7 Reasons Why Leadership Development Fails May 11, 2015 By: Nicolas Bardoukas
Copyright © 2014 by The Columbia Leadership Group, Inc. All Rights Reserved!
Fast Facts
$164.2 billion spent each year on leadership development (2013)
Only 7% of businesses actually believe their programs are successful
Top CEOs stated that it is a top-three human capital priority for organizations
Copyright © 2014 by The Columbia Leadership Group, Inc. All Rights Reserved!
So…Why is such an important priority for businesses so ineffective?
Copyright © 2014 by The Columbia Leadership Group, Inc. All Rights Reserved!
1) Lack of Business Impact
§ Failure to consider the reason they
exist—business impact
§ What good are ‘soft’ skills if their
implementation results cannot be
related to the company’s bottom-
line?
§ Quantifiable business results
allow organizations to track the
real-world effectiveness of their
leadership interventions
Copyright © 2014 by The Columbia Leadership Group, Inc. All Rights Reserved!
2) Just Another Training Program
Many programs are too focused on 'training' a very specific skill, instead of shifting the leaders’ mindsets.
Think about this… is it more powerful to teach someone a script for how to give feedback OR is it more powerful to have someone shift their mindset from ‘I'm a good feedback giver’ to ‘I know I can be a better feedback giver, and I will consciously work on it’?
“We train dogs, but we educate people”
!
Copyright © 2014 by The Columbia Leadership Group, Inc. All Rights Reserved!
3) Integration is Absent
§ Organizations still use an isolated
approach
§ Rarely consider the strategy or
culture of the business
§ All initiatives need to be rowing the
boat in the same direction
§ Failure to do so creates confusion
and frustration for the participants
and talent professionals
Copyright © 2014 by The Columbia Leadership Group, Inc. All Rights Reserved!
4) Neglecting Social Capital
§ Too many programs focus on building human capital alone
§ BUT…the best individual players, don’t make the best team
§ They might be skilled and motivated but without the necessary social capital, they won’t be enabled to fully leverage those
Copyright © 2014 by The Columbia Leadership Group, Inc. All Rights Reserved!
5) Zero Support
§ Senior leaders need to play a pivotal
role in developing their future leaders
§ Senior level support for desired
leadership behaviors is directly
proportional to the level of assimilation
of these behaviors into the company
culture
Copyright © 2014 by The Columbia Leadership Group, Inc. All Rights Reserved!
6) Learning is Missing
§ Research shows adult learners memorize an average of 10% of what they
hear in lectures
§ Leaders struggle to learn because they often don’t know how to
learn effectively and aren’t taught how to learn better.
§ Successful programs need to have learning stick by situating it in their
work context
7) Uniformity
• Most programs are off-the-shelf or
minimally tailored
• One-size-fits-all approach ignores an
organization's unique language, style
and culture
• Participants often feel the program is
foreign and aren’t motivated to
improve
Copyright © 2014 by The Columbia Leadership Group, Inc. All Rights Reserved!
What pitfalls do you see in leadership development programs?
Feel free to share in the comments on our blog page at:
http://www.columbia-leadership.com/blog/2015/5/7/7-reasons-why-leadership-development-fails
This document is the property of The Columbia Leadership Group, Inc. The concepts, terminology, frameworks, and processes presented in this document are the intellectual property of The Columbia Leadership Group, Inc. and are subject to copyright protection. The Columbia Leadership Group, Inc. protects its intellectual property to the fullest extent of the law.
www.linkedin.com/in/nbardoukas
@nbardoukas
google.com/+columbia-leadership
Copyright © 2014 by The Columbia Leadership Group, Inc. All Rights Reserved!
The Columbia Leadership Group (CLG) is a privately-held global strategy and leadership consulting firm with offices in New York, Miami, Frankfurt, San Francisco, Riyadh, and Singapore. Partnering with leading organizations of all sizes, industries and regions of the world, we identify crucial growth opportunities and tackle the most vital challenges. Our services include Strategy Development & Acceleration, Innovation-driven Growth, Custom Leadership Development programs, Executive Coaching, Sales Force Effectiveness, as well as our innovative Assessment practice. We are proud to advise many of the world's leading organizations, including Pfizer, Sanofi, Novartis, Deloitte, Booz Allen Hamilton, Bank of America, Johnson & Johnson, United Airlines, JPMorgan Chase, QBE Insurance Group, Novo Nordisk, and The Ritz-Carlton. As a result of our highly strategic and collaborative approach, our clients build key capabilities, transform their organizations, improve performance and grow in times of uncertainty and rapid change.