Leadership development is an important investment that any long-term thinking business makes. It expands the capacity of various individuals regardless of their field of expertise in order to help them perform, at that or some future moment, in leadership roles within organizations.
What are the leadership roles
Leadership roles are those that facilitate the execution of any company’s strategy. It is done through building alignment, winning mindshare and growing the capabilities of other employees and staff. Leadership roles may be quite formal, with the corresponding authority to make decisions and take responsibility, or they may be informal roles with little official authority (e.g., a team member can influence team’s overall engagement, purpose and direction or a lateral peer can be engaged to listen and negotiate through influence).
Leadership development is one of the outmost keys to business success. A study by the Center for Creative Leadership holds that 65 percent of companies with mature leadership development programs drove improved business results as compared to 6 percent of companies without such a program. Similarly, 86% of companies with leadership development programs responded rapidly to changing market conditions whereas only 52% of companies with immature programs were able to do so.
Leadership development as a prerequisite for successful collaboration
Usually, businesses focus on developing specific skills within the organization, enabling uninterrupted information, workflow and most of all – procedure, procedure, procedure. Somewhere beyond these points, no matter how much these procedures may seem to be necessary and needed there is a big layer of responsibility which must not be neglected. It is creating those leaders who will feel and analyze potential threats to the business, who will predict how the technology changes the rules of the game and will make strategic decisions on how to cut costs and where. Creating leaders through leadership development is a core engine of development and it had to be based upon solid grounds. These are above all full and transparent work procedures, which is enabled through great collaboration tools and potential incentives for engagement of the employees.
Forbes analysis of leadership within organizations
According to Gallup, whose opinion and report was published by Forbes magazine the statistics state the obvious:
- over 50% of managers feel disconnected from both their responsibilities and their organization’s mission.
- 55%of company leaders are looking for outside opportunities.
- much of the workforce is either disengaged or actively disengaged in meeting the company’s strategic goals
Hence, it is not a big surprise why so many organizations are having challenges reaching their ultimate success.
Gallup states that it is the senior leadership’s responsibility to invest, develop and grow organizational leaders. This should be done in continuity and in order to ensure that those leaders are equipped to inspire, motivate and engage the workforce.
However, one of the most common failures Gallup notices is that the companies more often than not neglect to identify the attributes and capabilities of their own leaders.
He suggests constructing a solid framework for leadership development is the much-needed answer to achieve organizational success.
Skills a leader should have within an organization
The competencies of a leader should look something like this, meaning a leader should at all times possess the following qualities:
- Is flexible with change
- Champions change
- Brings needed change to light
- Outlines the case for change
- Summons others to the change management process
- Drives companywide inspiration and motivation to the change
- Sets the standards for developing a culture of change
Leadership development is often a philosophy build upon the concept of development of individuals to become leaders. In addition, it also focuses on the interpersonal linkages in the team.
It is not just a saying that people are an organization’s most valuable resource, so following this concept, many organizations address the development of these exact resources, meaning – its people.
In contrast, the concept of “employeeship” recognizes that to be a good leader is not all that different to being a good employee. This is exactly why bringing the leader together with the team through excellent collaboration strategies and continuous development brings positive results.
This approach is most efficient in structures where there is more direct communication between the management and the staff and employees, and in which the spirit of mutually set goals and targets, through administrative systems and transparency is implemented.
Help your team by implementing the best collaboration tools
And if you are looking for a great online tool for collaboration, you can try CollaboraZon and get a free trial period. It is the best solution you can use as a leader to help teams collaborate and be more productive, with a simple and easy-to-use interface. You can make use of powerful features such as sharing files, giving feedback, exchanging messages, creating events and more, and focus on developing your clear and structured strategic plan.