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Why Leadership Development Is Important For Emerging Leaders
Emerging leaders often don’t give much thought to leadership development until a pivotal event forces them to take action.
The first few years of a career are usually relatively smooth, with no primary responsibilities, and the focus is on learning the business. However, you’ll need to focus on leadership development to succeed as an emerging leader.
Learn from Jack Welch’s example
Jack Welch is one of the most respected figures in business, and his lessons for leadership development can be applied in many different contexts. Welch’s success can be attributed to a few key characteristics of effective leadership: embracing change without micromanaging, being focused on the numbers, and hiring and developing the best people.
A critical trait that Welch exhibited was being able to give constructive criticism. It’s rare for a leader to give constructive criticism without getting angry or defensive.
The essence of a critical message is lost when presented to people in an angry mood. But Jack Welch’s message was long and thoughtful. This characteristic indicates that he could motivate people to take action.
To be an effective leader, you must have a vision and the ability to inspire others. To do this, you must know how to create the most valuable outcomes for your team.
The best examples of leadership are those of individuals who can inspire others. As leaders, it’s important to ensure your employees can see the vision and values of your organization.
A wise teacher knows that oversimplifying or complicating things leads to wrong decisions. Welch knew this and modeled it through his actions as he transformed GE. While we can’t emulate him exactly, we can learn from him and emulate his example for leadership development.
Using Jack Welch’s principles can help create a positive work environment for yourself and your team. These principles apply to all types of businesses and managers. If you’re looking to build a culture of commitment and participation, it’s essential to use the principles that he practiced.
Jack Welch transformed GE from a niche company to a global conglomerate. His leadership style was decisive and challenging, and his company grew from a $12 billion market value to a $410 billion market cap. As a result, his leadership developed a new corporate approach to managing a more extensive service mix.
Jack’s first task at GE was putting a newly invented plastic raw material into production. This required him to work with scientists and researchers to convince them of the product’s potential. The researchers at GE liked advanced research, but Jack struggled to get them to focus on the development phase. As a result, he often had to convince them to devote extra time.
Millennials and Gen Z Will Be the Future Leaders
You can’t go wrong with Generation Z and Millennials if you’re looking for future leaders. These generations are driving change and are already passionate about education.
However, they have different motivations and drivers than their predecessors. For example, Gen Z is more focused on their career path, having been exposed to job insecurity as a child.
To help them be successful in their future roles, leaders need to understand the strengths and values of this generation and tailor their training to cater to those traits.
One way to do this is by incorporating reverse mentoring. It is also crucial to have open communication and two-way feedback. Millennials should feel that their opinions matter and are valued.
Millennials and Gen Z are eager to take on leadership roles early in their careers and want to impact all aspects of their lives. Developing their leadership skills early in their careers is an excellent way to prepare them for future challenges.
For this reason, employers should consider delivering small learning experiences frequently. This will increase the chances of lasting behavior change and impact.
The Millennial generation has been gaining popularity and is already in the workforce. The oldest members of this generation are already in their mid-30s and have been in positions of significant responsibility and seniority for years.
The younger Generation Z is just starting to enter the workplace and is reaching the final year of their university education.
It is a fact that Gen Z and Millennials will continue to influence the working landscape. Those younger generations have valuable knowledge and skills that will benefit businesses in all industries.
They also have unique perspectives that older generations do not. They can help transform industries and the way they do business.
Have Measurable Outcomes
You can use a few key measures to measure the success of leadership development efforts. First, you can ask stakeholders what they think about the leadership development program. This will provide you with a qualitative assessment of the program.
You can also ask internal experts for their feedback on the program. This will give you an idea of the impact of the program. Second, you should measure the leaders’ success in achieving the desired behavior.
Third, you should have a predefined Result. Measurement of the outcome will make it possible to adjust programming as needed.
The next step is to create organizational support for the initiative. This should include identifying the stakeholders and what they expect. Involving them before collecting data will prevent any arguments over what is measured.
It is vital to get their buy-in to ensure that the leadership development initiative is successful. Be aware that there are several challenges involved in evaluating leadership development.
First, the process of determining whether leadership development has improved the effectiveness of employees is not straightforward.
Using a statistical method, program directors need to consider many other variables. They must set up an experiment involving many participants, multiple training groups, random assignment, and multiple pre and post-training quantitative measures.
Third, leadership development initiatives must be able to cascade results to subordinates. They should be able to shape future leaders by transforming current ones into better ones.
As a result, a leadership development initiative must cascade its improvements to the entire organization. This will allow it to achieve its objectives.
Have Specific Goals
Identifying and pursuing specific goals for leadership development provides a sense of purpose, inspiration, and motivation. It can also help you gain an understanding of your strengths and weaknesses.
Specific goals will help you prioritize your efforts and complete them as efficiently as possible. A goal will also help you stay focused.
Writing down your leadership development goals is an effective way to ensure your progress. Set SMART goals that are specific, attainable, and realistic. Then, track your progress against these goals.
As you learn more about your strengths and weaknesses, you can set new goals and focus on those areas that need improvement. For example, if you want to improve your listening skills, you might focus on reducing the frequency of repetitive behaviors.
Another way to ensure your goals are measurable is by attaching a metric. This will help your team understand what they are aiming for. For example, if you want to train your employees on new software, you could attach a metric such as 100% of employees trained within two weeks. This goal will be attainable and allow you the time and flexibility to train everyone.