Tag: leadership and development course

Introduction

Perhaps, the most popular and curious question about leadership is “Are leaders born or made?” Top executives know that a born leader may have a head start, but it doesn’t guarantee sustained leadership. On the contrary, the world is full of examples of simpletons nurtured into global leaders by their ecosystem, experience, and leadership development courses. While ecosystem and experience are a matter of chance, here are five real-life lessons about good quality leadership and development course of immense value to professionals.

1.   Real need and value of leadership team training

The Harvard Business Review (HBR) reported an “urgent” need for leadership training a year before the pandemic. Why – for leaders to adapt to volatile disruptions and navigate rapid changes. Forbes reported a 67% increase in investment spending for all employee training in 2022. The good news, especially for top management, is that it has become a competitive differentiator.

The lesson therein is that it is no longer about the top executives being leaders but the leadership skills being engrained across the length and breadth of organisations and teams. The best way to achieve it is through top-class leadership team training programs.

2.   Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion drives success

Adaptation is the essential skill to survive and thrive for organisations. It took a pandemic to prove beyond doubt that diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) best drives adaptation and success amidst disruption. DEI initiatives implemented in letter and spirit build balanced teams that can better adapt, mitigate risks, overcome unforeseen crises and identify opportunities. Moreover, DEI benefits were proven even before the pandemic, such as the one reported by Credit-Suisse.

The lesson is that business and team leaders must experience top leadership management programs that imbibe DEI. They will then better appreciate that DEI is not just a “nice-to-have” feeling but a business-critical aspect that drives success. Undoubtedly, DEI is vital, especially in challenging times that are gradually becoming a routine!

3.   Leadership in future skills for a better tomorrow

Organisations are grappling with a multitude of cause-effect disruptions. While some of them are uncontrollable, like the pandemic or war and associated supply-chain issues, the one that is undoubtedly controllable is attaining a leadership position for the skills in demand today and in the future. Yet, Imarticus estimates that an astonishing 84% of organisations fail due to lacking the right skills!

Heads of learning and development appreciate the intrinsic lesson and underlying survival threat. All it takes is to act and draw up employee upskilling/reskilling strategies to bridge the skills gap through internal initiatives and external leadership team training courses.

4.   Experiential methodology trusted for outcomes

Good quality training programs typically measure outcomes using objective and subjective criteria. The quality of training program engagement and learning outcomes is enhanced when the training methodology is experiential. It is natural to learn better by doing than reading books, listening to lectures, or watching recorded videos, all of which are essential but not a replacement for hands-on experiences.

With the world economic forum predicting experiential learning to reshape the future of education in classrooms, the lesson for professionals is to insist upon experiential methodologies in leadership development courses.

5.   Tech-platform for flexible 24/7 learning access

Given workplace priorities and work-life balance dynamics, people expect training to be an incremental process they can experience flexibly. Technology has enabled learning management systems for end-to-end learning processes to blend learning experiences from smart interactive classrooms, virtual labs to hone skills, and recorded videos for flexible access to 24/7 learning.

The simple lesson is that leadership management programs must leverage technology to deliver flexible learning access anytime, anywhere.

Conclusion

These five real-life lessons are vital for successful leadership team training outcomes that improve organisational performance and employee growth.

CEO Tales: The Urban Dictionary of Leadership and Development Courses

Ironically, even as technology makes humans redundant, their talent pools provide a competitive edge for organisations. The quality of the leadership and the talent pool differentiate a firm from the competition.

Humans will continue to drive business success, and technology will serve to amplify human capabilities for the firm to realise non-linear growth. Businesses understand the salience of leadership. The real challenge for companies lies in equipping the leaders and the workforce to deliver on their responsibilities.

Recently, PwC undertook a survey to ascertain what organisations believed would be required to steer India’s workforce in 2030. The survey found that 64% of organisations felt that continuously building organisational capabilities would be the single most significant contribution required of the organisation’s leaders. Increasingly, differentiating human capabilities will be central to the CEO’s agenda.

Leadership and Organisational Development for Business Success

Leadership and development courses serve to enable organisations to build organisational capability. When done right, these courses deliver significant business impact. The leadership development courses help deliver business impact through:

Attracting and Retaining Talent.Leadership and organisational development courses enhance employee engagement, help in reskilling/upskilling the workforce, and reduces employee turnover. Top employees look to organisations to provide them with opportunities for professional development. A 2016 Gallup report found that 87% of millennials said that development courses in the workplace were vital for them. 59% of millennials said that the availability of learning opportunities was an important factor in applying for a job.

When firms invest in employees, they signal that they value them, resulting in reduced employee turnover. It is significantly less expensive to provide leadership team training to existing talent than to hire, onboard, and train fresh talent.

Top talent is also drawn to an organisation by the presence of good leaders. Leadership development courses, therefore, serve the dual purpose of improved performance of the leaders themselves and the accompanying benefit of top talent being attracted to the organisation – both of which enhance organisational performance.

Improved Financial Performance. Companies that invest in people development perform better. Focusing on reskilling/upskilling enables companies to realise a 14%-29% increasein profits. Equipping employees to serve better helps the organisation to get the best out of its employees. Leadership development training empowers employees professionally and helps organisations realise improved financial performance.

Enhances Ability to Manage Change.Leadership development equips people to deal capably with disruptive changes in the workplace. Leadership development unlocks people’s potential and enhances the organisation’s agility in managing change. 

Improved Customer Service and Satisfaction. Customers look up to employees to provide expert information on the product or service they buy. Employees need to be knowledgeable to meet customer expectations. Leadership and development courses equip employees to handle customer queries competently, increasing customer trust and enhancing customer satisfaction. 

Improved Strategy Execution. Leadership development courses are designed to align with business strategy closely, and the courses equip employees with the ability to implement the strategy. Effective execution is key to sustained business success. 

Mitigates Risk from Untrained Employees. Leadership and development courses also include compliance training and training for workplace safety. Employee training helps the workforce to maintain a safe work environment. A safe workplace enables people to work better and obviates the risk of legal action for non-compliance with workplace safety regulations.

Final Thoughts

Although the future always presents some uncertainties, it is clear that people will need to perform differently to build an organisation of consequence. Leadership development courses help develop the organisation ecosystem with critical capabilities for the future to build organisations that endure.

Imarticus Learning can be an ideal partner for your organisation’s learning needs.

We partner with businesses in identifying the leaders of tomorrow and then help them build on their capabilities to gain a competitive edge. To know more, please get in touch with us here.