Leadership training is an essential direction for every company because it is one of the ways to build effective leadership and achieve the best results for the company.
In today’s world, so many companies face problems related to the lack of professional leaders, as well as the negative consequences of a leader’s erroneous decisions. It can lead to the loss of profit or even fatalities in the workplace.
It is critical to invest in leadership training in a timely manner. If your leaders are not committed to personal and professional growth, it will ultimately lead to stagnation and poor performance of the entire company.
What Is Leadership Training?
Leadership training and development is a set of actions aimed at identifying people with high potential for future leadership, as well as enhancing the knowledge and capabilities of people who are already occupying leadership positions.
Depending on current challenges, leaders may need both soft and hard skills. For example, listening skills, conflict resolution, planning, time management skills, and more are very important.
It’s also essential for leaders to constantly evolve and adopt new technologies, such as artificial intelligence, or current trends, such as collaborating with teams of employees working remotely.
Why Is It Essential to Invest in Leadership Training?
One of the main reasons is the shortage of effective leaders. If you need management positions occupied by people who can create, motivate effective teams, and solve problems quickly and intelligently, you can take two paths:
- Seek out an effective manager in the job market and then train the candidate to learn the specifics of your company;
- Identify potential leaders from among your employees and help them develop the right skills.
In both cases, training is necessary. However, in the second case, you have the additional advantage of increasing the loyalty of employees, who will associate your company with the expectations of career advancement.
In addition, leadership training is necessary for reasons such as:
- Globalization. More companies are going global. So, your managers need to be prepared to cross cultural boundaries, build cohesive teams of employees who live in different countries, etc.;
- The rise of remote workers. Experts predict that about half of U.S. companies will consist of contractors and freelancers. Leaders should be able not only to manage scattered teams but also to unite them and involve them in the progress toward a common goal;
- Generation Gap. The different approach to learning and building operations between millennials and the next generation Z is increasingly evident. In order to overcome differences and collaborate effectively, it is critical for managers to undergo training.
It is also essential to train managers in new ways of working when innovative technologies are introduced or when flaws in the business process are identified.
The Best Types of Leadership Training
Every person is unique, and therefore, a certain type of learning is most suitable for him/her:
- Some people find it most convenient to gain knowledge in traditional offline groups, while others opt for online courses;
- Some prefer to self-plan online training with self-supervision;
- Many managers say that the opportunity to quickly try out what they have learned in practice is most valuable to them.
In some cases, it is worthwhile to train an executive in-house, such as a department head preparing his/her successor. In other cases, external training will be more successful because an invited coach is not an interested party and is accepted in a more relaxed and benevolent way.
The cost of training is also important. If your employee is willing to learn online for $300 per course, it may not make sense to push them to take offline courses for $1,000 or more.
We’ve researched the most popular types of executive training and are going to discuss them in this review.
Traditional In-person Training
Offline training is still as relevant today as ever. In-person attendance helps to better retain students’ attention and makes it quicker and easier to ask questions. Besides, such courses give participants an opportunity to communicate with each other, share professional experiences, and make useful acquaintances.
Online Education with an Instructor
This format is chosen when offline training is impractical or economically inexpedient, but the group work under the guidance of an instructor is worth retaining.
In this case, online conferences, webinars, and individual classes are usually offered. The tutors provide interactivity through instant messaging, group audio and video chats, online surveys, etc.
Often, online course tutors also provide opportunities for students to communicate, consult, and support each other in dedicated chats. This largely offsets the benefits of informal communication during offline learning.
Self-study Programs
In this case, the student is offered video lessons, access to text tutorials, as well as tests and practical assignments for self-testing. Occasionally, teachers check the assignments and send the result in the form of a grade and a review, explaining the mistakes made.
The format is convenient because a person can take the course at a convenient time and pace. It is optimal if training materials can be provided in the form of video or text recordings, i.e., personal communication is not critical.
Usually, this format is chosen in two cases:
In this case, the student is offered video lessons, access to text tutorials, as well as tests and practical assignments for self-testing. Occasionally, teachers check the assignments and send the result in the form of a grade and a review, explaining the mistakes made.
The format is convenient because a person can take the course at a convenient time and pace. It is optimal if training materials can be provided in the form of video or text recordings, i.e., personal communication is not critical.
Usually, this format is chosen in two cases:
- The other course format is unavailable or extremely inconvenient because of the time zone difference;
- It is not possible to allocate a certain period for training, and it is necessary to combine it flexibly with the main activity.
Self-Assessment
This would be a good supplement to other types of training or a preliminary step for choosing a roadmap to personalize your own growth.
There are many leadership assessment programs available. These can be various tests and self-performance tasks that help you understand your strengths and weaknesses, better understand your type of thinking, personality profile, reactions to different types of difficult situations, etc.
As a result, learning becomes more personalized. In addition, there is a commercial effect as well. Practice shows that combining leader training with quality self-assessment yields a 30% increase in effective leaders who are ready for demanding roles.
Educational Practice Assignments
Educational practice assignments are an opportunity to test your knowledge and skills and learn from your own experiences. Most leaders want to understand how useful the theoretical knowledge they have gained from the training course will be. In addition, many managers claim that the most important knowledge they have gained is through practice.
The manager is offered a real project that exceeds his/her usual competencies. In this case, it is highly useful to foster mentoring, but it should not be overly intrusive. The mentor does not interfere in the project if the situation does not require it.
What the Best Leadership Course Should Be?
Leadership training is a complex process that should combine different types of training.
But, regardless of the type, the training course should be:
- Interesting and relevant. It is essential not only to present the material in a captivating way but also to make sure that the person gets answers to the questions that concern him/her at the moment. In the process of learning, one should see how to apply the newly acquired knowledge in practice;
- Personalized. Even if we are talking about self-education programs, a person should pay more attention to what is difficult or especially important;
- Person-centered. Team management and leadership are, first and foremost, about people and their relationships with each other. Therefore, a quality training course should also be people-oriented. People want to see the results and consequences of their actions, to receive evaluations, and to feel appreciated.
You can combine self-study with practical assignments and mentoring.
In many cases, it is helpful to invite a third-party leadership trainer. The specialist will help you create an individual comprehensive training program that will take into account the specifics of the business and will be suitable for your company.
