STRATEGY L
Develop the right leadership programmes Leadership development programmes often offer a ‘buffet-style’ experience. These programmes dish out a spectrum of coaches and facilitators with many tools and concepts. However, the selection is so varied that it could lead to ‘overeating’, where participants end up with huge piles of literature and other materials, but lack the opportunity to apply their learning to their work. This approach can often overwhelm participants, but the goal is not for every individual to adopt every tool and concept on offer. Instead, a high-quality leadership development programme caters to many different skills and needs. Here at Aalto University Executive Education, we strive to integrate a live business case into each programme so that participants can test their new skills and knowledge and see what works for them. Leadership training with a vision Leadership development programmes are linked to organisations’ long-term visions. In the best-case scenario, the strategy is also still in the making and the strategy dialogue takes place, in part, on the leadership programme platform. This way, the programme provides an opportunity to validate hypotheses on the go. Programmes make it possible to facilitate these discussions in a structured manner. In strategy work, it is important to decide what we choose to believe as ‘truth’. All industries have become more challenging; they find competition in unexpected places, or notice their competitors innovating with revenue and business models. Smart organisations will view leadership development programmes as voyages of discovery to uncharted territories, or as an opportunity to validate assumptions. Support for strategy implementation Many organisations will have already formed a strategy but not yet implemented it. In this scenario, a leadership development programme can provide outside support and guidance, or serve as a platform for launching projects. Having a programme means that projects don’t get buried under competing
eadership development is crucial in creating competitive business advantage. It improves financial performance, helps attract and retain talent, drives strategy execution, and increases success in navigating change. Leadership development should be seen as part of overall business development. In short, leadership and business development are two sides of the same coin. But not all organisations have caught up with this view. This could be due to the fact that resources in both public and private organisations tend to fluctuate, and HR projects are the first to fall victim to cost-cutting. This causes the business to lose sight of the bigger picture. HR development and business development happen in parallel, but in silos – they are often very disconnected, even though they depend on each other. When running a business, ultimately the main goal is to make a profit, and HR can contribute to this, but during periods of economic instability, the main aim is to keep the business afloat. Anything that is not needed to keep the business running takes a backseat. Developing employees is important, but ensuring they keep their jobs is even more so. When an upturn eventually comes around, the business begins to address the maintenance backlog accrued during the cost-cutting period, and must start from scratch as HR projects were put on hold, or phased out. To avoid this chain of events, smart organisations will formulate an overarching trajectory for their leadership development objectives and activities. For this to succeed, they need leadership development and business development. Leadership development programmes offer external inputs as stimuli. However, growth does not take place in a classroom, it happens when leaders apply the skills they’ve learned in their work. By combining business development and leadership development, employees can apply these skills immediately. Only by combining leadership and business development will individuals be able to conduct experiments, implement experience and insights, and close the knowing-doing gap. It also allows them to validate what they’ve learned and see how it works in their own contexts.
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Ambition | BE IN BRILLIANT COMPANY
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