Developing leaders now

Finding leaders with the right business and enterprise skills is essential to the prosperity and long-term progress of the economy at large.

Equally important, within organisations, Human Resources specialists know that it is vital that the next generation of business leaders develops the relevant skills as early as possible. Where they are motivated appropriately, new and younger employees can begin developing management talent from the time they see what is involved.

There is no doubt that in the 21^st century, with the level of competition and the increasingly strong regulatory regime that business operates in, organisations require a special type of leadership. Leaders today need to inspire vision and motivate people to join together in problem solving and achievement.

There are probably five key strategies that are essential for becoming an integrated leader. In the perfect world, all business leaders would:

• Lead with authenticity,
• Create vision and think strategically,
• Develop emotional intelligence for themselves,
• Be assertive communicators, and
• Build the critical relationships and alliances throughout their organisations that enhance their leadership.

But recognising these desirable attributes does not mean that they exist within organisations.

Human Resources departments are acutely aware that companies require strong leaders in order to drive business into the global marketplace, while effectively managing people in different cultures and environments.

However, the problem facing companies day-to-day, is the well-known gap between current and future leadership skills. This is where the Human Resources department can play a role that provides lasting value.

The best HR departments have a process in place for identifying and developing potential candidates for key management positions using programs such as cross-cultural assignments, multicultural task forces, project teams, and mentoring.

In an environment where there is a commitment to leadership development, vitally important questions can be addressed such as ‘is a control leadership style better than coaching and empowerment?’

Of course, this need not be an either/or debate. A practical development program will help participants decide when to exercise more control, and when to create effective participation.

A worthwhile leadership development program encourages participants to get to understand their natural flexibility level. Personal flexibility can be assessed while exploring various situations and scenarios, that test and build skills. Candidates get to choose between the control and the participation ends of the leadership continuum.

Wherever Human Resources professionals conduct development initiatives, participants need to be given the opportunity to become familiar with the leadership skills and knowledge, organisational development, consulting and teamwork. Programs should address areas such as:

• Leadership as a personal experience and as an organisational process,
• The practical implementation of development projects,
• The complexity of organisational change, and
• The different aspects of teamwork.

For potential leaders, some of the more important development phases to work through, include:

• Developing a personal executive capacity to lead, by developing a reflective practice, increasing self awareness, developing executive character and wisdom, and learning to align individual vision, mission, thoughts, feelings and actions.

• Developing an effective interpersonal capacity to lead, by learning how to create and strengthen purposeful and meaningful relationships and how to build trust and healthy relationships.

• Develop organisational capacity for change by learning how to lead cultural change in the organisation, and how to integrate organisational leadership.

Of course, in all large organisations, the Human Resources specialists should ensure that there is a special effort to develop women business leaders.

Apart from other obvious reasons for developing women as leaders, it should be done because it makes good business sense.

Having women as leaders extends the portfolio of skills at the top of the organisation; it gives the organisation a better feel for female customers; it provides female role models for younger high potential women; ensures the organisation looks attractive to potential female applicants, and - most important of all – it guarantees that all levels of management are filled with the best executives.

The recruitment, development and promotion of women as business leaders is increasingly a bottom-line issue related to corporate success.