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 posts. This week, you’ll find pointers to posts about faculty as Sherpas, other alternatives to classroom training, taking control of your leadership development, and the power of coaching.
From Deborah Rowland: Leadership development today requires that faculty act less as experts, more as Sherpas
“Sherpas are a tribe from the Nepalese Himalayas, whose social custom has been to provide humane and courageous guides to climbers visiting their region. There are five features of the Sherpa role that I believe form the essence of the leadership development faculty requirements of today:”
From Andrea Derler: Real-Life Leadership Development: Are You Ready To Jump In?
“Most L&D practitioners believe in the idea of traditional instructor-led, classroom-based training events, when instead, they should be thinking about real-life, experiential leadership development. Overcoming the gap between staged leadership development and the realistic leadership experience is important, but tricky and more and more solution providers specialize in this aspect. Some mimic unfamiliar, turbulent, chaotic and fast-changing realities, and help participants acquire capabilities to withstand and lead through them. The twist: rather than simulating an everyday corporate environment, leaders find themselves in extremely unfamiliar territories.”
From Cari Coats: Take Control Of Your Leadership Development With Five Simple Steps
“Here’s a simple five-step process to undertake that will help you create your own career development plan. As the saying goes, ‘A goal without a plan is just a wish,’ so let’s get started.”
From Atul Gawande: Want to get great at something? Get a coach (TED Talk)
“How do we improve in the face of complexity? Atul Gawande has studied this question with a surgeon’s precision. He shares what he’s found to be the key: having a good coach to provide a more accurate picture of our reality, to instill positive habits of thinking, and to break our actions down and then help us build them back up again. ‘It’s not how good you are now; it’s how good you’re going to be that really matters,’ Gawande says.”
