Twelve Common Dilemmas of Leadership Development Programs - and what to do about them   Why have many companies that have invested the most in leadership development often gained the least?   Robert M. Tomasko     1. Motivation of participants Make it hard to get in Self nomination Application process: students make a case for themselves Senior leaders hand select participants Annual competition for limited number of slots Some potential leader-candidates urged to reapply next year Make explicit the performance expectations Allow for self selection Make successful program completion a prerequisite for advancement Include in performance reviews: "What are your top performers doing to raise the level of performance of every other player on their team?"     2. Attendance and commitment Boss's boss is the teacher Performance counts Input to career decisions Individual and team recognition (public, work group, family and private)     3. Faculty get no respect Boss's boss is the teacher Careful choice of permanent and visiting faculty This is not a program that can be taught by juniors Participants quickly sense when there is a big gap between: Leadership as taught in the program, and Leadership as it it actually practiced in the company     4. Bosses don't know how to teach Teach them Evaluate their abilities at leadership development Provide coaching Don't allow poor teachers to teach - regardless of their rank in the organization Give them another role in leadership development (coach, mentor, evaluator)     5. Time Practice multi-tasking Study strategy while doing strategy Develop a strategic plan (budget, etc,) while teaching strategic planning (budgeting, etc.) Leverage executive teachers' time via technology (video, etc) Distance learning and distance teaching Intense/tightly designed group time No fluff   6. Results Measure direct impact on business Not student satisfaction Customer = current leaders concerned about cultivating pool of future leaders Not the students     7. Resources Build the program around senior line executive involvement Phase-in the program A small number of high impact successes are better than a thick catalog of courses Prototype and pilot before roll-out Results make the strongest case for ongoing investment Start-up with near-term high payback programs Don't fund through overhead Create sponsors: sales/production/support Let sponsors approve and fund budget Consider tuition and chargebacks Starting point: create a market for what the leadership program produces Set a company-wide leadership development mandate Require each organization unit to set leadership development targets to which they will be held accountable Allow them choice of internal, external or self-created programs to achieve the targets Business units "contract" with leadership program for slots and for consulting in how do design own program Consider designating some future leaders as "corporate property" Fund their development as a corporate project ("scholarships")     8. Carts before the horse These should be driven by the program, not be the drivers of it: Budget Faculty Buildings Instructional technology Course lists     9. Elite vs. democratic Examine the assumptions that underlie the program: "Everyone has some leadership potential - it is the job of the company to provide ways every individual's potential can be realized." or "A relatively small number of individuals will set the company's future direction and steer it there - it is the job of the company to carefully select these people, then develop and test them."     10. Who gets developed? Preselected candidates By rank: Are all those in the designated positions potential leaders? By assessment of individual performance and potential and nomination By admission test Self-selected candidates Allow anyone to make a case for themselves     11. Should the program create clones or mutants? Is the style of leadership that got the company to this point most appropriate to guide its future development?     12. Leaders and followers Should a company that teaches leadership also teach followership?     © Robert M. Tomasko 2002

SEE ALSO: Seven Models of Leadership Development Developing Tomorrow's Growth Leaders: Clones or mutants? Samsung's CEO School

 

---

BACK to Consulting Contact | Biography Downsizing | Rethinking the Corporation | Go For Growth | Articles Consulting | Speaking  Home | Site Contents