Leadership Development
Leadership development should be a strategic choice because, as studies have shown, leaders have an impact on organizational performance (DuBrin, 2012). In a study conducted by the Center on Leadership & Ethics at Duke University (DuBrin, 2012), it was found that leadership can affect organizational performance but only if the leader is perceived as inspirational and responsible where such behaviors include inspiring employees to aspire for higher goals and engaging employees in the achievement of the company’s vision. In addition, an effective leader is able to promote an environment where employees feel responsible for the whole company.
This is evident in the leadership of Yvon Chouinard, the founder and owner of Petagona, Inc. (Chouinard, 2006). Being an enthusiast climber himself, his passion for the sport not only inspired people – both customers and employees alike – but also resulted in the company’s increased bottom line. Because he truly cared about the sport and his products, he made sure that his company’s products were made of quality material and were capable of providing his customers with the comfort and protection they needed while engaging in the sport. Moreover, not only does Chouinard care about his products and his customers, he also cared about the environment, especially the one where he engaged his sport of climbing in. As such, he made sure that his organization’s practices were environment-friendly. As well, he regularly made donations to environmental causes. His sense of social responsibility not only allowed him to reduce costs (from promoting sustainability) but also enabled him to inspire his employees, customers, and other stakeholders, which further increased his influence and power. By being a charismatic and transformational leader, Chouinard not only influences the people he directly interacts with but is also able to affect positive change into the community.
However, not everyone can be like Chouinard for whom leadership seems to come naturally. As such, organizations should ensure that they have leadership development initiatives. In particular, it is important for organizations to have a leadership development strategy as this would ensure that the organization is being led by individuals who have the skills and capabilities to deliver the objectives of the business plan, to cope with the changes in the external environment and the market, and to cope with the increasing customer expectations (Ryan, 2012). It is important for organizations to develop leaders who are capable of looking into the future, that is, leaders who are capable of providing the organization with direction through vision and strategic thinking. These leaders should also be able to ensure that the vision, goals, values, and culture of the organization are aligned. In addition, leaders should be highly influential, both internally and externally. They need to be able to persuade and work with people with whom they have no positional authority.
In this regard, it is then important for organizations to create a culture of leadership (Kotter, 2001). They can do this by recruiting individuals who have the potential to become leaders. However, the organization should also be able to manage these individuals’ career patterns, that is, they should be able to give these individuals the opportunity to lead, to take risks, and to learn from their successes and failures. These individuals should also be provided with opportunities to increase their knowledge across different areas and develop informal networks that would enable them to get the support they would need for the implementation of their future leadership initiatives. In particular, decentralization may be implemented as this places responsibility on the lower levels of the organization, which enables young employees to “test and stretch their leadership potential” (Kotter, 2001, p. 96). Executives and senior leaders should also take the time to assess their employees in order to determine who has leadership potential and what skills they need to develop. In turn, such development initiatives can come in the form of informal initiatives, although the organization’s executive team may also decide to implement such leadership development initiatives through ether a high-potential development process or a formal succession planning process. In addition, to further encourage behaviors that are oriented towards leadership development, these behaviors should be rewarded, that is, leaders’ qualification for promotion should be based on their ability to develop and nurture leaders. By doing this, the organization is able to cultivate a culture where “people value strong leadership and strive to create it” (Kotter, 2001, p. 96).
In summary, leadership development should be a strategic choice in that leadership skills should be cultivated within the organization by providing employees with leadership development opportunities in the form of trainings, mentoring, and coaching among others. It is also important for employees to be provided with the opportunities that will allow them to demonstrate ad develop their leadership potential. With the great impact that leadership has in the success of an organization, particularly in its performance, only by continuously developing leaders from within can an organization ensure its business continuity and its future success.
References
Chouinard, Y. (2006, October 10). Let my people go surfing. Retrieved from
http://www.patagonia.com/us/patagonia.go?assetid=4626
DuBrin, A. J. (2010). Leadership: Research findings, practice and skills.
Mason, Ohio: Cengage Learning.
Kotter, J. P. (2001, December). What leaders really do. Harvard Business Review.
Retrieved from http://web.sau.edu/
richardsrandyl/what%20leaders%20really%20do_kotter.pdf
Ryan, R. (2012). Leadership development. Burlington, MA: Routledge.
