How can you tell if you need leadership development? And if you do, how do you choose what approach to take, and what benefits you can expect to see from it?
In this article, I’ll share five big signs that you need leadership development, and a couple of tips to help you decide what type of development will best suit you.
These signs apply to first-time and experienced leaders, so no matter where you are on your leadership journey, this article will help you identify when and where to invest your time, money, and attention.
The five signs you need leadership development
1) You and your team aren't getting the results you know you're capable of
This is the most obvious, and yet often overlooked, sign that you need leadership development. As the harsh-but-true saying goes “If a sports player is always performing poorly, you fire the player. If a sports team is always performing poorly, you fire the coach”.
If your team consistently underperforms, then it’s time to consider what part your levels of leadership competence and confidence are playing. Of course, there may be other factors in the mix (Are your targets realistic, based on the resources you have available? Has something shifted since the targets were set?). But fundamentally, a team will never outperform their leader’s capabilities.
Whether it’s how to deliver engaging feedback, gain buy-in, or have courageous conversations, taking targetted action to boost your leadership capabilities can help your team scale new heights of performance.
2) You're burned out, confused, or ready to quit
Leadership takes a toll – it feels like there’s never-ending pressure to always be “on”, to have the answer, to know the next step. And it can be hard to tell if this is just a bad week, or the start of a downhill slide.
Add to that the confusing signals that come from all sides (Grow sales! Shrink costs! Batten down the hatches! Take risks! Don’t make mistakes! Try new things!), and it can be hard to know what to focus on.
Leadership development teaches you the skills and mindsets you need to navigate uncertainty, establish and maintain healthy boundaries, identify priorities, and refresh your commitment to your team and your role within it.
3) You're stuck in a rut and don’t know how to get out
Get up. Go to work. Slog your guts out. Go home. Rinse and repeat.
It’s Groundhog Day on steroids, but you can’t seem to find the off-ramp. You’re as frustrated as all get-out, but unsure how to get onto a new path.
“If you always do what you’ve always done, you’ll always get what you’ve always got.” (attributed to Henry Ford, Tony Robbins, and others)
Leadership development isn’t just about leadership skills. It’s about your personal development and discovering your purpose and values. When you have your North Star clearly in mind, you’ll act with intention and move with conviction in the direction of your dreams.
4) You’re convinced you’ve got potential to grow
You know that you’re capable of more than you’re doing right now. You might not want to say it out loud, but your heart is whispering “There’s gotta be more than this”.
You might not know what that “more” is right now, but you feel it in your bones. You’re hungry to find out just how good you could be, how much of an impact you could have, how far you can take this thing (whether that’s your team, your career, or that wild and crazy idea that wakes you up at 3am).
Leadership development provides an avenue for you to dream bigger and give new things a go. Which leads us right onto Sign #5.
5) You’re ready to step up and do things differently
Staying the same no longer sits comfortably for you. There’s a deep hunger in your soul to get different outcomes. You know that means you need to make different choices and try new things.
And you know that that might mean standing out from the crowd.
A true leadership development expert won’t let you play it safe. They won’t endorse you doing the same as yesterday, or being like everyone else. Rather, they’ll nudge you up to the edge of what you think is possible, then support you to jump off and find your wings.
Reflection prompt
Now that you’ve read through the five signs, which sign resonated most strongly with you?
Take a few minutes to make some notes about which prompt caught your attention, and why.
What kind of leadership development do you need?
Training
Training is any activity where you are consuming content (e.g. videos, books, articles, podcasts etc) and engaging in activities (e.g. worksheets, roleplays, brainstorming etc) with the expectation that you will apply your knowledge outside the training session.
Training can be 100% online (live and/or asynchronous*), 100% face-to-face, or a hybrid of online and face-to-face. Each mode has upsides and downsides.
Live training (online or face-to-face)
Live training (whether online or face-to-face) has the benefit of giving you the chance to ask questions and seek clarification in real-time. Depending on the design of the course, you may also get live feedback from the trainer. You’ll need to lock time for live training into your schedule, which can be tricky in demanding roles.
You also get a built-in community of other people involved in the training. This can be a great benefit outside the training sessions, as you can get peer support, even long after the training programme is completed.
Online training (live or asynchronous)
100% online training can be easier to schedule – there’s no tricky commute, and if it’s asynchronous, you can fit it in around your existing commitments. It can also reduce overall costs because you don’t have to travel. The downside is that it can feel lonely and isolating because you’re not “in the room” with other learners.
But training isn’t enough on its own
Regardless of the form your training takes, completing the training isn’t enough – you actually have to get out and apply what you’re learning in the “real world”. That means doing things differently, leaning into discomfort, and trying new approaches more than once, while seeking robust feedback from those around you.
* Asynchronous means ‘not at the same time’, for example, watching a pre-recorded video.
Coaching
Coaching is basically a conversation with a purpose. Unlike “normal” conversations, where both parties participate on an equal footing, in a coaching conversation, each party has a different role. Coaching can be 1:1, or a group format (one coach, multiple people being coached).
The role of the coach
The role of the coach is to provide a space for the person being coached to explore their thinking and feelings on a focus topic of their choice. It’s not their role to give advice or demand specific actions from the person they are coaching.
The role of the person being coached
The role of the person being coached is to:
- show up ready and willing to engage in thinking about their thoughts, feelings, and behaviour (and where appropriate, the thoughts, feelings, and behaviour of others),
- notice and acknowledge what they’re thinking and feeling,
- to decide how they will respond to what they notice.
The magic of coaching
A large part of the “magic” of coaching comes from the relationship between the parties. Most of us aren’t used to having someone listen closely and attentively, and hold us in strong positive regard. Many times, as the person being coached talks about their topic of choice, they connect the dots and have “Aha!” moments without any input whatsoever from the coach – but the coach’s presence and attentive listening created the space for those insights.
As with training, coaching doesn’t change anything – applying your insights is what makes the difference.
Time requirements
Because coaching is conversation-based, it is a “live” method, so you need to lock the time in your schedule. Most coaches offer one hour or 90 minute sessions, and it’s recommended to have 10-15 minutes each side of a session to allow you to breathing space before the session, and some reflection time afterwards.
Coaching frequency is a matter of personal choice – some people like weekly coaching (this is a particularly good cadence if you want to build momentum), others prefer fortnightly or monthly, especially once they feel like they’re in a good rhythm.
Mentoring
A less talked-about option for leadership development is mentoring. A mentoring relationship is formed by two people with different levels of experience and/or of different ages/career stages.
Traditionally, mentoring was where an older, more experienced, senior leader was paired with a (for want of a better word) “junior” person who wanted to grow their career. The senior person in the pair would offer some combination of:
- advice and guidance,
- introductions to people and organisations,
- connections to growth opportunities (jobs, secondments, projects etc.).
These days, reverse mentoring is becoming more common: a “junior” (read: younger) person is paired with a senior person who wants to learn new ways of seeing the world and gain fresh insights into what is possible.
Either way, mentoring can be a powerful method of leadership development. It can be a formal, documented arrangement, or an informal and evolving set-up. You can even be mentored by someone you’ve never met – such as someone who has published books, has a podcast, or delivered a TED Talk or similar.
Convinced that you need leadership development?
It’s a big step, but if you decide to go for it, it’s one of the best decisions you’ll ever make!
What you learn as you undertake leadership development won’t just help you as a leader, it will help you as a person. You’ll learn more about yourself than you ever thought possible, and you’ll strengthen your relationships with the people who are important to you.
One last thing to consider
Leadership development only works if you do. It’s not enough to attend training or sit through coaching sessions. Change happens when you do things differently – so take what you’ve learned and run experiments. Keep tweaking and adjusting until you find the formula that works for you and your team.
Better humans make better leaders. Are you ready to step up?
I work with leaders at all levels and all stages of their leadership journey as a trainer and coach.
I offer bespoke in-house training that meets you where you’re at and gets you where you want to go. And I offer 1:1 coaching that supports and enhances your learning and growth so you can be the kind of leader you want to be.
If you’re keen to find out more, check out my leadership programmes and coaching services. Then hit the button below to book your chemistry check call to talk about how we can work together to help you achieve your goals and live your dreams.
