Sandra was sceptical about the value of investing in leadership development. She had been a successful individual contributor, which led to her being promoted to a leadership role. However, she continued acting much the same way she had as a technical expert, producing results through her hard work and individual effort. Now she was in danger of burning out, trying to do everything herself. The team gave her the feedback they perceived her as a micro-manager who did not give them the scope to run with projects and initiatives. 

She gave up her scepticism about leadership development and took on an executive coaching program. Her aim was to build her ability to get results through others instead of doing everything herself. It meant listening to the input from her team and key stakeholders for a new vision and strategy for the group. The team trusted her more and self-selected to take accountability for execution of the strategy. They were even happier when she gave them the scope they were seeking to step up and encouraged them to extend their leadership. 

Together, they opened up a whole new revenue opportunity for her organisation. Their results went through the roof over the next twelve months. Other parts of the business were eager to learn from her team’s innovation. Team members acknowledge Sandra for encouraging them to step up their leadership. Employee engagement scores for her group became the highest in the business and they promoted her into a bigger role where she can make an enormous impact.

Recent research published by Zenger Folkman suggests leadership development has had a huge decline over the last two years during the pandemic and it has impacted employee engagement. Their research shows that while engagement increased for some employees in the pandemic, the number one factor influencing people to quit their job continues to be the behaviour of their immediate supervisor or manager. This has become significantly more pronounced in the pandemic. The worst managers in the study (in the bottom 10%) had 49% of their direct reports thinking about quitting.

🙋 What are the key benefits of investing in leadership development in your view? 🙋‍♀️

Best regards, Brian