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Why Leadership Development?
In this recessionary period, layoffs and other drastic measures are being taken by companies to insure their future survival. However, leadership development programs are seen as vital for corporate survival today and in the future.
While it may be true that organizations are cutting funding for "training programs," that is not the case when it comes to grooming emerging leaders. According to the 2008 Bersin & Associates Leadership Development Survey, a study of 400 organizations conducted last October by the Oakland, CA-based talent management research firm, 40% of those polled, said their spending on leadership development has remained the same, while about 36% of the organizations said their budgets were slated to increase this year.
Training dollars overall may be decreasing while companies may be shifting their priorities to leadership. Bill Pelster, a principal at the Seattle office of Deloitte Consulting, says senior executives are concentrating on what their organizations will look like 12 to 18 months from now, so the cash for development is still flowing for key executives. "They know that this (recession) will end and, at some point, the need to expand or grab talent and market share is going to be there."
Companies are pickier about where to invest--reducing classroom training but increasing other development vehicles, such as virtual training, coaching or blended learning. These companies are expanding newer approaches such as one-on-one coaching, self-diagnostics and management teambuilding workshops to further their leadership development programs.
Today companies want a stronger marriage between leadership development and everyday work experience and to scale access to leadership development to promotable line managers. "The more customized an experience can be to an individual, and the closer it is to the work that [he or she does] every day, the more effective it is," says Kathy Kavanagh, PricewaterhouseCoopers' managing director for learning and education.
Peter Cappelli, director of the Wharton School's Center for Human Resources at the University of Pennsylvania sees a silver lining in a bad economy---in that "stretch assignments" are an effective and practical method of leadership development and are especially relevant and effective now. "Seize the opportunity of having to do more with fewer people," he says. "You've laid off somebody at the director level, then a couple of the senior managers start splitting up some of those tasks, and taking on some of them as stretch assignments." As long as someone is there to "hold their hands a little bit," Cappelli says, they learn by doing, and the organization is helping to address potential succession gaps.
In many cases, outside executive coaches are the "hand holders" of the emerging leaders assigned to these stretch assignments.
Source: Human Resource Executive, June 2, 2009
Much of our educational system is an elaborate game of 'guess what the teacher is thinking,' and we come to believe the best ideas are in someone else's head rather than our own. Heraclitus reminds us there are good ideas within ourselves if we are willing to dig deep enough.
Many times our unconscious assumptions and beliefs can prevent us from accessing these ideas. They include such assumptions as 'there is one right way or answer,' always be practical,' follow the rules,' and 'you are not good enough to figure it out.' These deep seeded assumptions and beliefs interfere when we are trying to be creative.
One technique you can use to override these creative limitations is to engage in some self talk. When an assumption keeps you from finding a creative solution, just talk to it. Articulate the limiting assumption and belief to yourself and tell yourself that this time you are going to explore other possibilities. By recognizing the assumption and belief that holds you back, you become free to consciously choose how you want to behave.
Boomer Women and Hormone Replacement Therapy
Opening the gate to Fathers
The benefits of having a positive, involved father are well documented by decades of research.
Now, scholars are focusing their microscopes on an obstacle to fathers' involvement: "gatekeeping" by mothers who control or hamper fathers' interactions with their children.
Of course, fathers are free to choose their level of involvement. But negative gatekeeping by mothers--grimaces or criticism when men try to change a diaper or feed or play with a baby--can block out even fathers who believe they should be involved, says a 2008 study in the Journal of Family Psychology, led by Dr. Sarah Schoppe-Sullivan.
It's usually moms who do the gatekeeping, but they're not always to blame. Some fathers invite interference by hanging back or being irritable or anxious. In other cases, women aren't conscious of their gatekeeping. Some women whose sense of identity is strongly tied to being a mother may fend off help in order to bolster their self-image, research shows. Others are simply inclined by nature to bond closely; caring for a baby may be so engrossing for these women that they crowd out dads, says a 2008 study in the journal Family Process.
The bottom line: Simply becoming conscious of gatekeeping and its hazards equips some couples to avoid it.
Source: The Wall Street Journal, June 17, 2009
"You and I do what many dream of, all their lives."
John G. Agno, Editor, mailto:johnagno@... ...or... Join me on Twitter: http://twitter.com/johnagno
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