Here’s a challenge for you. Ravin Jesuthasan and Marie S. Holmstrom of Willis Towers Watson just published an article on the Harvard Business Review site titled “As Work Changes, Leadership Development Has to Keep Up.†Here’s the opening.
“As work itself is changing, some of the basic tenets of leadership development are being challenged. The very idea of leading people in jobs is changing with the democratization of work and the continued advance of digital technology. These twin forces are moving work beyond the traditional structure of activities that are organized into stable jobs within a siloed organization. Work is being disaggregated into tasks that can be dispersed inside and outside of the organization — the ‘uberization’ of work.â€
I agree with all of that, but it also got me thinking about another change we need to make. I think it’s far more important than scrutinizing the way work is being atomized in many companies. I’m talking about going back to the good old days.
Leadership development should reach all the way down
Back in the day, it was possible to start at the bottom of a company and rise to the top. That’s how my friend, Chuck, did it. He started on the loading dock at a big trucking company and finished his career as executive vice president. He couldn’t do that today.
Chuck wound up a leadership position because he was ambitious and hard working. He got promoted to middle management and above because of his performance. Today, lack of a degree might stop him cold. Today, most leadership positions require you to have a degree first. If we want to use all the talent in our organizations, we need to change that.
Leadership development should include education
One way to change the situation is to make education part of leadership development. It should be more than “tuition reimbursement.†Add some coaching and discussion of how what’s being learned can be used on the job and you’ve boosted the reach and effectiveness of your program.
