subject: Develop Skills Of Leadership Development In Your Employees [print this page] Leadership development is, in a larger sense, any action or activity that enhances the skills necessary to lead people and organizations. To this end, leaders can take part in different leadership programs designed to focus on and enhance their specific skills as an individual. During these programs leaders will be exposed to different executive coaches who are trained to help facilitate individual growth and improved performance. These coaches possess a unique understanding of the individual stylistic differences in a given workplace as well as the ability to adapt their own style to fit the needs of an organization. Traditionally the success of a leadership program is correlated to three variables:
-Individual Learner Characteristics
-The quality and nature of the leadership development program
-Genuine support for behavioral change from the leaders supervisor
Individual learner characteristics refer to the stylistic differences and challenges unique to each leader. Inherent in each leaders personality is their strengths and weaknesses which each executive coach is trained to approach and train. Also of large importance is the actual quality and nature of the leadership development program. This depends largely on the unique design of each program and each individual coach. The third variable, support for behavior change from the supervisor, is perhaps the most important factor. Due to the nature of organizational change, support from people near the top of the corporate hierarchy can be a make-or-break factor when it comes to developing leadership skills for their subordinates.
There are multiple factors involved in the effectiveness of executive coaching. Influences such as personal motivation, cultural differences, goals, and feedback all play a part in the effectiveness of a given executive coaching program. Motivation is the individuals desire to succeed within a given organization and often goals are tied into this factor. The cultural difference of an organization refers to the unique practices, values, and approaches that one company employs that separates it from other organizations. Feedback refers to the process of receiving information about past performance in order to guide and reform that performance. To approach these influences, executive coaches apply a number of given systems and theories intended to regulate and increase performance according to these variables
Taking these variables into account, executive coaching can be an extremely effective solution for a company seeking to improve efficiency and performance. With the proper leadership development program participants can be trained to be the most influential leaders they can be.
