory
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How important is it to the company to help people fulfill their potential, even if that has negative short-term consequences?
WHAT IS THE ROI OF LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT
Get more out of the teams you have
Good leaders improve productivity by focusing on more important issues, and getting people to make improvements to how they work.
Expand your business into new opportunities
Good leaders recognize and promote new opportunities, and are able to push the company into those new areas.
Prepare for and capitalize on the future
Good leaders are better at anticipating and moving toward the future, even when things appear uncertain.
Improve the valuation of your business
A primary contributor to business value is consistent and predictable performance, which good leaders will provide.
Make your business succession-ready
Having a “bench” of leaders will give you flexibility when it’s time to transition from the current leaders who got you where you are, to new leaders who will take the business where it’s going.