Leadership Development Training – 5 Practical Key Questions

Right from the start, before explaining what leadership development training is about it must be understood that leadership is a function of service and not some fancy title to gloat about.

It has become clear to all this year, with the appearance of the coronavirus in our lives, that leadership development training is absolutely necessary to get to a level where people can trust their leadership because it’s nowhere near.

In most cases, leadership has been dysfunctional, ego-based, and politically biased, while ignoring the big picture and the true needs of people. In other words, it was self-serving,  and operating at a very low level of decision-making and efficacy.

So there is a need for an in-depth review of what true leadership development training is. What is required to win back the trust of people and make the function of leadership worthy of their confidence?

In fact, what is required in most cases is a Growing Leadership of a new kind. A kind which is defined by improving and developing new leadership skills, especially soft skills.

A growing leadership that is responsive to the needs of the speedy-ever-changing, times.

The two main aspects of leadership development training are:

1. Growing leadership skills in existing leadership
2. Growing leadership of a new kind

The Core of Leadership Development Training

Very simply…soft skills, soft skills, soft skills.

This is where the health of the organization is defined and measured. Nowhere else!…and this is where the most obvious need is for training.

It is growing leadership that inspires people. To see a leader developing and growing when in the function of leadership is a true motivating power for the workforce. It gives the sensation of positive movement forward.

It is important to realize that leadership is not about perfection but rather always trying and moving, not resting on its laurels.

This is one of the most crucial aspects of leading by example. And the best example of leadership development is a person struggling to be their best while not minding showing the vulnerability of an ordinary human being who is also a leader. Not a leader who is also a human.

That order of growing leadership has huge motivational significance.

Why Is Leadership Development Training Important?

A Leadership development training program is about the personal development of the leader. Because without ongoing personal development and movement forward, how will they have the true merit to lead others?

This kind of training has to focus on the skill-set of the leader in the “handling people” department, otherwise known as soft skills, for these represent 90% of the leadership function.

Spreadsheets and the likes can be learned easily and a leader can appoint others to handle such matters. These are known as hard skills.

However, leaders need to be the decision-makers about people and how their organization as a whole conducts its “human business”.

What leadership development training is about, therefore, must reflect that fact and be geared towards human competencies.

It should be viewed as a work in progress, of growing leadership. More importantly, people should know that the leadership is seeking that state of affairs.

There’s a welcome vulnerability in that, which breeds trust in confidence in employees.

Growing Leadership

Growing Leadership is not a static function but rather a dynamic one. It needs to update its position and expertise in a way that reflects the need of the time and the need of the people.

In today’s reality, the requirements of True & Authentic Leadership are multiple and varied, which must be addressed in leadership development training.

As stated, a leader needs to constantly upgrade their leadership skills to fit in the current times.

The requirements of leadership are very different today than ever before.

It is futile to rehash the old style of command and control, which has mostly been ineffective in the long run. It being responsible for low productivity and high level of employee turnover, employee dissatisfaction, and distrust.

Leadership development training enables growing leadership to recommit to their responsibilities from a new, updated and elevated platform of appreciation.

A leader has a high level of influence on many people and, therefore, their leadership development training results affect their workforce in both the short-term and the long-term.

So in order to grasp a better understanding of this here are the 5 essential questions one must ask when considering why get into it.

The 5 Essential Questions

The following 5 questions/context markers provide a foundational view of what leadership development training is about. They ensure that the leadership is current and responsive to the requirements of our time.

1. What are the facts that leaders need to learn to become aware of in these rapidly changing times? Growing leadership that is based on unbiased facts is essential to this training
2. What are the essential, repeatable, daily work personal practices, and self-disciplines that would energize and renew the commitment of his/her workforce and clients?
   The “doing” aspect of growing leadership is the ability to demonstrate “by example” performance, which is essential for employee confidence.
3. What are the long-term, “Big Picture” considerations, motives, principles, and values that guide the growing leadership in their thinking, feelings, and actions?
4. What are the essential Human Management skills & Communication skills (interpersonal & crowd communication) that growing leadership must have, to build and maintain the integrity, cohesion and, trust of the people in his/her care?
5. How does a leader build and maintain a work environment where creativity and innovation can thrive and become an integral part of “Doing Business”? (This aspect is absolutely essential in changing times).

Summary

Leadership development training is mostly about acquiring soft skills. It does include hard skills, the technical, financial & administrative skills, which are essential.

However, in today’s reality, they only account for 10% of the overall importance while soft skills account for 90%.

So it is clear that this kind of training needs to be an integral part of growing leadership. In fact, leadership development training must be an integral part of the agenda of leaders everywhere, to keep up with the skill level required by these times.

The guiding attitude of a growing leader should always be one of openness and humbleness for he/she understands that their next success and development will come from what they don’t know rather than what they know.

“Leading by Example” should be the sacred words of Growing Leadership.

Such merit is attained through the two aspects of Being & Doing.

On the one hand, leadership development training needs to focus on the ability to be in the eye of the storm, to be “cool, calm and collected” under pressure, riding the “winds of change,” and on the other, be energetically active in applying and carrying out what has been learned, and what they know works.

If the gap between “Knowledge” and “Putting into Practice” remains narrow, this will guarantee their ability to sustain their development and improvement.

What Can Leadership Development Training Do For You?

In my 25 year career as The Thinking Coach, I have successfully trained many professionals worldwide while conducting training seminars to all levels of the leadership strata,  successfully helping leaders achieve high levels of leadership competencies.

As the world awakens to a new reality, post-Covid era, growing leadership, and leadership training must be high on the agenda of organizations wishing to make it to a healthy level rather than be relegated to the level of fading mediocrity.

It’s all about leadership development training and the Thinking Coach is equipped with transformational skills that make growing leadership truly situational.

Eli Harari

The Life Coach for Professionals™