Leadership Development: What, why, and types

Summary: this article covers what leadership development is, why it is critical for leaders, the benefits, and types of leadership development.

Leadership development is an important strategy organizations use to gain competitive advantages. Let’s brake down some the basics surrounding leadership development.

What is leadership development?

Leadership development is a process of purposeful activities that promote learning and growth related to leadership. Development can focus on skill, mindset, behavior, knowledge, and/or capabilities.

Why leadership development is important

Most leaders come to a point in their career where development is a necessity, for reasons from wanting to advance to the next career level, to wanting to address a skill or competency that is standing in his/her way.

Benefits of leadership development

Here are some of the benefits we’ve heard from leaders who have taken on developing their leadership skills and capabilities:

• Increased effectiveness, engagement, and satisfaction
• More flexibility in leadership style and approach allows adaptation to situational needs
• Better leadership creates better experiences for those who I support and partner with including my peers, direct reports, teams, customers, and organization
• Greater confidence
• Increased career opportunities
• Greater credibility
• From an organizational standpoint, the more leaders develop, the better business results, bench-strength, and greater change agility the organization possesses.

Types of leadership development

We help leaders define their development goals and then choose the most appropriate method for accomplishing them.  Here are some types of development approaches we recommend that help leaders grow their skills and abilities:

• Coaching– A one-on-one relationship over the course of months to help leaders determine appropriate goals and achieve them toward becoming a more effective leader
• Mentoring- A relationship over time where the mentor shares their personal experiences to help the mentee learn and grow
• Courses, training, or learning events– A facilitated group learning event that focuses on one or more skills or concepts.
• Self-directed– Generally attached to a learning framework, this approach is self-guided and self-paced through a set of materials, topics, and/or on the job stretch assignments.

Let us help you determine which approach might be most beneficial for you, your team, and/or organization.  Contact us.