Every week, I review blogs that cover talent development to find you the pick of the lot for the week. In this post, you’ll find pointers to pieces about leadership development at the best companies and at the US Navy, the future of MBA education, executive training programs, and rewards programs.
From Workforce: Special Report on Training and Development: The Leadership Formula
“By surveying management at companies performing at varying levels in a number of industries and crunching the numbers, researchers have developed a data-driven model for what constitutes good leadership and how to develop it.”
Wally’s Comment: This report builds on research from i4cp and looks at how the companies who seem very good at it do leadership development. One interesting finding from i4cp is that three-quarters of firms they surveyed thought leadership development was important, but only one quarter thought they were effective at it.
From Forbes: Inside the U.S. Navy’s Leadership School
“Despite the institution’s more than 200-year history of success, its heads saw by 2000 that its future leaders would need new kinds of strategic training and an eye toward innovation. Budgets were shifting (and sometimes shrinking), demographics changing, waves of baby boomers retiring and American military strategy and the global environment constantly evolving. The leaders of the Navy decided they needed nothing less than to reinvent how they approached their work, to draw on much more varied skills than in the past.”
Wally’s Comment: Sure, the Navy has been turning out leaders for over 200 years, but that doesn’t mean they can’t get better at it. And it doesn’t mean that the changing state of the world won’t demand a few changes, too. The Army’s been going through similar analysis. David Brooks wrote about it in the New York Times as “Leading with Two Minds.” I wrote about the Army’s challenges in a post on Three Star Leadership titled “Leaders Decide. Let Them Learn How.”
From HBS Working Knowledge: What Is the Future of MBA Education?
“Why get an MBA degree? Transformations in business and society make this question increasingly urgent for executives, business school deans, students, faculty, and the public. In a new book, Rethinking the MBA: Business Education at a Crossroads, Harvard Business School’s Srikant M. Datar, David A. Garvin, and Patrick G. Cullen suggest opportunities for innovation.”
Wally’s Comment: Today’s MBA programs are, indeed, about business administration. There are lots of effective technical courses nestled in their own subject silos. There is very little about helping students integrate everything in the high velocity world they’ll find in business. This is an interview with two authors of a book about how things should/might change. There’s an excerpt from their book as well.
From Great Leadership: 5 Ways to Train Executives
“Designing and implementing an executive education program is not for the inexperienced or faint hearted. What’s so different about executives? Wouldn’t universal training and learning principles apply to them as well as anyone? To some degree, yes. However, I’d recommend being aware of and paying attention to the following differences:”
Wally’s Comment: Dan McCarthy is the voice of experience on putting together leadership development and executive education programs in companies. This post is a good example of his work. If you’re concerned with leadership development, Dan’s blog should be regular read.
From Compensation Cafe: Does Your Rewards Strategy Encourage Low Performance?
“Lately it seems that most pay for performance discussions are centered around top performers and channeling most of your rewards at them. It’s hard to argue with this. Studies have shown that top performers have demonstrably more bottom line impact than average performers. Various surveys have also unearthed the fact that perceived ‘fairness’ by top performers is a leading reason for dissatisfaction and voluntary termination. So, it makes sense to give top performers the highest rewards.”
Wally’s Comment: How awful to do all that work on developing leaders only to have your rewards program frustrate them and send them scurrying for the door. Laura Schroeder looks at some of the options and their possible consequences.
