Leadership development represents an organisation’s desire to improve and remain relevant in an ever-changing workplace environment. The thoughts, beliefs, and actions of leaders are likely to influence the productivity of their employees.
Thus, an innovative and understanding leader who strives for continuous improvement is likely to champion lasting positive change in their organisation.
1) Improve Staff Retention
Staff retention is an essential organisational objective. The recruitment and training of new hires take up time and money, which reduces the overall productivity of the company. Additionally, organisations may not have the resources required for onboarding during a crisis.
Leadership development can help leaders retain the experienced members of their companies by understanding and providing for their specific needs. According to a Gallup study, managers account for 70% of the variance in employee engagement.
Essentially, engagement plays a crucial role in staff retention and leaders affect the rate of employee engagement. Leadership development initiatives will help leaders become more caring, supportive, and empathetic toward employees, which creates a greater sense of appreciation and belonging for the workplace.
2) Optimises Leadership Style
There are various forms of leadership with their own sets of benefits and disadvantages. Leadership development can help leaders navigate through a range of styles before deciding on the best fit for their industry and workplace culture.
Leaders may consider borrowing ideas from multiple leadership styles to create their own unique leadership method that aligns with their own direction.
A clearly established leadership style structures and organises operations and processes for the most effective workflow. This avoids miscommunication among workers, which results in a greater focus on company values and objectives.
3) Enhance Soft Skills
Effective leadership involves a plethora of soft skills, which include communication, staff empowerment, and conflict resolution. A comprehensive leadership development program can help leaders fine-tune their best traits while picking up new strategies to employ at the workplace.
Soft skills have become a priority in organisations, as a means of staying versatile at a rapid rate of change.
Leadership development programs offer the platform for leaders to practice their newly-acquired skills before implementation. This enables trainers (usually peers and leading names in the industry) to provide valuable feedback that can help perfect the execution of the skill.
4) Improves Organisational Responsiveness
Leadership development provides leaders with the confidence and expertise to cope with novel situations such as the work-from-home deluge from the recent pandemic. Improved leadership skills may be characterised by effective staff deployment and the swift implementation of a systematic crisis communication structure.
Trained leaders are more likely to be unfazed by crises and more aware of their employer’s concerns, current affairs, and the organisation’s position, to provide the best solution for maximum productivity.
StrengthsAsia has helped many individual and corporate clients all throughout the region in identifying and maximizing their talents, in driving engagement and increasing motivation in their work and life.
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A devotee at the altar of language and a celebrant of expression. Laurenzo has written for various SMEs, MNCs, startups and international brands over the last three years. He specializes in topics of psychology, lifestyle, employee management, and digital trends.