Leadership development may be the most important thing any company does. That’s why, every week, I review blogs and other publications that cover leadership development to find the very best leadership development posts. This week, you’ll find pointers to posts about culture change, HIPO programs, leadership and context, and the business case for leadership development.
From Jack Zenger: Change Your Leaders To Change Your Culture
“How would you describe the culture of your organization? Some might say, ‘It’s the smell of the place,’ or, ‘It’s how things are done around here.’ Research done on culture and organizational performance by Kotter and Heskett defines culture as ‘…gained knowledge, explanations, values, beliefs, communication and behaviors of large group of people, at the same time and same place.’ They concluded that differences in culture explains why one company succeeds where another fails within an industry. Consider Apple versus Blackberry, or Target versus Kmart. It wasn’t just the strategy that determined the success of the company, it was the culture. The ultimate summary statement on the topic may have been Peter Drucker’s familiar saying, ‘Culture eats strategy for lunch.’ However, culture can’t remain stagnant. As the economy and each industry changes, company culture needs to be constantly adapting.”
From Susan Fowler: HIPO programs suck
“There. I said it. High-potential programs suck. I thought about being less direct and more refined in describing how I feel about most ‘high-potential’ programs.”
From Todd Warner: Corporate Learning Programs Need to Consider Context, Not Just Skills
“Spending on corporate learning, particularly leadership development, continues to increase at a staggering pace. According to one piece of research, spending on frontline leadership development alone increased by over 310% in a three-year period. Despite the amount they invest in corporate learning, organizations continue to struggle to connect these programs with the day-to-day work of strategy execution.”
From Kevin Sheridan: The Business Case for Leadership Development and Learning
“Armed with these convincing statistics, any manager should be able to secure funding and commitment for future learning and leadership development programs.”
