We all want our senior leaders to "get it"—to support, participate, and buy in to the organization's leadership development initiatives. We know for sure what it looks like when senior leadership is not bought in—fragmented communication, unclear direction, and few breakthrough results. But what does it look like when senior leadership "gets it"?
A Senior Leadership that "Gets It" Incorporates the Leadership Development Needs Of the Organization Into Its Strategic Planning Process.
What leaders are learning and the ways in which they are being developed should be a reflection of the organization's strategic goals. For instance, if a major strategic initiative is to dramatically grow the business, leaders should be trained on how to lead during times of growth and how to deal with capacity issues.
Development planners should actively seek senior leadership's input on what the most pressing business needs of the organization are and how the leadership development efforts can work to meet these needs.
At the same time, senior leaders should ensure there is an active linkage between the organization's strategic plan and the leadership development curriculum.
A recent Baptist Leadership Institute Web poll showed that about 65 percent of the respondents agreed or strongly agreed that senior leaders in their organization are taking active steps to make sure the strategic plan and the leadership development efforts are aligned.
A Senior Leadership That "Gets It" Is Visibly Engaged In Leadership Development, Including Teaching and Actively Participating In Course Work.
At Baptist Health Care, one of our leadership development mantras is that "Baptist leaders should teach Baptist leaders how to be Baptist leaders."
If senior leaders are not actively engaged in teaching, then they are not truly committed to leadership development. Taking the time to teach and develop other leaders is the price of leadership. A healthy culture will allow no compromise on this point.
Slightly more than half (53 percent) of poll respondents agreed or strongly agreed that senior leaders are visibly engaged in leadership development.
A Senior Leadership That "Gets It" Holds Leaders Accountable For Implementing Skills Learned In the Organization's Leadership Development Journey.
On this item, we saw less optimism reflected by our web poll respondents. Only 41 percent agreed or strongly agreed that their senior leadership applies accountability to leadership development.
Leadership development without accountability is just "putting butts in seats" and expecting our cultures to change as a result. That doesn't bring breakthrough results.
Esteemed executive coach Marshall Goldsmith says, "A lot of what passes for leadership development in companies can be a waste of time." See if you recognize this process, he says. At a convention, you're entertained by a parade of speakers, and afterward you're required to critique the speakers and rate how effective they were. And you may be asked to critique the hotel and the food. But nobody is critiquing you. Nobody is following up to see what you learned or if you have actually become a more effective leader.
So who's learning (and changing) the most? The speakers, the hotel staff members, and the cooks.
Do the Senior Leaders In Your Organization "Get It"?
I hope so. In my experience working with organizations and helping them create healthy cultures, I have seen that a strong commitment from senior leadership is absolutely necessary to create anything more than casual, cosmetic change.
The good news is that with senior leadership's involvement and commitment, nothing can stop the organization's pursuit of excellence!
By Brian Jones / BLR
