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Every organization needs strong leadership. Especially during times of crisis.
As the world grapples with the coronavirus pandemic and businesses deal with unprecedented disruption, business leaders find their leadership skills being tested constantly.
Leadership development is critical for organizations to constantly adapt to the changing workplace and market demands. By improving leadership skills and developing relevant and applicable leadership development program framework, an organization becomes future-proof.
Business leaders need to develop some essential skills to lead effectively. They should be flexible to adapt to change, have their finger on the pulse of the people and, most importantly, have the ability to deal with uncertainty and chaos.
Leadership development is not just limited to top management. As companies grow, improving the leadership skills of middle and lower management employees is also important. Middle and lower-level managers interact with employees daily and are better equipped to understand ground-level problems. They are familiar with the work pattern, behaviors and productivity levels of the workforce.
With robust leadership development frameworks in place, the top management can focus on business expansion while middle and lower-level leaders handle day-to-day operations. Both need to use the skills and insights gained from leadership team development on the job.
Leadership development can be carried out by various methods. The best one would be developing one’s own internal leadership development framework to ensure quality control. With a dedicated team of leaders from various branches, structures, committees, and divisions of the same organization, leadership development will be easier, uniform, and equal from the organizational policy point of view.
The leadership development program framework can include the following four frameworks for improving leadership skills.
Leadership development framework 1: Mentoring
One great way to start any leadership development program would be with mentoring. Human beings learn by observing things and then try to replicate them on their own. This observation-replication trait trickles down to every level of management. Middle and lower-level managers tend to follow the behaviors observed in senior leaders. It is always best to teach the leader how to teach or mentor for effective leadership development in an organization. After all, great leaders are born under the guidance of other great leaders.
Leadership development framework 2: Trust and accountability
A trustworthy and accountable leader has all the qualities to lead people. Transparency, trust and honesty will inspire other employees and draw praise from senior leaders. An unreliable leader, on the other hand, can hurt productivity and employee morale.
Leadership development framework 3: Dynamic management style
One important thing to remember is that there is no fixed playbook for how to lead. Dynamic leaders adapt to the situation and adjust their style to reach the people they are leading A leadership development program that balances fluidity with the structural integrity of the organization is an effective way of building leaders. A dynamic leadership style will reassure employees that they have a voice.
Leadership development framework 4: Communication
Improving leadership skills depends on the art of communication. The general principle is that if you say the right words, people will die for you but say the wrong ones and you might be the one in the coffin. Healthy communication between leaders and subordinates ensures a healthy work environment and increased work satisfaction. Politeness and humility in communication not only earn leaders the admiration of the workforce but also ensure that people will follow the leader until the end of the road.
Harappa Education offers a course called Leading Self that teaches you to learn about yourself to prepare you for leadership development and improving leadership skills. Sign up for the course and get ready to adopt a leadership development program framework to help you climb to the top of the professional ladder.
Explore topics such as the Meaning of Leadership, Authentic Leadership, Transactional Leadership, Types of Leadership & Transactional and Transformational leadership from our Harappa Diaries section and lead on a path of self-development.
