Are leaders born or made?

In this blog, we’ll explore how we in L&D can answer that question – or if, perhaps, it’s the wrong question to be asking.

According to a recent report by LPI, leadership development is both a “top priority for most organisations” while also being “a top challenge for L&D.”

The same report stated: “Completing another course on delegation or reading an article on project management is not a guarantee of a successful leader. There is acknowledgement in the L&D sector that a solution is required, and the coaching and mentoring that might be effective is often cost-prohibitive.”

So how can L&D address this challenge? Can you make a leader – or are we looking at this all wrong?

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We might be thinking about leadership development all wrong

Ironically enough, leadership development training shouldn’t necessarily be the first port of call when it comes to, well, leadership development.

We know that sounds strange, but hear us out.

Instead of jumping straight to this step without passing “go”, it’s better for organisations to first identify the values and behaviours that they want to encourage within their organisation, and how they plan to measure them. Talk to stakeholders and leadership teams, and pay attention to the desired behaviours that keep coming up in conversation.

You can also take a look throughout all the departments in the organisation, and assess what’s already there. Which positive habits are already taking place, and where are the gaps (if any?) Next, make sure that everything feeds into the wider organisational goals – it’s all connected.

Once you’ve established these values and behaviours, you’re one step closer to your goal. This step plays a crucial part in leadership development and sets you up for success when it comes to shaping the rest of your strategy.

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How do you encourage desired behaviours and values?

The next step, of course, is to begin implementing the desired behaviours and values that are currently missing. This is going to be a long process, and it takes patience, but here are a few ways of approaching it:

• Be the change: In the (paraphrased!) words of Gandhi:  “Be the change you want to see in your organisation.” Actions speak louder than words, after all, so you should lead by example by modelling the behaviours and values that you want to see in others.
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• Be clear: Be as clear and straightforward as possible about what exactly your expectations are. When feeding back to the wider organisation about the behaviours you want to encourage, clarity is key. Outline exactly what you’re looking for, and in which scenarios these behaviours are expected. Avoid ambiguity at all costs, and invite questions.
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• Be instructive: Let’s go back to basics… L&D’s entire role in this is just that: Learning and development. Training should be one aspect of this wider strategy, and it can help people visualise what it is you’re looking for. Storytelling is a hugely effective element of good training programmes, so see if you can weave in any stories that demonstrate the effects of your desired values in action.
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• Be responsive: Recognition, feedback and rewards are all great ways to reinforce the values you’re trying to instil, and encourage the desired behaviours. Shout your employees out when they exemplify these behaviours, and offer tangible incentives to get everyone else on board.
  
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How do you measure the unmeasurable?

A fair question. If a friend told you a family member of theirs was empathetic, you wouldn’t say, “Prove it. How empathetic are they, as a percentage? Exactly how much empathy did they show last quarter?” (Mostly because that would be absolutely insane, and that friend probably wouldn’t invite you over again.)

Point being, it feels wrong to try to quantify something as abstract as a behaviour; by what metrics do you measure the unmeasurable? It’s a fiddly but important step in this wider process, so let’s explore a few ways it can be achieved:
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• Key Performance Indicators (KPI’s): If you’re an L&D professional reading this, we obviously don’t need to tell you about KPI’s. But let’s explore how you can use them to measure the seemingly unmeasurable: Tie seemingly conceptual factors (e.g. “collaboration”, “empathy”, or “innovation”) to specific, measurable actions. Taking “innovation” as an example, you could measure how many developments to your product or service took place within a given time period. (Adjust this metric for whatever behaviours you’re trying to encourage.)
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• Performance reviews: Again, performance reviews are nothing new – but integrating the assessment of values and behaviours into performance reviews can be a game-changer for this specific strategy. By including these factors in the review process, you can assess employees not just on what they achieve, but how they achieve it.
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• Surveys: Your employees are the ultimate authority on whether or not your initiatives are working. They’re on the ground floor, interacting with one another every single day, so they understand first-hand what needs to change. Gather their feedback through regular, detailed employee surveys, as well as smaller pulse surveys that measure sentiment on a shorter-term basis.
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These methods will help you refine your leadership development strategy as it progresses. Continued iteration will be a necessary step, so don’t give up – you’re never going to do it perfectly the first time.

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What are the qualities of an effective leader?

L&D is about helping people to develop the innate leader qualities they have within them.

Although identifying your desired values and behaviours is a very important element of a larger strategy, leadership development is also a small piece of that puzzle. So what qualities do make a great leader, and more importantly, which of those qualities actually align with your organisational goals?

Here are some key qualities that we’ve identified as important traits of effective leaders. Remember, some of these might not resonate with you, and that’s important. Pinpoint which of these align with what your specific organisation needs right now.

• A clear vision: Good leaders have a strong, clear vision of what they want their company or team to be, and are steadfast in their pursuit of it.
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• Decisiveness: This is probably one of the first things most people think of when it comes to desirable traits of leaders: The ability to make decisions quickly, and to stand by them.
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• The ability to inspire others: Anyone can have an idea or a vision, but can you get other people excited about it? The ability to motivate and inspire others is a key part of effective leadership.
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• Emotional intelligence: As well as having what we think of as more stereotypical leadership qualities like decisiveness, visionary thinking and inspiration, another key part of being a leader is emotional intelligence. Can they accept feedback when it comes their way, and act on it? Are they able to regulate their own emotions and understand the emotions of other people in their team? This can be the difference between a bad leader and a great one – how many stories have we heard about hot-headed leaders who let their emotions get the better of them?
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• Communication skills: This branches off the “emotional intelligence” trait, but clear, concise, and impactful communication skills are vital for effective leadership.
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• Integrity: Do the leaders in your organisation have integrity? Are they honest and consistent? Do they hold themselves and their teams to account when things go wrong?

These are just a few qualities that crop up when you think about desirable traits for leaders to have. How many resonated with you? This is important to marinate on when developing leadership training, but only as far as it aligns with the organisation’s core values.

Zooming out to look at at the bigger picture

The main point we’re trying to make with this blog is that leadership development is just one piece of a bigger puzzle, and looking at the values you want to encourage within your organisation is the first step. This strategy will take continued learning and adaptation, but we think that by using it you can begin to ask the question: What qualities do we want in a leader?

We’d love to hear your thoughts, so join the conversation over on LinkedIn.

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