From a regional grocery business to the MNCs spanning continents, all ventures at some point understand the value of focused development. Sometimes, it is a reaction to unpleasant experiences, other times, it is in preparation of the future. Without such a strategy in place, how would your business identify and hire the right talent and prepare them for what is coming next? 

Leadership effectiveness can determine the fate of your organisation. By fate I mean the ‘bottom line’ here. In an extensive study driven by Forbes across commercial banks, it was observed, ‘ poor leaders lost money; good leaders made profit; and extraordinary leaders more than doubled the company’s profits in comparison to the other 90%!’

 The growth prospects of your venture depends largely on acquired talents possessing required leadership traits. Even before designing an executive program, it is essential organisations spend time identifying skills for leadership development.

Are there other Benefits of leadership development programs for businesses?

• Identifying and grooming leaders early

After recruiting a handful of talented, experienced people in key roles, a sense of assuredness seeps in, right! That seems fine but what about the future? Your existing leaders will retire after a time and some of them will move to greener pastures, invariably!
That is precisely why your organisation needs a well-developed process to identify and develop leaders for future needs. The identification and development of future leaders, we feel, should begin right at the recruitment stage. A robust leadership development strategy includes the provision of screening and identifying talents during the recruitment phase. Focusing on profile and interaction analysis are pivotal here. We will suggest hiring an ace consultancy firm to design and deploy such early competency identification methodologies properly.

• Mentoring and guiding Top Talents

Some organisations spend a lot of time hiring, identifying and initiating a leadership journey program or academy.  Even with the right intent and great budget, such programs stagger, because the process misses out on establishing mentoring responsibilities. People often move out because there is no support system at place to let them know the next step or what to expect. A report by ExecuSearch showed, 66% of professionals said that there isn’t much support for those wishing to take on leadership roles. Mentoring can be a powerful addition to any well planned Leadership Development Program. 

• The Domino Effect

Did you think the benefits of leadership development programs are limited to any specific type of employees? Whether an extensive intervention or an Executive Coaching program, whatever leaders go through, it changes the way leaders approach any situation or people. We have witnessed leaders becoming empathetic towards teams, resulting in a performance boost. Risk appetite improves and so does confidence. My personal favourite is when such leaders come back and tell us, my family sees a change in me, I am so happy! Leadership development interventions are holistic. When done right a handful of people can change the trajectory of the organisation.

• Positive Work Atmosphere

The benefits of leadership development include a positive work ambiance in the organisation. Offering existing leaders in a venture apt training for honing their skills, leads to a positive environment. Leaders can then manage teams better and focus on collaboration and productivity enhancement. They often influence their teams to create an environment that fosters growth.

• Better Problem Resolution

One of our clients came to us with the problem statement that collaboration was a huge issue in certain pockets of the organisation. They wanted us to drive an intervention to resolve such challenges. We spent weeks investigative and getting deeper in the issue. One of the significant outcomes was the leaders would avoid sharing unpleasant feedback or confrontation of any kind. The journey from there was easy. Development interventions are at times just about uncovering the actual pain point and not the symptoms.

• Better Decision Making

Experienced leaders come with a lot of wisdom when it comes to decision making. They have had their successes and failures. Their life experiences make their ability to make decisions very instinctive. When such leaders go through leadership development programs, they not only get stronger in risk analysis but also know how to educate their teams to be better decision makers. In the end, leaders are empowered when they are able to produce more leaders in the organisation. 

• The power of Retention

How can we not mention better employee retention amongst the top benefits of leadership development? A research report by ExecuSearch highlights 86% of professionals said that they would change jobs if they were offered more opportunities for professional development; Professionals ranked support from leadership/management as the most important element of company culture. A well-planned Leadership Development program enables businesses to achieve better talent retention rates. Such programs offer the teams immense professional development opportunities. As well as a high rate of engagement in the organisation.

• Reduced Stress and Burnout

Leaders in any organisation get exposed to enormous levels of stress, leading to recurring burnout. One of the notable benefits of leadership development strategy is reduced stress on the leaders and gains across all hierarchies. Such a nuanced strategy equips the leaders to cope better with stressful events and developments, enabling them to perform better, consistently. Our consultancy now plans Leadership Development strategies for clients with a special focus on stress management.

You may want to read: Why the development of leadership should be a priority for businesses