A crucial part of any business is the leader of that business. Business leaders are the captains and navigators, guiding their ships through clear skies and stormy weather. The success of your business can often hinge on those few who find themselves in a leadership role. Because of the crucial nature of leadership jobs, companies spend a lot of time and resources on ensuring that their leaders are the best that they can be. However, to effectively lead you must have an effective understanding of leadership.

Defining Leadership

When defining leadership, the Behavioral Science & Policy journal captures it perfectly: “Effective leaders are able to get people to cooperate and coordinate their activities in the service of accomplishing goals.” Aligning the workforce is a key responsibility for leaders. It’s essential that everyone is working towards a similar goal. A leader is someone who takes the efforts of their company and guides them, shaping the way forward like a captain steering a ship.

Leadership Training

In order to be a captain, you need to first understand how the ship works. This is where leadership training comes in. As opposed to leadership development, leadership training is a lot more concrete and reactive. Often, leadership training happens over a short period of time and aims to improve the skills of all employees in specific challenge areas. These skills include intrapersonal skills like goal setting and self-reflection, interpersonal skills like working with others and collaboration, business skills like running efficient meetings and monitoring employee performance, and leadership skills like managing effective teams and retaining top talent. In effect, leadership training teaches you the qualities needed to be a good leader at all levels. It’s the gritty details, the nuts and bolts of leadership. Effective leadership training isn’t always easy to come by, however.

Needs-Based Training

A crucial part of effective leadership training is the motivation behind the endeavor. You need to analyze the areas where there needs to be the most development within the company in order to effectively utilize a leadership training program. This is called a needs analysis, and it sets the baseline for where you need to improve. A needs analysis uncovers the knowledge, skills, and attitudes of employees that need work. Armed with this knowledge, a leadership training program can be targeted at those areas most in need of improvement. Working from this needs-based approach is the best way to ensure results, and make sure that the money you spend on leadership training doesn't become wasted capital.

Training Versus Development

While leadership training and leadership development are distinct, they are not mutually exclusive and often should be used in conjunction with one another. Oftentimes, an employee needs the skills developed in a leadership training program to effectively use and understand a leadership development program. Likewise, leadership development programs provide the space for leaders to grow and try out the skills and techniques they learned in a leadership training program. Use both, but understand when to use each one.

Leadership Development Programs

In contrast to leadership training programs, leadership development programs are best conducted reactively instead of proactively. Leadership training programs work best when the company understands the key areas for growth. Leadership development, on the other hand, works to help teach people how to react to challenges and set themselves up for success. Rather than being a single training event, leadership development is best used as a long process of growth, often over several months. Setting aside this extended period of time allows a budding leader to grow and improve organically, with the support and feedback of the training program.

Growing From Challenge

The first stage of leadership development is a challenge in the workplace. These challenges take many shapes and include a new position, new responsibilities, needing to work with a coworker who isn’t a subordinate, and or even facing a lack of support in the workplace. Most of these challenges are a reality at every job, so finding a place for development isn’t typically difficult.

Once the challenging area has been identified, a good leadership development program steps in to provide support and feedback. Oftentimes, this support and feedback is based on real-life experiences in the workplace. A development program will react to an employee’s time spent in the workplace and help them figure out what went right, what went wrong, and how to fix it.

A foundation in challenge is so crucial to a leadership development program because of the mindset it generates among participants. Participants in a leadership program should come prepared to face the challenges that they currently deal with. In doing so, they learn much about self-reflection and self-evaluation. They also learn how to handle problems without getting involved personally. It is this self-awareness that will truly allow a participant to develop as a leader: holding a steadfast identity allows a leader to help others grow and develop an identity of their own.

Take The Time

Leadership development takes time. Unlike leadership training, which might be a four-hour workshop with catered sandwiches and tickets to a comedy club for the most active participant, leadership development is a process that won’t happen overnight. In order to grow the future of your company, you need to be willing to work with them. See the challenges they face and help them overcome them. Understand the changes they wish to enact, and provide support for those changes. Doing both of these things will help employees feel respected and engaged in their workplace, creating a positive feedback loop that shapes the future of your company.

If you’re looking to shape the future of your company, then finding the right people to work with is a crucial first step. At Premier, our handpicked and vetted talent is ready to step in and change your business for the better. Our recruiters work tirelessly to help match prospective employers with the people who have the right key skills and technical knowledge. Learn more about how we can help you grow into the future. Hire with Premier today!