Highly effective leadership is needed across every business, from the frontline managers to the CEO. The chief human resources manager must take the lead in developing leadership programs, processes, and events to ensure that leaders are ready and effective for the growing business enterprise.
As a core criterion, the expectation of leaders has always been to “get the job done” by managing assets and people in a complex global environment. Often missing has been a more holistic view of the process in terms of how to motivate, engage, reward and lead employees.
20th Century research began to crystallise the way effective organisational leaders are viewed and subsequently developed. Few depictions of effective leadership have withstood the test of time as well as that of Peter Drucker, who articulated the eight core practices of the effective leaders he worked with over his sixty-year career. According to Drucker, effective leaders do the following:
1. Ask, “What needs to be done?”
2. Ask, “What is right for the enterprise?”
3. Develop action plans.
4. Take responsibility for decisions.
5. Take responsibility for communicating.
6. Are focused on opportunities rather than on problems.
7. Run productive meetings.
8. Think and say “we” rather than “I.”
There is no doubt that leadership development is important, as leaders are developed not ‘born’, and it has changed dramatically in the past decade.
How leaders are selected for programs and the specific ways in which programs are offered and structured are significant issues that define the current status.
Today, with resilient business owners and executives required to put in long hours and to continue to balance work and lifestyle, leadership development may take a variety of methods from on-line leaning, short MBA’s, executive coaching or mentoring, or work-based projects to name a few, learning and personal growth is viewed as an on-going process essential for the developing leader in the 21st century.
Business Tips
Developing Leaders to Drive Business Results
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- Parent Category: Business Tips
- Category: Leadership
