Leadership development is for all leaders
Are leaders born or made? When it comes to leadership development, the question is irrelevant. Sure there are some people who show up with a lot of the skills they need. But no one has all of them naturally. You still have to develop those “born leaders. “
Leadership development to grow strengths
Leadership development is all about building on strengths. That born leader may be strong on communications or strategy or critical incident management, but he or she can always get better. Identify areas of natural strength and develop them.
Leadership development to make weaknesses irrelevant
Every leader has weaknesses. Sometimes they don’t matter much. Other times those weaknesses can be the difference between success and failure. Help developing leaders learn how to get “good enough†at crucial skills. Help them earn to allow others to do things the leader can’t do well.
Leadership development for every new level
Even if a man or woman is a great leader at one level, there’s no guarantee that they’ll do well when they get promoted. As Marshall Goldsmith put it in the title of one of his books: What Got You Here Won’t Get You There.
In fact, very often the things that make a leader successful in one job turn out to be drags on performance one level up or in a different job. Help your leaders develop the skills they need as they move through their careers.