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 on leadership development and a love of learning, getting buy-in for leadership development training, and powering up people skills.
From Lauren A. Keating, Peter A. Heslin and Susan J. Ashford: Good Leaders Are Good Learners
“Although organizations spend more than $24 billion annually on leadership development, many leaders who have attended leadership programs struggle to implement what they’ve learned. It’s not because the programs are bad but because leadership is best learned from experience.”
From Saga Briggs: Why Every Great Leader Needs a Love of Learning
“‘In the fast-paced environment in which organisations now function, if they are unable to learn, they are left behind,’ says Nancy Dixon of the Department of Knowledge Management and Innovation Research Centre in Hong Kong. Truly great leaders, leaders who inspire change within these organisations by pushing individuals to excel, know the value of continual learning. They have a vested interest in their own personal and professional development, and can transfer that passion to the rest of their team. In this modern era of accelerating change, leaders must cultivate a love of learning in themselves and others or, as Dixon suggests, risk stagnating while other organisations thrive.”
From David Witt: Getting Buy-in for Leadership Training
“An analysis of more than 200 organizations by The Ken Blanchard Companies found that every year of delay in improving leadership skills costs the typical organization an amount equal to 7 percent of their total annual sales. This represents millions of dollars each year—because poor leadership behaviors not only increase the loss of high potential employees, they also lower the employee work passion and productivity of the people who remain with the company.”
From Desda Moss: How to Power Up People Skills
“There is a shocking ‘execution gap’ between the goals organizations set and the ones they actually achieve, writes Trevor Throness , author of The Power of People Skills: How to Eliminate 90% of Your HR Problems and Dramatically Increase Team and Company Morale and Performance”
