LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT

The selective development of the potential of your leaders is a core element of Reflect – discover and develop with us the real drivers and decision makers in your company!

• What is leadership development?
• The five characteristics of effective leadership development activities
• What potential does leadership development support?
• Four success factors for effective and sustainable leadershio development
• Systematic leadership development in four steps
• The benefits of an effective leadership development programme
• We sustainably promote your executives

Leadership development is aimed at developing the leadership skills of leaders and junior executives. It consists of four complementary aspects, which we can effectively support you in implementing. In numerous customer projects, we have been able to demonstrate our expertise in leadership development and have helped many companies recognize existing leadership potential, maintain sustainable development, retain young talent and build a talent pool.

Leadership development refers to activities that develop and improve the skills, competencies and confidence of managers. The programs vary massively in complexity, cost and approach. Coaching and mentoring, for example, are two possible forms of development that are often used to develop managers.

Baldwin and Ford (1988) already attributed the success of executive development to the quality of the approach, support and acceptance by superiors and the methods used.

Some commentators distinguish between leadership development programs that focus on collective leadership in an organization and programs that target individuals.

Leadership Development "is a common process in personnel succession planning that aims to attract high-calibre executives to take on leadership positions when they become vacant. As a rule, top performers are identified for these executive development programs. These programmes are longer-term oriented and broader than programmes with more concrete, short-term objectives.

Leaders are the key figures of every company and therefore represent a central system element that must be promoted. It is crucial to recognize, focus and promote the individual potential and strengths of each leader, in order to achieve exceptional team performance and to develop overall organisational potential.

Effective management development promotes the establishment of a healthy organisation and thus contributes to the creation of competitive advantages, which ultimately guarantee the long-term success of the company. In times of “war for talents” and skilled labour, a sustainable, future-oriented talent management is therefore indispensable. Support programs and further training support the development of balanced management within the company. This means that responsible persons learn to guide themselves, their team and the company, as a whole, in a positive, value-oriented, sustainable and forward-looking manner.

Readiness of the organisation

Probably the most important element is the concrete need to develop leaders. Whether as part of a larger talent strategy or an exemplary program for selected individuals, all development activities must be geared to organizational needs. What is more, the management team must provide its own time and dedication as well as resources to demonstrate the willingness of the activities. Sometimes it is helpful to communicate the link to the overall strategy, sometimes it helps to reformulate the talent strategy. Clear communication within the organization and beyond strengthens future leaders in their role and helps to release the additional energy they need. It is also a symbol of the entire organization, both to understand the concrete necessity and to support future leaders in their efforts.

Visible leadership

In order to develop leadership, it must be clear what the term stands for. What are the values, mentalities and competencies associated with it, what is the common understanding of being a leader? Who are the role models for what kind of leadership? Leadership is understood as an individual characteristic, as a field of relationships or as the result of adaptive actions. What stories are told about extraordinary leadership skills? Are these part of case studies? Does the organization talk about it? The desired leadership culture, supported by future leaders, should not only be part of leadership programs, but also visible to the entire organization. Leadership needs succession, the right alignment is a key component to follow.

Focus on the right people

"A fool with a tool is still a fool" - effective leadership development ensures the intelligent identification of talents, preferably in such a way that the entire organization can participate. Future executives must be involved with the organization. Even if the selection is usually made by only a handful of people, it should be clear from a distance (organization) who has been identified and why. It not only drives development activities forward, but also sets the direction for the entire organization in terms of what factors are important for the future of the organization. At least it shows a team of future managers, at best it shows the values that executives stand for.

Bringing real life into play

In most companies,"Leadership Development" is a bonus for day-to-day work. Instead of becoming an additional playground with additional rules, it should be closely linked to daily work and life. Authentic leaders can focus their energy on their personal development areas, action learning shows real challenges and gives the organization signals for new solutions. When managers talk to future leaders about their own leadership experience, they can build personal networks that will be critical to the future of the company. Joint reflections on the challenges of real-life management bring the benefits of retrospective thinking and enable management to learn and grow. Moreover, it can be the ground to design individual or organizational routes, with the aim of learning something about the current unknown.

Talent management

Successful leadership development requires dedicated experts who take care of the management development process and advise the leadership team in a leading role. Experienced managers with a healthy interest in people are a good source for successful talent development. They can use their seniority to reconcile the long-term need for a well-equipped talent pipeline with a short-term assessment of the placement of a well-equipped successor. Talent management systems can provide a good basis for talent identification as long as the tools are consistent with the objectives of the leadership team. Carefully elaborated activities make a difference both for managers and for the entire organization, demonstrating to managers what they will multiply with their teams. The more talent development is perceived by these teams as an effective investment in the future of the organisation, the more the organization can follow its future leaders.

Design your development activities

These elements are linked to each planned leadership development activity with the aim of enriching the diversity of leadership skills, knowledge, identity, characteristics or motivation. It can be a formal executive education programme, a few coaching sessions or a self-organised set of experiments that an executive wants to conduct himself or herself.

Effective management development promotes the potential of your leaders and aims at the formation of balanced leadership on all management levels. Potential is composed of talent, motivation, learning agility and contextual design. These four areas must be targeted:

1. Talent: through individual talent analysis and leadership approaches, such as Positive Leadership
2. Motivation: through individual motive analysis and the linking to the meaning of the organisation
3. Learning agility: through the continuous promotion of mental, social and change-oriented agility, as well as self-reflection
4. Contextual design: e.g. by raising awareness of the design of an optimal context, is potential development at all possible

Leaders are the key figures of every company and therefore represent a central system element which must be promoted. For this, it is crucial to recognize, focus and promote the individual potential and strengths of each leader. The four success factors of holism, individuality, being up-to-date and sustainability, characterize our cooperation with you – for effective and sustainable leadership development.

Leadership plays THE key role in transforming companies. This is due on the one hand to her purely formalistic position and decision-making power, within which she bears joint responsibility for people and their development, and on the other hand also to her informal role as a role model and networking point.

Leadership positions and roles justify the influence that managers have on people in their organization and enable them to influence the work context of their colleagues on a daily basis and to influence their lives within and outside the company.

A new leadership commitment

In contrast to the "old logic", we see leadership primarily as a kind of service.

Leadership means helping people to lead themselves and develop others. The classical hierarchy pyramid is reversed and the enormous potential of the vast majority of organization members is given the chance to develop.

Entrepreneurially-minded, committed, creative, happy and healthy employees are ultimately the greatest competitive advantage that a company can create.

Balanced leadership

Balanced leadership is a partial aspect of our concept of "healthy organisation" and describes the process of self-management as well as social influence on the actions of others, by maintaining a balance within the three levels of self-management. This ensures that a healthy balance is maintained in the individual company dimensions (employees, relationships, culture, structures, processes, strategy) as well as in the cross-dimensional overall organisation.

This fundamental attitude also has a consequent impact on management development.

The first task of leadership development is to ensure that they provide the best of the workforce for the common goal. And it is important that these leaders have the necessary skills to achieve this.

There are four steps that organizations should take into account when setting up a leadership development programme.

1. Identify qualities and skills

Outline the qualities and skills of each leadership position in the organisation. These skills must form the framework for the required leadership qualities. These skills should be recorded as detailed as possible.

2. Evaluate knowledge, skills and abilities

Evaluate the current knowledge and skills of the manager in the required skills. Managers should have a solid understanding of the skills they need and be able to identify the changes that are still needed. In this way, management development becomes a continuous process of improved or newly added skills and knowledge. The alignment of the status quo and the changes that have occurred is thus always the starting point for management development.

3. Draw up a development plan

Develop a Personal Improvement Plan (PIP). Where does the manager stand right now? Sketch the process of improving, growing and developing to reach the next level on the scale. Personal improvement needs should not be considered negative in any organisation. When developing the PIP, remember to sketch a time horizon, metrics and results necessary to advance to the next level.

4. Regular supervision is essential

Make sure there are regularly scheduled meetings with the manager or employee. These meetings serve to review the process, improvements and advancement to the next level of competence. This is your opportunity to be a mentor and supervise his work.

If you want to develop a solid leadership development programme, set up a similar process that gives all individuals the assurance that the programme will lead to joint success.

Leadership is both an art and a science. Managers need to know science before they can paint the portrait of corporate success. Leadership development must not be left to chance. Organisations should be proactive in setting goals, driving growth and achieving the best possible leadership personality for the ultimate business success.

Investments in leadership development are indispensable for the long-term success of the company and form the basis for competitive advantages. A consistent and intensive leadership development strategy thus becomes the mainstay of a high-performance organisation.

The manager as a coach is becoming increasingly important. As a manager, personnel or organizational developer, would you like to add coaching to your competence portfolio?

Then this basic workshop with a manageable time requirement of 1 ½ days is a good starting point. You will receive orientation and initial knowledge and skills.

Our coaching approach for executives combines the systemic perspective of coaching with mindfulness-based elements.

Together, this results in a very solid basis on which you as a leader in coaching can act safely and purposefully.

Training "Mindfulness-based, systemic coaching" (MbsC)

The ideal additional qualification for managers, personnel developers, consultants and trainers. MbsC Coahing training brings together the skills and experience of Reflect and the Kalapa Leadership Academy.

This innovative coaching training integrates the systemic approach with the mindfulness perspective. It starts exactly where we can help other people in their daily life as coaches to realize their potential.

• In our coaching training you will meet trainers who themselves act as coaches in the business sector, who work in a strongly process-oriented manner and who have a high degree of experience.
• You will receive comprehensive tools for daily coaching work, a sound theoretical basis (e.g. on mindfulness and neurophysiology) and learn innovative concepts for working as a coach.
• You will develop a clear understanding of the tasks and starting points of coaching and learn to apply them from a systemic point of view.
• During the training, a clear understanding of coaching is developed and a wide range of possibilities is offered for meaningful and appropriate coaching. The development of one's own coaching personality is therefore a central component of the training process.

Key aspects of this training are:

• The systemic approach examines the interactions within a context and how these interactions influence results, values, goals, relationships, etc.
• Mindfulness training and related methods are practical tools for training the mind and cultivating clarity.
• Authenticity is an essential feature for coaches and executives. Mind, heart and body are in harmony.
• Presence means being in the moment. With presence, power, creativity and the diverse options that are available at the present moment unfold. Presence requires openness and dealing with the uncertainty of the moment.