In his recent ebook, Mitchell Phoenix' Managing Director Kevin Yates outlines how to create a leadership development project that will yield real business results. The opening chapter appears below. To download the whole ebook, click here.
Foreword
“How do I know if I am getting a return on my investment?”
I have wrestled with this question since becoming part of the ‘leadership’ industry in 1985.
Of all the questions that are asked by customers, this one consistently presents providers like Mitchell Phoenix with a challenge to answer with surety. Unlike technical or process training there are rarely simple outputs that can be measured in leadership development (even this phrase has a certain ambiguity). If there were such simple metrics our clients would be employing them and the question would be redundant. In addition, if we accept that the outputs of leadership development are likely to be complex, there is rarely a full understanding within the organisation itself of what the indicators of progress or material gain might be.
This paper sheds light on how to set up a successful project that:
• identifies the results from the project which can be measured
• explores how to measure them
• and ensures that the project yields those results
Recognising the Overall Need
Firstly, what is the problem? Presumably your organisation has a sense of what it needs to achieve in broad terms and in detail - strategy, business plan, distributed goals etc. There will be people in place (mostly) and the wherewithal to achieve the goals. All of these lend themselves to analysis and verification: what is the current capability to enact the organisation’s strategy?
If there is a perceived lack of leadership in your organisation, this implies two things:
1. An observer (or observers) has compared the current standard of leadership in the business with a higher standard known to exist elsewhere (at a previous company, at a higher level of management, etc) and found it wanting
2. This observer understands the drag on business performance that poor leadership exerts, and the potential boost to business performance that higher quality leadership will provide
Needless to say, where there is no perceived gap between current standards of leadership and a higher standard, the link between leadership and business performance will not be understood, and there will be no investment in leadership development.
If we are going to measure improvements in leadership then what is it that we are to measure? We are all likely to have a definition of leadership, and who is to say if my definition is better than yours? Let’s sweep this debate aside for now, it requires time not available in this paper and is not entirely necessary. What counts is your recognition of potential. At this stage, it is enough if you and/or your organisation have recognised a leadership gap to exploit and the potential to exploit it. Here are some clues as to the extent of that potential:
* Ownership of initiatives and/or goals is patchy
* Blame culture when things go wrong
* Complaints of phoney reward systems
* Pockets of ‘resistance to change’
* Upward delegation prevalent
* No trust between people and divisions
* Gaining commitment is like herding cats
* ‘Yes but’ begins every sentence
* …and finally the simplest of all – you prefer not to battle against it!
These are the symptoms of poor leadership. There is a neutral position where leadership is adequate and displays few of the negative factors and some positive attributes. Most organisations occupy this position.
Some occupy the following, more desirable, state of visible and positive leadership. Here are some clues in this category:
* You have resolved most of the above list
* The hearts and minds of your people are won over
* There is an appetite for improvement
* Meetings concentrate on the future goals
* The organisation focuses on the customer
* Induction is taken seriously
* A positive air of purpose pervades the organisation
* People are considerate and empathetic
* Merit counts