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 promoting high performers to leadership, de-emphasizing top management’s role, leadership development through adversity, and the problem with leadership development plans.
From Ted Bauer: No, no, no: Don’t put the high performer into management
“One of the biggest problems at work is the high performer confusion. Let me explain that out. In a hierarchy, the only way to make more money is to rise up 1-2 (or more) levels. There are a lot of flaws with hierarchy, and this is most assuredly one of them. It typically creates cultures where the people most concerned with money end up becoming managers. But here’s the confusion: they are not managers because they wanted to manage other human beings, they are managers because it was the only way to get a bigger salary. Good managers are often super rare in companies. Why? Start right here with this high performer confusion.”
From Ross Kelly: Bain Report: Upper Management’s Role could be De-emphasized
“While CEOs are typically considered to be the most important person in a company, there are plenty of examples of underlings being valued more than their bosses.”
From Manfred Kets de Vries: Developing Leaders Through Adversity
“Resilience is a hard-earned yet crucial trait for future leaders.”
From Julie Winkle Giulioni : The Problem With Development Plans
“Despite its critical importance to the employee experience, professional and career development are generally the lowest scores on employee opinion and climate surveys. For decades, organizations have struggled to ensure their efforts (and they really are making an effort) resonate positively with the workforce. And the reason these efforts fail to satisfy the needs of employees in many cases is because the plans at the center of development are frequently not worth the paper they’re written on.”
