A Harvard Business Review research revealed that only 7% of US organizations give a high rating to their leadership and management development programs, based on practical behavior results and tangible return on their invested dollars.
When evaluating a managerial leadership program every CEO and HR executive should avoid the following six common mistakes that impedes companies to successfully take managerial leadership skills and behavior modification to the next level, as you develop high-performing leaders:
1. Lack of Context
Leadership development is most effective when learned using real-life context. A successful, results-oriented program should be developed around key elements, such as the company culture and values and should include peer discussion of real-life experiences and issues with an emphasis on how the learned concepts can be relevant, practical, and easily transferrable to the specific environment of your workplace.
To drive meaningful behavior change, participants need to know how and why a core skill is valuable to them, to their specific role, and to their organization as a whole – the learning process needs to be personalized and be able to apply the skill to their work and specific role, as well as how it benefit the cultural environment they are operating under.
By personalizing the learning experience, the process will be able to increase the framework that gives leaders a compelling motivation to modify the way they work, from the inside-out.
2. Failure in applying and practicing the learned skills
Organizations often make the mistake of focusing too much on knowledge- building and not enough on supporting individuals to practice new skills and follow-through with implementation coaching. Most traditional management training will spend 90% of their time on content delivery, missing out on valuable opportunities for individuals to practice new skills in a safe and supported environment.
Teaching leaders new concepts is not enough to assure change; thus, practicing the learned concepts is at the core of any effective training. Practicing a new skill outside of the training setting brings a whole new dimension to learning and development; as a result, this is where growth really takes place, which leads to our next point:
3. Lack of post-training implementation coaching
Putting newly learned behaviors and skills into an “on the job” practice does not always go smoothly. At the beginning, it can feel uncomfortable, strange and leaders may not always get it right. Post-training coaching is an essential component to effective managerial leadership training program.
Penny de Valk, Chief Executive of the International Personnel Management Association asserts that, “Ordinary training typically increases productivity by 22%, while training combined with coaching increases productivity by 88%.”
If leaders are coached to achieve their goals and to reinforce what they learn, they will be much more likely to adopt and exhibit new behaviors.
4. Viewing management development as an event, instead of a process
Adult learning theory proposes that as we lead people through change, it is imperative to remember that individuals process information differently. A learner’s brain needs time to internalize information. Repetition and information retrieval through the practice of the concepts learned over time, solidify the information in the brain’s long-term memory.
There are two types of training processes:
Event Programs: One, two or more days training programs, which condense a lot of information into a limited timeframe (commonly referred as the “firehose method”).
Process Training: Spreads the information over a period of time for maximum retention, learning, and the practice of learned concepts.
To drive real and lasting behavior change requires a continuous learning process approach that unfolds over time, through a variety of discussions, practice, processing of the information coupled with implementation coaching.
The days of one-day workshops are fading fast. The most forward-thinking organizations are shifting towards blended process learning models designed to get the leaders to put into practice the new skills, commit to behavioral and organizational goals of putting them into action within the workplace as well as reflecting and keeping track of their performance.
5. Not being able to measure tangible results or a return on the investment
Too often organizations try to quantify the value of their investment in leadership and management development programs by receiving participant feedback on how they liked the trainings. However, without specific proven methods to track and measure behavior and performance, the value of the learning, the development initiatives and the return on investment become harder to quantify and justify.
The ability to measure changes in performance for the individual, the team, and the financial impact of their implementations, becomes critical in making sure that the learning does what you intended it to do.
Through regular performance feedback and coaching sessions, leaders have the opportunity to share how they have personally applied learned concepts in the workplace. Having them also complete a 360-Degree Assessments provides feedback from front-line supervisors, managers, direct reports and other colleagues about how well they experience that leaders progress. Leaders can then take these insights to confirm and reaffirm their commitments and practices going forward.
6. Lack of leadership accountability and support
Studies show that management and general employee training is more successful when the participants know that they are not sent to training to get “fixed”. Instead, training and development goals and expected outcomes must be clearly defined by senior management and understood by participants, including the help and support they will have available as they engage in the development process as well as the follow-up and implementation follow-through accountability mechanisms offered.
Organizational strategy and identified needs for change is rooted not in individuals’ deficiencies but rather, in the policies and practices created by top management. Thus, the need to define as a team those issues affecting performance before training, can have longer-term success.
The truism, “leadership trickles down”, is never more apparent when applied to management development programs. Programs that include all levels of management participating together as a team, result to be the most effective, as participants can identify, brainstorm and seek creative solutions to common issues that affect their departments and the organization, which greatly improves the level of buy-in, implementation and commitment by participants.
Likewise, senior managers can feel the pulse of the issue their managers are facing and seek for creative solutions. Also, periodic follow-up sessions with the senior managers and participants to track progress is an essential practice to seek commitment, improve communication, and lead change.
