Leadership development begs the question: are leaders born or made and can we teach someone to become a great leader? At ILM we believe people with potential can be trained and developed to become leaders and that a flexible, targeted approach brings the greatest benefit.
Natural leadership
Developing the great leaders of the future is one of the most pressing and difficult challenges facing organisations in the 21st century. And while the term ‘natural leader’ is often applied to successful individuals, ILM believes many of the traits that contribute to ‘natural leadership’ can in fact be learned.
The ability to motivate others, emotional intelligence and being a good communicator, for example, are all characteristics we can develop. Skills and knowledge can also be acquired.
The need for leadership development
We believe, based on ILM research, that there is a training and development gap that needs to be filled in order to equip aspiring leaders and managers with an all-round leadership perspective. Nine out of ten HR managers that we surveyed responded that their current leadership teams had clear development needs.
Our research has identified a clear gap in leaders’ people management and development skills and these should be a prime target in any leadership development programme.
Developing leaders
The development needs of managers are generally specific and context related. This means leadership development has to be targeted, relevant and suited to the tasks in hand. For instance, senior managers in organisations going through periods of change may be in need of training related to change management. Elsewhere difficult economic circumstances may mean training in entrepreneurship is the most pressing concern.
Flexible, bespoke leadership development
A degree, professional qualification or MBA all have their value, but to develop leaders we need to focus on training for the now and to use a more bespoke style of leadership development, tailored to the individual business or organisation and the leaders being trained.
In the future, the fixed, classroom-based higher education approach will increasingly give way to a more nimble, modular and mobile approach to leadership development. E-learning and online training delivery are effective ways of overcoming time constraints and targeting training gaps, for instance. And a modular approach can allow development to be integrated with work.
What place for MBAs?
The strength of MBAs lies in the sound theoretical understanding of business and the structured approach to development they provide. On the downside their emphasis on theory means a lack of practical application and they give insufficient attention to developing personal characteristics.
HR directors advocate a mix of training and development methods for developing senior leaders, but we wanted to learn what importance they placed on MBAs, which are often held up as the gold standard in business education.
Half of the directors we surveyed were neutral on the value of MBAs’ effectiveness in developing future leaders and a third described them as ‘quite effective’. In the recruitment process for senior management positions, two thirds thought an MBA ‘not at all’ or ‘slightly important.
Development that works
ILM believes leadership development should be modular and have application in the workplace. By modular we mean, leaders and managers should get access to specific pieces of training that develop their strengths, address their weaknesses or which respond to their particular organisation’s challenges. And by applicable, we mean training should be directly linked to real working challenges, or that having received leadership development a manager should be able to go straight back to work and put what he or she has learned into practice.
Read more on our detailed research Creating Future Leaders.
Leadership and management study
ILM's courses develop and support leaders and managers, from those just starting out to those with years of experience. We believe all individuals can become better leaders and managers through development and training.