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“Leaders are made, they are not born.
They are made by hard effort,
which is the price which all of us must pay to
achieve any goal that is worthwhile.”

~ Vince Lombardi
Legendary Sports Coach

Some believe that true leadership comes naturally. People follow these leaders because they are honest, intelligent, self-confident, charismatic, inspiring, great communicators, influential, able to resolve conflict, empathetic, accountable, open-minded, respectful, helpful, organized, timely, set clear goals, etc. Others believe that true leaders are born with some qualities, but the skills to be an effective and good leader require effort and skill development to grow in leadership competency.

What does science tell us?

According to Psychology Today, assorted studies estimate that leadership is one-third due to genetic factors and two-thirds due to training, mentorship, and hard work. (1) Another study confirmed that leadership is 30% genetic and 70% lessons learned. (2) It is clear that science confirms that leaders aren’t born, they are made.  Therefore, it is important that emerging and future leaders are provided with the training, skills, and development opportunities to ensure success.

Why are leaders so valuable?

Leaders are, of course, important to an organization because they help break down the vision into actionable tasks, set goals, build teams, enhance the skills of individuals and employees, hold everyone accountable and drive outcomes. However, great leaders are an asset because they drill down into soft skills such as really understanding people and their motives, designing strategies and executing them, looking at ways to improve efficiency and productivity as well as developing people on the team. Problem-solving, conflict resolution, growth, innovation, influencing employees, and decision-making are all key aspects of leadership duties. While some of the skills leaders need may come naturally, others must be learned.

Both organizations and senior executives recognize the value of trained, skilled leaders. In fact, knowledgeable leadership is in high demand.

  • Half of executives indicate leadership abilities are essential for managing and developing a team. (3)
  • 55% of CEOs say developing the next generation of leaders is their top challenge. (4)
  • 83% of businesses recognize the importance of leadership development at all levels. (5)
  • 58% of organizations identify closing the leadership skills gap as their top priority. (6)
    • In 2020, 77% of organizations experienced a leadership gap. (7)
    • But a mere 11% of companies can fill roles for leaders from their current talent pool. (8)
  • Training can increase leadership performance by 28% (9) and behavior by 30%. (10)
  • A study shows that training can improve leadership learning capacity by 25%. (11)

Why train leaders to lead?

An alarming 40% of new leaders will fail in the first 18 months (12), and only 10% of CEOs actually lead by example….and inspire their workers. (13)  This is very much a tragedy. Employees at every level in an organization look to the very top and will model that behavior and attitude. If a senior leader isn’t modeling what the organization desires and isn’t a good example, this has a trickle-down impact across the entire organization. More importantly, this can lead to loss of respect and influence, low morale, corporate culture problems, etc.

Work is more complex, uncertain, and constantly evolving, making the need for leadership development (L&D) extremely important. It should no longer be limited to just emerging leaders but should include managers and others across the board. Instead of selecting just a handful of people, L&D programs should be offered to many to refine the skills of professionals to take on critical responsibilities, become more agile, and navigate through change more easily in an organization.

The leadership gap problem…

Millennials – 63% of millennials indicate that companies aren’t developing them as leaders. (14), and 75% of them agree that future leadership styles will be driven by technology. (15) These low numbers lead to employee retention issues. Conclusion? Millennials aren’t being recognized as potential leaders fast enough. (16)

Talent Pool Shortages – Nearly two-thirds of senior-level employees have never received leadership training or any formal training from their organization. (17) As mentioned previously, just 11% of HR leaders have a ready talent pool to fill leadership roles. And 61% of organizations struggle to find talent that can both create a strategy and execute it. (18)

Future Leadership Needs – While over 80% of organizations believe training is important for leaders at all levels, less than 5% invest in training at all levels. (19) When almost 50% of organizations project a future scarcity of leadership talent or people with executive-level capabilities, there will be a leadership gap. (20) Less than one-third of leaders are actually trained in the skills necessary for the future. (21)

Benefits of Leadership Development

  • It drives increased revenue growth.
  • It drives strategy execution.
  • It reduces employee turnover.
  • It boosts the success of change.
  • It strengthens employee morale.
  • It assists with decision-making.
  • It promotes accountability.
  • It builds stronger teams.
  • It improves productivity.
  • It trains future leaders of your organization.
  • It minimizes gaps in the talent pipeline.
  • It attracts top and key talent.

TIPS TO FILL YOUR TALENT POOL

Align organization and L&D training
If you want your leadership training and mentorship program to resonate with your organization, it must align with the vision, purpose, culture, strategy, and results you desire to obtain from it. Only 28% of workers feel connected to a sense of purpose in their organization. (22).

Some of those workers may very well be potential future leaders. When you’re putting together your leadership tracks, and selecting mentors, make sure that these all align with the organization’s most important influences. Consider rewards or recognition strategies that follow your desired actions, beliefs, etc. Enlist accountability and check-in points when they don’t, and mentor or retrain if necessary. Develop a community where collaboration and networking are encouraged between those along similar training paths, stages of development, etc. These can help to build connections, provide ideas, offer encouragement, “sanity” checks, and peer feedback. Additionally, these resources can be utilized to improve training and experiences organization-wide.

Customize leadership development paths
McKinsey found that one of the common problems of leadership training was assuming that one-size-fits-all approaches were effective. It found several examples of underperformance in organizations where one-size-fits-all approaches turned would-be leaders into project managers. This led to underperformance and failure. If you want your organization’s leadership training to succeed, training and mentorship must be based upon the skills, the strategy, the organizational culture, etc., and be unique to each future leader. (23)

Resist the urge to identify natural leaders early
This may seem counterintuitive; however, the best leaders may lie under the surface. Organizations need to broadly view their talent pool seeking to redefine who will make the best leaders of tomorrow as they develop them. High-potential leaders that are the right fit for your organization often emerge only after leadership development training, mentorship, and learning have happened.

Include a feedback loop
Learning shouldn’t be limited to offsite classroom environments, rather, it should be translated to hands-on application. According to McKinsey, providing training participants with real work experience in the real world is valuable. This offers future leaders the opportunity to apply what they have learned and refine their skills. (23)  The feedback loop is essential for growth. When new or larger projects are initiated, emerging leaders should be involved. This allows them to have firsthand experience, work alongside a mentor, hone their skills, hear feedback, and so forth.

Encourage mindset and behavior changes
Learning of any kind must include some self-development. Soft skills, technical skills, mindset agility, and resiliency are among some of the critical requirements of today’s leaders. Hidden mindsets and behaviors may require a shift for improved leadership performance. McKinsey found that many companies are reluctant to address root problems that impact leadership due to discomfort. They discovered that when leadership development programs included steps to encourage mindset and behavior change, there were advantages. (23)

Quantify the value of your investment
You’ve spent time and money creating leadership development paths and mentorship programs. You’ve invested time and money in emerging leaders. Can you quantify the return on your investment? It’s not just that they’ve successfully completed a training program and were satisfied with it or that they feel that they are happy with the quality of the support received from their mentor. How has the organization improved overall? Have leadership development initiatives improved morale? Retention? Profits? Cut costs elsewhere? Helped with innovation or assisted with tapping new markets?

How many people have completed the program? How many are still enrolled? How many emerging leaders have moved up the ranks? In what timeline? How many are still employed by the organization? Are those still employed receiving mentorship or other leadership growth opportunities?

How do you protect your investment and recognize people, culture, skills, and needs? Is your training always in a state of flux?

Many companies are struggling to find people to fill their leadership positions. Whether they are trying to promote from within their own company or are looking to hire from external talent pools, the leadership gap is growing. If you want your leadership training and mentorship program to resonate with your organization, it must align with the vision, purpose, culture, strategy, and results you desire to obtain from it. The leadership gap can be reversed by spending dollars and time on leadership development. Your employees want it, and the company needs it.

For more information about planning a corporate meeting, contact Gavel International to learn more about how outsourcing can help streamline your process.

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SOURCES:

  1. https://www.psychologytoday.com/intl/blog/cutting-edge-leadership/201012/are-leaders-born-or-made-why-the-question-itself-is-dangerous
  2. https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/10/141006133228.htm
  3. https://www2.deloitte.com/content/dam/Deloitte/ca/Documents/audit/ca-audit-abm-scotia-high-impact-leadership.pdf
  4. https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesbusinessdevelopmentcouncil/2022/09/09/how-to-build-and-grow-leaders-from-within/?sh=606f6d3b41ac
  5. https://www.sproutworth.com/leadership-statistics/
  6. https://www.mckinsey.com/capabilities/people-and-organizational-performance/our-insights/building-workforce-skills-at-scale-to-thrive-during-and-after-the-covid-19-crisis
  7. https://www.sproutworth.com/leadership-statistics/
  8. https://www.forbes.com/sites/edwardsegal/2021/05/19/only-11-of-companies-have-a-strong-leadership-bench-according-to-new-study/?sh=61e3234f2b62
  9. https://www.sproutworth.com/leadership-statistics/
  10. https://research.com/careers/leadership-training-statistics
  11. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/318737359_Leadership_Training_Design_Delivery_and_Implementation_A_Meta-Analysis
  12. https://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/people-and-organizational-performance/ouinsights/the-organization-blog/it-really-isnt-about-100-days
  13. https://blog.inspiresoftware.com/7-statistics-leadership-development
  14. https://hrpa.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/2020/10/HRPA-Millennials-Report-20161122.pdf
  15. https://www.pwc.com/co/es/publicaciones/assets/millennials-at-work.pdf
  16. https://www.gallup.com/workplace/238073/millennials-work-live.aspx
  17. https://soapboxhq.com/blog/management-skills/leadership-statistics
  18. https://www.pmoadvisory.com/blog/good-strategies-fail/
  19. https://www.sproutworth.com/leadership-statistics/
  20. https://www.sproutworth.com/leadership-statistics/
  21. https://ddiworld.medium.com/the-leadership-skills-gap-what-it-reveals-about-the-future-9138b5422b5e
  22. https://www.strategyand.pwc.com/gx/en/unique-solutions/capabilities-driven-strategy/approach/research-motivation.html
  23. https://www.mckinsey.com/featured-insights/leadership/why-leadership-development-programs-fail
Eloisa Mendez
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