CloudNews & Analysis

Leadership Conundrum: Who Will Train the Leaders?

leadership

Let me ask you a question. How do you measure your growth in work life? Designation at work, salary raise every year, bonuses, etc.? It is ironic, the higher up you reach in your organization, the fewer options are available for you to grow. Goodhart’s law says “When a measure becomes a target, it ceases to be a good measure.”

It is wise to remember this law when you reflect on your growth in work life, it is even wiser to reflect on how your mind is growing with the changing world.

We often tend to overlook the fact that the person who is at the apex, leading; also needs to be trained and upskilled with the changing waves of time. Continuous learning is a prerequisite to creating a well-integrated effective workforce. C-suite executives and senior management need to be reflective enough to understand learning and development shouldn’t be stopping even if you are at the highest rung of your organization. We live in a speedy world, where things change in the twinkling of an eye. Moreover, Deloitte refers to this as the “super learning future”, where the focus is and should be on skills and capabilities at the individual, team, and organization levels.

The pandemic has created a need gap in the work culture, and with rapid digitization gripping us, we need to unlearn and relearn skills to progress mindfully. An organization is a mirror of its leaders, leaders train and lead but the question is who will train the leaders?

Strategic thinking, talent management, agility, adaptability, effective decision making, are skills that are in need of constant polishing in order to attract employees, improve loyalty, work-life balance, team growth, performance, and overall management.

Henceforth, I want to bring your attention to your own growth. And, to the fact that your growth is driven by your habits. The ability to learn, unlearn, embrace failure and success with the same feeling are all a part of the ability to develop a growth mindset. There is a habit called Sharpen the Saw, that encourages continuous improvement and renewal professionally and personally.

Moreover, Sharpen the Saw means preserving and enhancing the greatest asset you have–you. It means having a balanced program for self-renewal in the four areas of your life: physical, social/emotional, mental, and spiritual. It reinforces the fact that one must spend time honing leadership style.

Today, the business expects quick thinkers, doers, moreover, individuals who are agile, have the ability to connect ideas, think, experiment, fail fast, and learn quickly. However, this can only be achieved when the business leaders and people think of their own growth.

Growth will come from developing the right habits. When you have nurtured habits to become an innovative thinker, problem solver, decision-maker, you become a quick thinker too.

L&D (Learning and Development)teams across organizations focus on getting training that serves an immediate need like customer service, team building, leadership needs, etc. Developing agile mindsets of people is not a focus yet across most organizations. The mindset shift is a continuous process through habits and ideas.

New age leadership courses like Emerging leaders Program (IIM Banglore), Think again I: How to understand arguments (Duke University), Behavioural Economics: Nudging to shape decisions online (Chicago Booth), or SHIFT per se,  have been playing a pivotal role in enabling today’s leaders, especially CXOs and C suite executives who are at the apex of an organization to unleash their truest potential, clarify their vision thereby upskilling and improving career prospects.

Leadership Courses are a roadmap leading to a positive change. This internal positive change is diffusive and results in a multi-fold growth of the organization.

It is essential for leaders leading today to realize that they are a sum of their choices and habits. Moreover, Corporate training and leadership courses are investments that promise higher returns. Leadership courses and training programs prepare future driven leaders. It is as if they give you an extra pair of lenses to foresee the future and tailor your forthcoming plans and actions accordingly. However, there is no doubt that to stand firm with a head held high one needs to accelerate their rate of learning.

It is vital for us to realize that leaders are the spine of an organization and leadership courses are exercises that help you keep your spine erect.

(Vishakha Singh, a thought leader in the forward-thinking space has authored the course SHIFT (Simple Habits and Ideas for Forward Thinking. The views expressed on this article are her own. She can be reached at [email protected])

Leave a Response