Leadership Development: every organization says they need to do it, but few know how. As a result, most put together platitudes, add a dash of management 101 and call it a day. Maybe worse yet, “leadership development” becomes a code word for remedial training or first-level supervisor training under the banner that “everyone’s a leader.” And the whole organization knows the emperor has no clothes. Our approach is different. Way different. It weaves Leadership Development into the fiber of your organization and makes it the high level proving ground it needs to be. Please contact us to discuss our approach to Leadership Development.
Can You Develop Leaders . . . Really?
Yes. And no.
Yes, if a person has some innate talent, the desire to grow, a steely-eyed ability to look himself or herself in the mirror and see the truth, the opportunity to practice leadership skills that stretch them to the max, and spot-on training that uncovers their unique gifts and how to deploy them.
No, if a person is a mediocre talent, is unwilling or unable to be self-reflective, lacks the guts and the drive to do whatever it takes, has little opportunity to use newly learned skills on the job, and doesn’t receive training in the blocking and tackling of leadership and in discovering their unique leadership style.
Combining Efficiency and Self Understanding
Yet, leadership is far too nuanced and complex an endeavor to reduce it to “tip sheets,” cookie-cutter programs and one-size-fits-all training road shows.
While the drive toward efficiency in leadership development is an undeniable trend in leadership training, there is another important common denominator among leaders and aspiring leaders: the
desire to better understand themselves, and in so doing, to better deploy themselves in the complex endeavor that is leadership.
Special Projects to Apply Learning
Criteria for the special projects vary, but typically include parameters such as:
- Is beyond the leader’s normal scope
- Requires the use of leadership skills that are a “stretch” for that individual
- Makes a significant and important contribution to the organization—not an artificial exercise or “make work”
- Requires strategic thinking
- Has enterprise-wide (or broadly cross-functional) impact
- Involves implementation, in addition to design and planning
- Demonstrates people skills and the ability to build a team
- Demonstrates the ability to win executive support
- Involves making compelling and persuasive presentations to gain support for and implement the project
- Involves or engages the customer
- Delivers value to the organization’s bottom line
Contact us at 512-498-9780 or jspeer@delta-associates.com to discuss leadership development in your organization. If our leadership development system makes one average leader into a good leader, turns one good leader into a great leader, or develops that one hidden jewel of a leader in your organization, this program will pay for itself over and over and over again.
