5 Reasons Why Leadership Development is Important

Now more than ever, we are seeing the continued importance of conducting leadership development training. As industries, tools, and technologies continue to revolutionise, organisations must have the staff and leaders in place with the skills to implement the strategies needed to face these changes. Strong leaders are essential for growth and success and taking the time to invest in their development is an important step towards improved culture and productivity. As leaders often fill the vital role of role-models within an organisation, the importance of providing leadership capability development is paramount. Below are five reasons why we believe in the importance of leadership development.

Balance Seeking

A strong indicator of successful leadership is having the ability to quickly and continually adjust their approach in order to manage their team as well as company procedures. Both should be considered as priorities as they are equally important to the overall success of the organisation.   Leaders must also learn how to strike the balance between their role as instructors as well as role-models. Being too much the former risks forming a reliance on instruction and leaves less room for autonomy in completing goals. By providing regular opportunities for leadership capability development, individuals can improve their methods and add proficiency to their existing leadership, organisational, and efficiency skills.

Skill Gaps

Effective leadership is the key to creating and supporting any successful team. In order to do this, it can be helpful to identify the differences between what management requires and what individuals are actually capable of. In some cases, it is a lack of  soft skills such as communication and time management that are preventing them from reaching their full potential as a leader. For some leaders, it is in slightly less obvious areas such as empathy and trust building skills. By investing time for leaders to develop these skills is important for the betterment of their team, as well as the organisation as a whole.

Role Clarity

Role clarity isn’t often brought up in discussions about leadership development, but its importance can not be denied. Not only does role clarity ensure that individuals know what their exact position within the organisation is; it also allows them to see how they and their work fit into the big picture. As leaders, the importance of role clarity is closely linked to accountability. It is an important part of the performance equation and one that is the responsibility of the organisation. For example, one might say that aptitude and motivation are somewhat up to the individual, role clarity is something we as leaders are responsible for and that have an impact on motivation, accountability and therefore performance. A lack of role clarity can be cause for avoidable frustration for individuals or conflict within teams. By reducing job overlap caused by any confusion, leaders can manage and delegate tasks to their teams more effectively.

Employee Satisfaction

On an individual level, employee satisfaction is often measured by the view they hold of how effective the leadership is. Attitudes and productivity are often seen to improve when there is an outward display of trust and mutual respect between employees and management. It is by learning how to foster these positive personal relationships that lead to increased motivation in employees. When the distance between employees and management is shortened on a personal level, team engagement is strengthened in such a way as to allow for an environment of collaboration to flourish. It has also been shown that employee satisfaction has a direct effect upon employee retention. Many surveys have shown that one of the most significant factors in an individual’s decision to exit their role is an absence of loyalty they feel towards their leaders. Simply by learning to engage more personally, we build this loyalty and trust that keeps individuals passionate about their role.

Strategic Problem-Solving

The ability to analyse a problem down to its root cause is one of the most important skills a leader should possess. The hard skill component is problem solving, the soft skill component is how you engage others in the process. Great leaders can exercise the soft skill component by calling upon the knowledge and talents of their team in order to find the best  solution. There is a competitive advantage to developing the problem-solving skills of leaders. In an unpredictable business environment, this kind of problem-solving is a key trait that should not be overlooked. It also helps to build high trust relationships and high trust organisations.

Why this is Important to Company Success

When the five above elements come together in cohesion, the effects benefit everyone. A company’s success can (and should) be measured by more than just the bottom line. Leadership development programs help leaders to bring out the best performance within themselves and their teams in ways that result in the overall success of the organisation. True leadership is more than just managerial skills; it enables you to inspire others to become more dedicated to their role, their team, and company as a whole. 

For more information about The Leadership Sphere and how we can help you unlock performance through leadership, by supporting your leaders at every level of the organisation with leadership development, executive coaching and high performance team programs please visit our website or call us on 1300 100 857.

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