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Leadership development can be made a strategic lever.

Have you ever lived in a city that failed to plan for growth and development? Houston may be a prime example of this type of failure because of our friends at the American Productivity and Quality Center. Beautiful buildings are next to ramshackle structures. An upscale furniture store is next to a used-car lot. Houston does not meet its potential for becoming a beautiful city according to our opinion. Santa Barbara is an example of success in urban development. The city took advantage of an earthquake in 1925. With strong civic leadership provided by Pearl Chase and downtown merchants, the city established and enforced strong zoning requirements that demanded consistency in architecture and created a harmonious appearance in the business areas of the city.

Many human resource and human resource development departments have grown without a plan or strategy. One system was introduced a decade ago and seemed to work well, but it wasn’t fully integrated with newer systems. This led to inconsistencies and ultimately to each component of HR having a manager who may be more interested in the elegance of his or her system than in how it connected to other parts of the company. Over the past decade or two, one of the major shifts in human resources has been away from almost-independent components and to a consciously articulated leadership and human-resource strategy that is integrated and aligned with overall corporate strategy. Many firms are far from complete in this transition.

As Houston has attractive neighborhoods that fail to come together to create a cohesive urban environment, some organizations have pockets of excellence that fail to be integrated into a unified whole. Excellent educational programs that are not part of the strategic direction of the firm or that fail to support the business objectives of the organization reduce the overall potential of the group. The strategic goals that are not supported by reward and promotion policies are likely to be ignored.

Business success is dependent on strong, aligned leadership. Sometimes a traumatic event can lead to a conscious reinvention that moves an organization ahead on its path to greatness. The success of a strategic change effort depends on leadership. Strong leadership is needed for a strategy to succeed.

The skills and abilities of effective leaders can be developed through many avenues, such as coaching, mentoring, exchange with peers, skill building, stretch assignments, and opportunities to practice. Individual qualities such as emotional intelligence, self-motivation, and being results-oriented are just as important as skills and abilities. Attempts to change must be communicated to those most affected by the change. Change can’t be sustained unless organizations engage in self-examination, revise their systems and processes, and open decision-making opportunities to potential leaders.

Leadership-development programs give high potentials access to information and highlight areas for improvement. Resources must be invested in the following in order to develop leaders.

High potential employees should be exposed to a lot of opportunities and knowledge.

There are inherent barriers between levels within an organization.

There are strategies to ensure relevance to business goals.

It takes time to create a leadership-development strategy. To implement a leadership-development strategy that lasts, executives and managers must support the building of leadership skills, develop the programs so new leaders are continuously developed and involved, and change policy and program decision making to encourage employee participation. There is no single model for leadership development. We have identified world-class practices to help other organizations see opportunities to adapt, rather than copying them.

The resources, history, relationships, and other attributes of both the individual and the organization affect leadership pathways. They must be designed to meet the needs of each organization. Some ways that human resources can address the concerns of business leaders can be found in Figure 2.1.

There is a context for leadership strategy.

Based on our experience working with global firms, as well as our research on best-practice companies, we believe that the following seven principles set the context for creating a foundational strategy to develop better leaders for the present and the future.

1. Know the desired results when you start with the business. The last chapter of the novel was the beginning of the writing of the mysteries. The mystery of great leadership development may be simple. When crafting a leadership-development strategy, ask, What is the business issue I wish to address, and what is the result that will let me know that my organization has been successful? Start with a strategic mission for leadership that supports the business strategy.

2. Insist on an integrated approach. A program isn’t the solution to the problem. Building an exciting program isn’t easy, but it is much less challenging than laying down the fundamental experiences that help individuals move through their careers while also moving the organization toward its strategic goals Creating an integrated approach is critical to the success of an organization.

3. As well as individual leaders, think about building organizational capability. Management development is dead among leading firms. While there is still a need to develop individual leaders, focusing on individual development is more beneficial to competitors and headhunters. Action learning designed to address key organizational challenges can often provide solutions just as insightful and pragmatic as can outside consultants and it also contributes to the development of both the individual and the organization. Most important, however, is the capability that your best and brightest will have developed through the experience, and that you will have established the connection between individual and organizational development.

4. People should be taught to master business challenges. Competency models only address current and anticipated business issues. The key is for leaders to understand and master the business.

5. It’s important to measure outcomes and impact. The challenge of assessment is addressed in chapter 6. The plan for measurement of impact should be built into the original design of the business strategy.

6. Request participation from the board. Senior executives may think they are too busy to participate in corporate learning initiatives. Sharing their visions is more effective than discussing their teachable point of view with the next generation of leaders according to a study and previous research.

7. The organization can respond to changes in the business by keeping the strategy flexible. The agenda for major leadership programs is usually set by Corporate HR. Ensuring that programs align with the corporate strategy is the responsibility of this department. Divisional or strategic business-unit programs should connect with the corporate strategy, but they should also reflect environmental or competitive differences in their challenges. An 800-381-0266 800-381-0266 800-381-0266 800-381-0266 800-381-0266 800-381-0266 800-381-0266 800-381-0266 800-381-0266 800-381-0266 800-381-0266 800-381-0266 800-381-0266 800-381-0266 800-381-0266 800-381-0266 800-381-0266 800-381-0266 800-381-0266 800-381-0266 800-381-0266 800-381-0266 800-381-0266 800-381-0266 800-381-0266 800-381-0266 800-381-0266 800-381-0266 800-381-0266 800-381-0266 800-381-0266 800-381-0266 800-381-0266 800-381-0266 800-381-0266 800-381-0266 800-381-0266 800-381-0266 800-381-0266 800-381-0266 800-381-0266 800-381-0266 800-381-0266 800-381-0266 800-381-0266 800-381-0266 800-381-0266 800-381-0266 800-381-0266 800-381-0266 800-381-0266 800-381-0266 800-381-0266 800-381-0266 800-381-0266 800-381-0266 800-381-0266