You Say You want Effective Leadership Development?

Just this morning I opened another email from some consultancy. They’ve just published a report that will tell me how to achieve long term competitive advantage and profitability. All I need to do is part with a few hundred dollars and, “Voila!” I will have the answer.

The promise is that, hidden from common eyes but revealed to the sophisticated analyst are the secrets of talent development. Not only are they more powerful than weapons of mass destruction, they’re easy to apply and take effect instantly.

It’s not that easy. It’s never that easy. There’s a lot of value in many of these offerings. But there’s no magic.

Great talent management isn’t that hard to comprehend. It’s just very hard to do, do consistently, and do consistently for a long time. Here are some of the basics.

It must be a priority. Priority in most companies means it gets significant budget and that top management pays attention to it.

If you review the practices of companies who are known for their leadership development, you find that senior managers are involved in the development and evaluation processes. They teach at training events. They devote a significant chunk of time to talent development.

HR provides support and also leadership in the technical parts of the process. They’re responsible for things like recruitment, on-boarding, training design and a host of other things that will make the process effective and professional. They support managers, but don’t supplant them.

The primary responsibility for talent development rests with the line managers. That means that managers are evaluated on their efforts. It means that being known as a developer of people is a plus for a manager’s career.

The Marine Corps is explicit about this. We find this in the Marine’s doctrine: “Commanders should see development of their subordinates as a direct reflection on themselves.”

So if we know what it takes and there are all these consultant’ reports outlining details and best practices, why do so few companies do it well? There are two simple answers.

It’s hard. It means changing the way a company does business and, usually, changing company culture.

It takes a long time. You don’t see the results of new talent development for years. You won’t witness the full impact for a generation.

Wally Bock

Wally Bock is a coach, a writer and President of Three Star Leadership.