Why Leadership Training is Failing- And How 'Your First 100 Days' Can Help

This I believe

Effective Leadership matters:  it is often the difference between an organization winning or losing.  

Effective Leadership is not the product of chance.  Would-be Leaders should have an interest and basic aptitude for learning the craft of Leadership. 

But becoming an effective Leader requires more than an individual's desire: it requires an organization to train and nurture this eager, would-be Leader, over time.  It requires a culture of Leadership and the presence of skilled Leaders who can support the novice in their growth.

Years ago, when I was new to organizational Leadership, while working for a General Electric subsidiary, I was lucky enough to receive oodles of training on Leadership ideas, tools and behaviors.  GE in those days had a very strong Leadership Culture, investing heavily in identification and training of its next generation of Leaders.

That training included the basics of team building & team work, communication, people development/performance management, providing feedback, conflict management, change management, strategic thinking and process improvement/project management via Six Sigma.

I had the opportunity to practice what I was learning and improve my skills at getting meaningful work done through and with others.  Looking back, so many of the professional opportunities I enjoyed are clearly tied to the investment my company made in my growth at the beginning.

Times Have Changed

A belief I have had for some time is that organizations no longer support Leadership training and development in the same manner and intensity as once they did, nor do they seem not as alive any longer to the importance of building a Leadership Culture within their organization.  

This general belief is supported by specific stories from my Clients.  Many report that, though they occupy a Leadership position, they have not received training on foundational questions of “what is Leadership?”, “how does one Lead and Lead well?”,  or even how to deconstruct and solve common Leadership challenges like “what do I do first?”,  “what do I do next?”. 

They are not learning conceptual understandings or tactical skills necessary to communicate effectively, build commitment, drive change, shape a culture, manage conflict, build up a team or create a winning strategy.  They don’t know how to think about their own Leadership “style” or “voice”.

Often, the “training” they receive is confined to “on the job”, which means they are dumped into deep water, and expected to swim with little support.  

The more experienced Leaders they ought to be learning from have often received little more than OTJ training themselves, making them ineffective for modeling good Leadership behavior or transmitting critical know-how.  After all, we cannot teach what we do not know. 

My Clients understandably feel alone, lost in the woods with no North Star to steer by.

Which is a pity because the craft of Leadership is like any other:  it is learnable.  There are principles and skills which are nearly universal, irrespective of the domain of the underlying organization.  

But these principles and skills must be taught and Leaders (especially new ones) must be nurtured through training and experience to be successful.  Leadership know-how is also perishable: when not properly cultivated from one generation to the next, it will wither. The organization and the people in it feel the consequences.

Introducing Your First 100 Days eBook and Video Series

In response, to help Clients close some of these knowledge gaps, I put together an eBook and related video training series to give new leaders, experienced leaders in transition, or anyone looking to elevate their leadership skills and impact an analytical and practical framework for approaching the challenges they face, especially at the beginning of a new role, when there is too much of everything hitting you all of the time!

What I hope my Clients take away from these materials are ideas, skills and methods which, when practiced, will help them slow down and understand the new world they’ve stepped into, helping them remain calm, clear and effective, and helping them be not just willing Leaders, but effective practitioners of the Leadership craft, thereby opening the door to greater success for themselves and their Teams.

If you’ve chosen to look into the eBook and videos, I hope you find them as useful in your personal growth as others have.

Brian

P.S. Everyday I work with individual Leaders and Leadership Teams to enhance their effectiveness.  If you would like to know more about how my Coaching, Consulting and Training offerings can help you and the Leaders around you improve your craft, please reach out and schedule a complimentary, no obligation Exploration Session at https://calendly.com/brian-jones-c4e/discovery-session