Coaching Leaders to Become Role Models

An able leadership is a key factor in the success of any organization. Leaders play a crucial role in uplifting teams and serve as a role model to employees, who then are motivated to perform better, writes Rajeev Shroff, Senior Executive Coach, Cupela.

“Leadership and learning are indispensable to each other”. These words by John F. Kennedy ring truer than ever now. Hence, it’s important to focus on how to train the leaders to makes a difference and impact the performance of their teams.

Custom Programs

It’s important to keep in mind that leadership styles are unique to every individual, mainly because each person comes with their own set of life experiences and brings with them different skills and strengths. There’s a growing need to understand what a leader requires to reach their potential. Often times, leaders are trained via a common program that expects all to be on the same level in terms of leadership skills. Tailored programs catering to specific individuals often are more effective in imparting relevant skills. For argument’s sake, let’s say that this would prove too expensive and something more cost-effective like a generic program should do the task. But, today, it’s possible to chalk out a customized program by sourcing topics from a plethora of options available online. In the long run, it’s often better to invest in a few people who have high potential and high interest, rather than spreading our resources thin on a lot of people and hoping a few of them turn out to be gems.

Understanding ‘Learning’

When it comes to ways of learning, it’s a rather complex process. Humans learn in a combination of ways. It’s individual specific and different people learn in different ways. It can be through peers, via specialized coaching, workshops and mentoring as well as through reading management books and skill training online/offline. But in practice, people are restrained by the organization’s decisions and end up taking up what’s being provided to them even if it is less than effective and does not meet their style of learning. Someone with more experience would benefit more from coaching and may not need the intensiveness of a class while learning on the job and progressing with timely trainings is better suited for an individual with lesser experience.

How to Decide Who to Train?

How does one decide which leaders to send for training? All? The topmost ones? Often times, people are signed up for trainings due to their availability and not based on their ‘need’ or their interest. How then can we expect people to gain out of a training, when one doesn’t know whether they have any motivation or requirement? A way of gauging it is by the Skill Will Matrix. It is a tool to assess the skill level of individuals against their will to learn. The ones with a higher need for learning as well as higher interest are arguably more likely to retain the teachings and benefit the most from any training provided to them. They can even go as far as inspiring others to develop an interest for learning.

Ironically, the most impactful role, that is, of a leader doesn’t have a formal course or a structured training program for people to learn to be a leader. Courses like MBA merely brush upon it through guest lectures, workshops, and retreats. Leadership is said to be too complex a skill to be taught in schools. But on closer examination, the building blocks of leaderships can be incorporated in institutes of learning like schools and colleges. The fundamentals of communication, structured thinking and problem-solving are not difficult to include in the curriculum. Opportunities should be provided through projects that build on their decision making and problem-solving.

Changes can begin in the grassroots, where education systems set the foundation stone for the leaders of tomorrow. Having started early on to build those values, they’ll be better equipped to lead when they finally step out in the world.

This article first appeared on HR Technologist under the title "Training Leaders to Improve Employee, Team and Organizational Performance.”