Leadership Training: Not the Same Old Highway

Your leadership talent is critical to your organization's success. During tough economic times, reaching goals and outpacing the competition is especially crucial. In 2010, the essential move for training divisions is to transform and change in order to keep up with the times. It's not the same old highway.

Investing wisely in new and existing supervisors requires focus on what is happening on the frontline and on the individual needs of that talent. According to Training + Development Magazine, three essential components for training in the New Year include organizational, analytical and interpersonal focus.

Harvard Business School professor and author Michael Beer says that CEOs who recognize the need to achieve "sustained high commitment from all stakeholders," recognize the value of high commitment, high performance (HCHP), and their organizations will stand out among others because of long periods of excellence. Beer points to firms like Southwest, Johnson & Johnson, Hewlett Packard and Toyota as leaders in excellence. Achieving commitment and performance is attainable in any industry; however, most companies haven't reached the HCHP club.

The differentiator, Beer says, is that these companies sustain performance because they achieve three goals:

• Performance Alignment: Organizational design, business processes, goals and measures, and capabilities targeted for a winning strategy.
• Psychological Alignment: Leadership toward a higher purpose, challenging work and making a difference. Human resource management policies and practices geared toward leadership "managing with heart."
• Capacity for Learning and Change: Honest communication at all levels about anything that is a roadblock for meeting goals. Creating a performing organization that equally values a strong learning system and a strong culture.

A Case for Changing What Highway Your Supervisors Are On

Consider this scenario: Ron works for a pharmaceutical company in Indiana. He's been with the company for five years as a sales representative. Six months ago, Ron was promoted to sales manager and relocated to the home office in New York. Upper management's rationale was that his success in the field would make him a top manager who would increase the productivity of three other regional teams.

It hasn't taken long for upper management to realize that Ron isn't the manager they'd hoped for. It took Ron's staff only a few months to come to the same conclusion. What went wrong?

Success depends on leaders who can create common purpose, identify opportunities and new markets, and motivate and engage their teams.

Ron is a great salesperson, but he is not a great communicator. He failed to articulate his vision to the regional teams and to involve them in the process. He managed by fear, setting unrealistic goals without input from his team. He sent a message in a memo, "If you don't like the goals, then consider looking elsewhere for a job."

It doesn't take long, either, for today's diverse employees to recognize a poor manager. Some of the company's top salespeople have already left the organization. Ron's heavy hand was his own style and did not reflect the values of the organization. As a result, the regional teams have missed their sales goals two quarters in a row. Ron has blamed the teams for poor performance, and he raised goals again without team input.

Innovation for a New Highway

Upper management at the pharmaceutical company is looking to replace Ron, but the damage is done. Having a great person from the field doesn't always translate to great leadership. The truth is that this situation is not only Ron's fault. This has been a pattern in this company for over a year.

The company has stalled along the highway. Due to the economy the company chose to drop its leadership training program and suspended other training programs, citing a lack of time and resources.

What the company should be doing is practicing innovation and transformation to boost its training division. Ron, and others like him, could have become a better leader if assessment and training had been in place to pinpoint needs for the following:

• Fundamental management and communication skills
• Goal-setting and performance standards skills
• Motivation for productivity skills
• Coaching skills

Time and resources need not be the fallback issues anymore. Today's technology provides innovative training options with blended learning with online training. In addition, asking seasoned leaders or team members to mentor junior leaders and staff through collaborative communication spaces, such as online portals, e-mail, webinars and online corporate communities, can give employees the precise training they need, when they need it.

These solutions can be transformational and cost effective, turning lackluster performance into leadership and teams focused on business processes. Realistic and relevant goals and measures as well as capabilities targeted for a winning strategy are within reach.

According to a study by Jim Trinka, Ph.D. and chief learning officer for the FBI, focusing on developing others and their communication competencies can increase overall leadership effectiveness by 50 to 60 percent.

Study evidence supports the establishment of a performance-managed organizational culture - not from a command and control perspective but rather one that involves a coaching environment and conscious attempts at continuous dialogue within work teams to achieve a balance between driving for results and interpersonal skills.

Transforming Training in 2010

Vital Learning's innovative training tools can put your organization's training on the new highway to optimize learning and maximize your return-on-investment (ROI). Armed with assessment, online programs and training strategies through its affiliate network of professionals, Vital Learning can help you transform your organization with sustainable leadership.