Setting Leadership Development goals/milestones

According to Zippia, only 10% of the workforce has natural leaders, while the other 20% can be trained!

Today companies are consistently making an effort to keep up with the consistently evolving workplaces, majorly because of Industry 4.0. The basic shift includes rising automation, adoption of smart machines, use of data and new advancements to produce and distribute products more effectively.

Leadership development has a major role in adapting to this phenomenon, helping leaders make quicker decisions and navigate through problems. This is why many companies consider employees as their assets.

 

Table of Contents

1. Introduction to Leadership Development Goals
2. Defining Clear Leadership Objectives
3. Milestones for Measuring Leadership Growth
4. Strategies to Achieve Leadership Goals
5. Overcoming Common Leadership Development Challenges
6. The Role of Feedback in Leadership Progress
7. Conclusion: Continuous Leadership Growth

 

What is leadership development?

Leadership development includes activities that enhance leaders’ abilities, competencies, and self-reliance. Different programs are available, differing in complexities, style, and cost. Coaching and mentoring are the primary ways of development.

As per Baldwin and Ford, the accomplishment of leadership development depends largely on the program quality, its support level and acceptance from the workforce, as well as the learning style of the individual.

Leadership development has a major place in succession planning which aims to deliver high-potential leaders to capture senior positions once vacant. Hi-potential leaders are identified during these development programs.

Importance of leadership development

In today’s competitive world, human capital is scanter than monetary capital. Hence, if a company manages and allocates its talent well, it acquires a competitive advantage over its competitors. A good leader will:

• Pick new ways to attract and source new recruitment in sync with modern technological advancements and workforce expectations.
• Recognize major skills needed for high-performing roles to plan future contingencies and accordingly plan skills development.
• Outline the roles essential to developing value for the company and assess the current talent’s abilities, knowledge, and experience.

Leadership development inspires an innovative leadership structure

Compelled by rising digitalization, automation, reduced transaction cost, and connectivity, the configuration of a company has evolved, resembling a thriving ecosystem instead of a bureaucratic structure.

Leadership development facilitates a leader to understand how and when to delegate efficiently. Delegating work empowers the workforce to develop innovative ideas and grow more than their current position, acquiring more work satisfaction. It provides leaders with a chance to grow their businesses.

Leadership development inspires competent and empowered leaders

Updating leaders’ skills to keep up with Industry 4.0 helps shift their approach from siloed or heroic leadership to an approach where everyone works collaboratively. Leaders now coach instead of commanding and motivating innovation instead of just overseeing implementation.

Enhanced leadership abilities lead to better innovation

Leaders are shifting from managing static teams to developing diverse, global, and agile teams linked to projects to drive transformation and advancement in their businesses. Leadership now is more about motivating and guiding. So, leaders aim to develop an environment of reliability and trust where employees are confident about sharing their opinions and taking risks.

According to Gartner, such support yields 23% and 17% more employees stating enhanced physical and mental health, adding to a 21% increment in the number of high-performance staff.

What is the leadership development process?

A good leader can make the best from the little available, while a poor leader will ruin even the best resources. This is why creative, effective leaders at different levels in a company are important to add value to it. The right leadership development process is important to develop a required pipeline of future leaders.

Here are the steps involved in the leadership development process:

Know the best leadership style for your company

When witnessing several leadership theories, you’ll encounter several leadership styles relevant to different companies. Find out the best leadership style that suits your company depending on factors like the nature of the leader role, challenges faced by the company, and shortcomings of the employees that should be dealt with in the specific leadership style. Explore the workplace culture to know which leadership style fits best.

Know the existing and prospective leaders in the company

To evaluate budding leaders, the leadership development program should determine the required skills and abilities of the leader. Make use of the competency model to assess potential employees’ performance. Know the current abilities and decide the competencies you want to see in future leaders.

Performance management

It involves assessing the potential employees’ performance during their review and testing phase by offering them tasks and goals or tracking their progress in the company.

Develop succession plans for the major role

Defining a succession plan is important if a leader is leaving the company or in case of some contingency. It helps to resume working and avoid any disturbance in the company instantly.

Draft career planning objectives for prospective leaders

Now individuals do not solely focus on their career planning. Companies devise a plan for prospective employees, delegate roles, and set objectives. They will eventually lose their hi-pot leaders if they fail to provide satisfactory growth opportunities.

Develop a skill roadmap

The leaders are offered traditional and non-traditional learning methods to understand the company’s functioning and resist the competition. The development plan includes coaching, training, and mentoring to develop their skills.

Develop coaching programs for current and future leaders

Coaching current and future leaders offers them a sense of belonging and motivation. Consistent appreciation and recognition, along with feedback on their suggestions and work, make them feel valued. Coaching programs are a great way to teach leaders how to handle a team and get completely integrated into it. Additionally, it helps them know the good and bad of their workplace culture and makes changes accordingly.

Getting a customized leadership program is best to meet your company’s needs. uExcelerate help you pick the right coaching method for your leadership goals.

How to set goals for leadership development?

 

1. Determine your objectives

Pen down all your goal ideas you want to achieve in a given time limit. It could be related to a single project or a specific period. Ask your team members about their goals and create a good list.

2. Assess your goals using the S.M.A.R.T system

S.M.A.R.T stands for specific, measurable, acquirable, relevant, and time-specific goals. Check your objectives and find those that specify your objectives, whether the results are quantifiable, related to current projects, or current means. Only choose those goals which pass the S.M.A.R.T system test and leave the others.

3. Know priority goals

After your goals list is prepared, it is important to rank it. Consider the opinion of your team members and determine priority. Re-order the goal list and keep the highest priority goal at the top.

4. Share the goals with the team

With your prioritized list of S.M.A.R.T goals, the last thing you should do is to announce your team to share opinions on their execution. Select a time in which you can share the goals with your team and address their queries and concerns.

To prepare for leadership development goals, there is a checklist that the management should follow:

Checklist for leadership development

Here is a checklist of methods to help potential leaders connect with the leadership development program.

Relationships

Coaching and training leadership works great with a relationship. The bond is formed through commitment, reliability, and trust to add value to someone. Students need coaches, motivators, and mentors that speak into their lives, personally and professionally.

Intrinsic value

A good leadership development program answers the question, “Why is it meaningful”? It will show instances of what happens with good leadership and the consequences of bad leadership. The coaching should find a way to connect with hi-pot employees emotionally- and inspire and motivate them.

Consistent

Teams should know what such commitment will mean. Coaching should have a pattern to make the teams know what they need to do and when. The entire development process should be transparent with clear entry and exit.

Tangible rewards

The best reward is that one emerges as a finer leader. But there needs to be something more. A certification program along with development can work as a great reward. The idea is to show that the investment in the leadership program offers benefits today and tomorrow.

Variety

Leadership development is not just available in one form. Multiple sources include one-on-one coaching, podcasts, books, group coaching, online mentoring, and more. Development is no longer restricted by location and time. There are several tools and training opportunities available for it.

Applicable

Quality leadership development offers opportunities to bring the learning into practice. It doesn’t adopt a one-size-fits-all initiative, instead identifies and deals with unique situations.

Assessment/ feedback

Leadership development learning should be assessed from time to time to know if it aligns with the organization’s goals.

These are the checklist for leadership development. uExcelerate is one of the best platforms to help you with your leadership development goals. Find out how!

How can a uExcelerate coach help you with your leadership development goals?

In a global context, leadership development is all about the consistent changing demands of a company. Complexities that arise with time for leaders make it important to develop better internal traits and abilities to deal with them. Hence, it becomes imperative for leaders to have a leadership development program in place.

When a leader faces the responsibilities of high-level leadership roles, they may seek the help of a coach. uExcelerate coaches are the best solution for companies that have inefficient, unproductive, and poorly-abled leaders. The coaching can inspire and help them enhance their skills, become robust and collaborate better.

A uExcelerate coach advises the person on the skills needed to become a better leader and accomplish professional and organizational objectives. They recommend the right resources, tools, and materials to combat difficult situations while offering training.

A uExcelerate coach helps develop fresh insights and awareness regarding the said and unsaid and helps the leaders learn and progress. Coaching aims to broaden their consciousness to consider all facets of life.

The best part is that the uExcelerate coaches work depending on the coachees’ needs and understand their expectations too. Once they acknowledge what the leader is looking for from the program, coaching is initiated.

Conclusion

The leadership approach is important in today’s companies. If you want your leaders to best the abilities of a high-quality leader, you should definitely choose a leadership development program.