Leadership development requires many levels of effort and commitment. There needs to be accountability, a structure of effort on self-development, and a commitment from senior management that is more than simply spending training dollars.
Training is not an event. It is a continuous improvement process that will distinguish between those looking to build a career and those waiting on the company to provide one. Getting the best ROI on your leadership development requires the following steps:
Step 1: Establish a Training Process
Most companies make training decisions based on budget and available training dollars. Can you imagine a doctor saying you need open heart surgery and you reply, “I don’t have that in the budget. Can you just give me some medication and hopefully next year I’ll have the budget to do it?”
If your leadership hasn’t been getting training all along, then your leadership is on life support. An ongoing training process needs to be established. Not one all-day seminar you paid $99 per person to attend. Not a seminar every once in a while. For the best results, create a multi-year plan not only to develop the managerial ranks both in their development but to set the tone of how important it is for your managers to step up as leaders. This plan sets an expectation that this is how we do business, not this is what’s left in the budget.
Step 2: Expect Self-driven Development
As I talk with a leadership, I’ll ask follow up questions. “How many of you are still using that wonderful tool I shared with you six months ago?” In some cases I see many hands and verbal responses on specifics of the positive impact they have seen as a result. This response tells me this organization has set the expectation of applying training and taking the next step toward consistent application. Other classes take that question as a cue to become carpet inspectors and all look to the floor. Where is the accountability of upper management? Where is the expectation of application?
Leaders by definition need to be self-starters and driven for excellence, otherwise they are never going to get their staff to do their best, because they don’t expect the best from themselves. Quarterly, leaders need to be sitting down with their bosses to answer the question: What have I done for self-development in the last 90 days? If, as a boss, I’m not hearing specific applications of the tools they are being taught and hearing them taking steps above and beyond the training in an effort to achieve better development as a leader, then I am investing in the wrong person.
Step 3: Work through Four Levels of Knowledge Application
Any time a person develops new skills there are four levels they must go through in their development. The first level is “unconscious incompetence,” where they don’t know they don’t know. Oftentimes you will hear fresh-faced kids right out of college say their goal is to be president of the company in 5 years -- and they believe it’s possible in that time frame! In the vast majority of cases they don’t know that they don’t know what it takes to reach that position. Training and developmental programs enlighten them and teach them the skills required to begin that career climb. Once they get exposed to that information, they reach the second level of development.
They are now in the “conscious incompetence” level, where they now know what they don’t know, and this can be a scary time for these folks. Their insecurities start speaking to them and they begin to wonder what all they will need to learn to be successful. A mentoring program can be valuable for this stage, when the more seasoned leader takes the newly educated person under their advisement and helps them through this new knowledge stage. The leader in training feels more secure because their mentor is a safety net as they learn to implement their new skills. A mentoring program also provides them with support as they enter the next level.
The third level of this development is the “conscious competence” level. The leadership trainee is gathering knowledge, applying it to her daily efforts, and seeing positive results. A mentor is valuable in this stage for the positive feedback, accountability of using these skills regularly, and the push to reach for more knowledge and continuous improvement. Without a mentor in this stage, developing leaders often reach a comfort zone and stop the improvement process, because they are functional and relatively successful. They are apt to stop the learning without the push to dig deeper.
The final level of learning new leadership skills is the “unconscious competence” level where they just use their skills without having to think them through -- they are just natural. This is where the mentor is needed less; however, the mentor should still be utilizing accountability expectations and looking for the self development efforts beyond the training classes the organization is providing. Once the self development has become part of this leader’s everyday efforts and he is truly utilizing leadership skills for great effectiveness, he is then to be considered as a potential mentor for the next group of those being developed through the process, to perpetuate the expectations of leadership expectations and development of people.
To maximize the ROI on your training dollars, set up a training process that is ongoing, requires self development and application of skills. Anyone can learn new tools; it’s a matter of setting the expected outcome and providing the support and guidance beyond the training that will make the training information stick and your leadership ranks improve.
