Corporate Leadership Training

Corporate Leadership

Need to get your corporate leadership training rolling?

"Pretty much."

Is your company adept at creating a culture of accountability and solid leadership?

"Eh ... kinda" you may say. So get your training program established. An ongoing philosophy of life-long learning is a great methodology!

And so much to consider ...

When defining your corporate leadership training, start with a key question:

What do you want your leaders to get out of training?

Then follow it up with questions about key considerations:

How much can you afford to invest into training?

How will you know the training is successful and
worth the investment?

And lastly, what authority do you have to "send" the managers to training? (aka how hard do you have to sell the idea)

Small to Mid-Sized Businesses

Attending public sessions offered by a university or a national chain may be your most affordable option. After all, the university or national chain is not customizing anything for you and it is all set, ready to go. All they need is warm bodies.

Some public offerings give you a terrific baseline by delivering a certification at the same time. Certified leadership training may eliminate some risk, expecially if taught by an accredited university.

Sure, existing programs are nice. Simple. Easy sign-ups. Affordable.

What gives?

Well ... an assurance that what you are signing up for is the best fit for your leaders.

The hinge point? Money of course. If you know you can afford custom training, find someone reputable and get it designed for you.

If you are not sure you can afford it, take a deep look at what it may be costing you NOT to have it. Some research* indicates that bad leadership looks like evil, intemperate, callous, corrupt, and insular. I am not talking about such extremes. Although not uncommon, these indications point more likely to a personality disorder or a more deeply-seeded behavior. Although these should be addressed through difficult personality consulting, that is another subject.

Consider how the wake of an untrained or unaware leader can affect waves of innocent victims. Even in small amounts.

Indicators of Poor Leadership

- Goals go undefined so employees lose a sense of accomplishment or tasks are mis-directed.

- Ineffective communication results in feelings in inadequacy or low esteem.

- Lack of interpersonal and team training causes turf wars between departments.

- Conflict among employees or cliques nag about other cliques.

- Critical conversations result in a feeling that "he just does not get it".

Luckily, MOST of these problems can be improved through training and reinforcement. Regular reinforcement.

Reinforcement

At the individual level: from boss, or coach, or both
At the company level: a culture that encourages good leadership

By using an outside resource for the development of leadership training, you gain effective business leadership training from an experienced organizational consultant who will put your ideas to work, and has the capability of measuring training effectiveness. And the best ones have come from industry, where they have felt the woes of corporate dynamics and in many cases have written corporate leadership training programs. I know ... a bit of a sell-job but I truly believe in what I am presenting here.

First Steps

First recommendation in leadership development:

ground-floor leadership skills must be delivered and
re-delivered on a regular basis.

Skills are just that - skills! And if they are not fine-tuned regularly, they fade away. By customizing your training, you will be emphasizing fundamental communication and leadership skills, while tailoring the content to the readiness level of the participants. Ducky for you.

An experienced facilitator makes all the difference in the world. What to look for in a consultant and a coach?

Additional corporate training for small to medium companies can lead to building more business through public sector contracts. In the UK, there is a National Qualifications Framework that dictates the standard. Contract suppliers should have specific essential training defined for the UK, better yet a Certificate in Tendering for Public Contracts.

In the US, the Technical Management Consortium provides live proposal writing workshops to compete for funding.

Government

Finding and procuring training is more difficult for government organizations. For that reason, it is best to use training organizations already on the Federal Supply Schedule.

Government entities may have a chellenge in staying atop of the hot new trends in training and personnel development.

The Cumberland Group is the an affiliated partner with Better-Leadership and has been awarded by GSA to be on the Federal Supply Schedule for Management, Organizational, and Business Improvement Services (MOBIS) for use by federal agencies.

Read more about what government organizations are doing in leadership training and other organizational development.

More About Government Training

Bigger Businesses Bigger Businesses

Big Business

You have the luxury (shall we call it that?) of internal training and/or HR Departments, sometimes referred to as organizational excellence or quality or employee development. Whatever, you have the trainers or internal consultants built-in. Your corporate leadership training comes with some pre-determined factors.

So a message to you:

"It's okay to look!"

You have the advantage of knowing your business well, but an external consultant has the advantage of knowing what's several industries are doing, what is normal, and what is emerging. We are OUT THERE and we recognize that your challenges are not unique to you.

So looking is a sign that you are reaching out to grow. That's good.

What would be one of those areas of training that would be a great bang for your buck? Coaching (done on an individual basis) and leadership style training.

Individuals enjoy having the opportunity to personalize and define leadership style. A good training workshop delves into the analyzing of leadership style of a supervisor, or any team member, and includes discussion of classic leadership styles, what contributes to accountability education, and how your style can influence how you see your staff or team. The leaders' leadership style type can be an eye-opening exercise in self-awareness. Look for training that definitely includes the personality aspect of the leader.

And remember: effective corporate leadership training includes a support system that measures success, and reinforces behaviors.

Scout around the web site a little and you will find ideas for stand-alone training sessions on more specific topics such as a teambuilding event planning, hiring assessments, or stress management seminars.

Other Stuff: Technical Companies

And ... just for technical environments: We have something in common. Having come from an engineering world, I know the nuances. (You cannot spell "geek" without "ee") Seems there should be an entire adaptation of leadership training and coaching just for techies.

The painful part? Being a techie and being seen as promotable is a good sign if you can get there, my nerdy friends. But once you get promoted, the challenge begins. NOW ... play the part of manager. A transition from Techie to Manager can feel counterintuitive, unnatural, wearing the emperor's clothes.

GREAT OFFICE ENVIRONMENTS have several key commonalities. One of them is a consistent email etiquette policy.

* Kellerman, Barbara. Bad Leadership. Harvard Business School Publishing, 2004

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