Over the past few years HBR, Inc and McKinsey have all published articles on why leadership development frequently fails to deliver on its promises.
All three make a strong case against orthodox leadership development but fail to provide a clear, coherent answer to the question: How do we develop leaders?
All promote a focus on leaders’ current work challenges rather than scripted material and case studies. That makes sense and is the basis of coaching. It’s absolutely necessary, but far from sufficient.
So what’s missing that causes conventional leadership development to fail? What’s the secret?
Like any other activity, leadership has a very visible outer dimension which is generally distilled down to a series of outcomes and indicators of success: share price, profit, turnover etc. etc.
But that outer dimension cannot come into existence and fruition without a corresponding inner dimension. This is the inner world of thought, feeling and perception. In other words, everything begins with an idea, desire or vision. This is the secret.
The inner dynamics are causal, the outer phenomena are results, effects, outcomes.
So on this basis alone, answering the question: in which dimension will leadership development and intervention have most impact, becomes a no-brainer. It must begin with a focus on the leader’s inner dynamics of thinking and feeling.
This is where the action is and where the levers of change lie.
Leadership development has to begin with an ever deepening self-awareness and familiarity with our innermost faculties. In contrast to mainstream approaches, this has nothing to do with personality testing or knowing your strengths and weaknesses. It does not require any familiarity with neuroscience or fixing of mindsets. Rather, it develops a clarity of mind that enables the individual to observe their inner dynamics as they play out. This facilitates a degree of choice in behaviour which is simply not available through any other avenue.
Once leaders start to look inwards, the game changes through a realisation that much of what appears to be ‘out there’ is, in reality, a shadowy projection of what is ‘in here’. The focus shifts to the inner world which is infinitely easier to change than the circumstances you find yourself in. But only once you know how.
The immediate benefits of this Inside Out approach are twofold:
Clarity of thought
Emotional balance
These quickly enable you to:
clarify and communicate your vision to your followers
establish the culture you want for your people
delegate in the fullest sense of the word
meet the inevitable challenges you will encounter with resilience
Both the right material and 1-on-1 coaching are needed to provide the kind of leadership development that only a radical, inner shift of perspective and focus can deliver.
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