Leadership development is as popular of a phrase as “I’m hungry.” It’s fun and cool to say that you’re a team builder, a leadership expert, a development guru; but are you? I will keep this simple and sweet; here are my 6 honest views on leadership development:
- Transparency: you absolutely have to be candid with your feedback to you team. Now, I didn’t say cruel and rude, I said transparent. Using respectful and supportive phrasing, you must be able to tell your employees what their strengths and opportunities are. If you are unable to provide timely and constructive feedback, your team will feel like you don’t care, and you aren’t qualified to make decisions on their career growth.
- Tailored: if your approach to development is generic, you are probably not identifying key metrics and behaviors to correct and enhance. Each person needs tailored plans to increase their performance effectiveness. Make sure you are able to outline specific actions that will inspire and grow each individual in their own way.
- Monitor: have a system in place that shows the progress of an individual’s growth pattern. Showing your team they have made progress not only reinforces behaviors, it shows your team you know they are improving.
- Observe: whether you have an elaborate computerized observation program or a simple journal- you must log behaviors. Setting aside time to observe your team’s performance is the only way to give timely and accurate feedback on what they are doing right and wrong.
- Partnership: although you are probably the best leader in the World, you need to involve others in the process of development. Ask other leaders to help provide feedback on individuals and to be a part of their development plans. Spend time collaborating and introducing your employees to others who will become valuable resources in their evolution.
- Accountability: development is not just moving someone up in the business, it can also mean out of the business. Developing others sometimes means helping them find that the role is not right for them, and to explore other options. When you are positive an employee is not a good fit for the company, help them explore other options and be upfront with your thoughts. Let that employee know you are there to support them, but ultimately they aren’t meeting company expectations. Monitor this progress quickly, and proceed with corrective action when there is no change in behavior and performance.
Remember that leadership development has an impact on an individual’s success for life. The work you put in and the quality you bring to development will have a lasting impression that you will be commended for. Inspire others and develop daily!
-Michael Dooley
leaderdevelopmentblog.com T-https://twitter.com/MdooleyBlog F-https://www.facebook.com/leaderdevelopmentblog- 6 Honest Views on Leadership Development
- achievement
- avoid being fired
- career advancement
- communication
- decision making
- development
- dreams
- ear wax
- extra mile
- get promoted
- great ideas for leadership development
- health
- healthy
- how to develop a team
- How to develop others
- how to increase employee performance
- how to lead
- hygiene
- job security
- leadership
- leadership inspiration project
- leadership qualities
- leadership skills
- list
- performance
- promotion
- skill development
- success
- tips for job security
michaeldooleyblog 
What a great article! I absolutely love your ability to make complex subjects so easy to understand.
Diana, could you send me an email to michaeldooleyblog@gmail.com I want to connect with you on an article.
Great article on leadership. Very straight forward and organized.
Thank you so much! I greatly appreciate that!
Reblogged this on pattyflanagandotcom and commented:
Michael sums up leadership in an organized well thought pattern. Hope you enjoy this as much as I did?
lovely Michael- these are very relevant and simple tips. Thanks for reading my blog too.
That is really nice! I appreciate your thoughts, I try to keep it simple as I find that to be very important! 🙂
Thanks for visiting my site. Glad you enjoyed the article on FEAR. By the way nice article on leadership. Easy to understand but oh so hard for many people to execute well.
Tom Schaber
Thanks Tom, keep me posted on your new articles!
These are the kinds of things one can only learn from experience and truly evaluating their leadership successes and failures. This is what we try to teach kids in 4-H by putting them in various leadership roles and allowing them to learn what works and what doesn’t! This is great.
Really? I didn’t know that about putting kids in various leadership roles, that’s incredible. I would love to know more about the impacts of that! Thank you Marry!
My first blog post is titled 7 Answers to the Question “What Will You Be In Ten Years?” and it basically covers 7 ways that 4-H actually impacts youth development. #2 on that post is about leadership!
Perfect! Reading time…