Can we really Train Leaders?

Which types of developmental activities will have the greatest impact on increasing executives’ effectiveness?  How can leaders achieve positive long-term changes in behavior?  Lured by the promise of instant success, many companies are writing checks without asking critical questions about program design and actual accomplishments.

Leadership programs work very well if they use a multi-tiered approach. Most fall into one of four types:

Personal growth programs

Skill-building programs

Feedback programs

Conceptual awareness programs

Personal Growth

A simple premise underlies the personal-growth approach: All effective leaders are in touch with their purpose and passions, unafraid of risks and dilemmas; thus, if we teach managers to access their inner callings, they’ll become more successful leaders.  To achieve these results, the personal-growth approach to leadership training relies on intense emotional experiences and adventures that become metaphors for risk-taking.

Examples of such leadership-development programs include “survival” hikes, river-rafting trips and bungee-jumping off cliffs. Trainers believe we can create more leaders if we put managers in touch with their passions and power.

But can you transfer the lessons learned from jumping off a cliff to the office setting? Research shows these programs tend to improve participants’ personal lives far more than their work lives. Learning can be magnified by risk-oriented experiences that challenge us to act in new ways and see things differently; however, the decision-making skills applied to a cliff jump are quite different from those employed at the office, where problem-solving is more complex.

Skill-Building Programs

The skill-building approach to training is attractive because it turns leadership into a practical, teachable reality.  Program designers identify a key leadership behavior that can be taught.

For example, an offsite group may participate in exercises or games, with one individual challenged to lead a team through a task, thereby practicing specific leadership skills (perhaps the ability to mobilize others). The task may involve building toy cars or solving a puzzle. The team leader is then graded on how well the leadership skill was put into action.

But certain skills are more complex than we realize.  While communication skills can be straightforward, strategic vision proves otherwise.  To truly learn a skill, one needs to spend considerable time studying it, experimenting, receiving coaching and making improvements.  Most programs cover several major leadership skills in just a few days.

Despite these shortcomings, skill-building is the most common—and fastest—method of learning and implementing new skills.  It should be incorporated in all leadership training.

Programs Based on Feedback

Feedback-based programs may also be conducted offsite and involve team tasks. Team members then grade each other on particular leadership skills, while supervising psychologists simultaneously rate each participant.

This type of leadership training embraces the premise that most of us cannot fully see ourselves.  We may be partly aware of our leadership styles, and we possess varying degrees of leadership strength.  We simply require a mirror to view ourselves more objectively, allowing us to act with greater confidence and overcome our weaknesses.

For motivated learners, this program produces positive outcomes. One drawback, however, is the risk of being overwhelmed by information.  In addition, one usually self-selects the behaviors on which to work.  While most participants describe a sincere desire to change their ineffective behaviors when they return to work, this motivation dissipates soon after the program ends.  Many report giving up when faced with a lack of support and coaching on the job.

Conceptual Awareness Programs

This analytical approach uses case studies during training, and it’s a mainstay in MBA degree programs.  Conceptual awareness helps us intellectually understand the distinctions between managing and leading. But such an approach teaches ideas, not skills.

As adult learners, we need exercises, experiences and coaches to turn concepts into leadership abilities.  As such, conceptual awareness is beneficial, but only a first step.