It hurts when those around you don’t believe in you. Leaders sell themselves short when they undervalue those around them.
The first step toward leadership is believing you matter; believing in someone else is the second.
The greatest opportunity of leadership, after developing yourself, is developing those who aspire to lead.
3 enemies of development:
The enemies of development are personal ease, coddling by others, and education without experience.
Incremental growth feels great. Radical growth hurts.
McCall, Lombardo and Eichinger’s survey of high-performing managers revealed the most effective way to develop others is to challenge them. 90% of development happens in real life, 10% from books and in classrooms.
- 70% from tough jobs.
- 20% from people (mostly the boss).
- 10% from courses and reading.
Bill Hybels offered five ways to develop leaders in his 2014 Global Leadership Summit presentation.
5 essentials for developing remarkable leaders:
- Put them in high-challenge roles.
- Assign them to a short-term task force.
- Give real-time feedback.
- Provide them with coaches and mentors.
- Offer them classroom courses and seminars.
The best way to develop emerging leaders is to put them in short-term high-challenge roles.
Growth requires you do what you have’t done before.
Hybels went on to describe five ways to design short-term tasks that develop leaders.
5 marks of developmental tasks:
- Success or failure must both be possible.
- Emerging leader must have full charge.
- Must work with a large variety of people.
- Must have real pressures and a deadline.
- End result must be evaluated by a senior leader.
Frustration:
Frustration in stretch-assignments is normal. Don’t help too quick. But, frustration that hampers performance indicates:
- Too little preparation.
- Confusion about results.
- Misalignment of strengths with tasks.
- Meddling by senior leaders.
- Not enough support.
Bonus: Lack of desire is a deal breaker.
What strategies do you employ to develop leaders?
What are the enemies of leadership development?