Leaders make businesses successful, and an individual with leadership ability will be successful in more areas than just at work. Unfortunately, good leadership isn’t a quality that comes naturally to most.
While 83% of businesses believe it’s important to develop leaders at all levels, it might come as a surprise — or not — that about 77% of organizations report that leadership is lacking.
So what’s the disconnect? Implementing an effective leadership development plan.
What is Leadership Development?
Leadership development, in the simplest terms, is any process that assists individuals to effectively perform in leadership roles. While leadership development is typically thought to be for business success, it also helps individuals become better men, women, parents, and human beings.
Leadership development helps current and future leaders become more successful in their roles as both leaders and team players and comes with near-endless benefits.
Benefits of Leadership Development
Leadership is an all-encompassing skill that keeps on giving — from a number of angles. Proper leadership development helps individuals to master critical skills like executive leadership, personal accountability, teamwork, and service leadership. On the other hand, a lack of leadership training can cause a number of problems for an organization.
But what does that really mean for businesses and leaders?
Below, we will discuss 5 important reasons that you should be investing in leadership development.
1. Improve Bottom-Line Performance
For most businesses, bottom-line performance is a primary motivator. Unfortunately, without strong leadership, team members are often disorganized, ineffective, and unmotivated.
Teams with effective leaders stay focused on their goals, reduce wasted time and resources, and stay in their job positions for longer periods. Effective leaders not only maintain the morale and focus of their teams, but they also help team members learn faster, reducing training time and helping less experienced employees gain skills more quickly. Additionally, 69% of employees state that they would work harder if their efforts were better recognized.
All of these things ultimately contribute to the bottom line and make for more profitable businesses.
2. Retain Talent and Reduce Turnover
Employee turnover is extremely expensive and causes significant strain on businesses with poor leadership. Losing an experienced employee who doesn’t feel that they are being developed as a leader can be a tremendous cost, reduce revenue, slow momentum, and could affect company morale.
One source cites that a surprising 79% of employees will quit when they don’t feel adequate appreciation from their managers, and 69% of Millenials are concerned that their employers are not helping them to develop their leadership skills.
Employees want to be invested in; they want their employers to help them grow and improve in their roles. Companies that invest in leadership development enjoy 20x higher retention rates.
3. Close Skill Gaps Between Employees
Many employees — especially new graduates — lack important leadership, management, problem-solving, and communication skills that are essential to workplace success.
Thankfully, with a proper leadership development plan, inexperienced employees who lack leadership skills can quickly grow as leaders and will be able to more easily close skill gaps between them and more experienced leaders.
Existing effective leaders within an organization are able to more quickly assist new employees in getting the hang of their positions, becoming successful, and feeling more confident.
4. Adapt to Change More Quickly
Being an effective problem solver is part of being a good leader and is an integral part of leadership development. Good leaders are problem solvers who keep an open mind to all possible solutions and help their teams pivot their mindsets and move in a new direction when they are hitting a roadblock.
According to a study by the Center for Creative Leadership, 86% of organizations with effective leadership programs were able to quickly respond to adversity in unpredictable business environments, while only 52% of organizations with limited or no leadership development programs were successful in similar circumstances.
It’s clear that good leaders and organizations with leadership development programs are better at executing changes, solving problems, and adapting to unpredictable circumstances.
5. Become a Better Parent and Human Being
As we mentioned earlier, leadership development programs are usually thought of as a way to drive success within an organization; however, the benefits go beyond business. Good leadership helps individuals to grow as humans, friends, and parents. A good leader is a good listener who doesn’t compete with their teams, children, or loved ones. Rather, a leader looks for ways to support and help others to grow. This draws people closer in relationships and makes listening to a parent easier.
The Risks of Ignoring Leadership Development
Leadership development leads to sustained success, and so the inverse is also true. Companies that lack leadership development programs are doomed to the struggles that come with high turnover rates, reduced morale, slow learning, lengthened training times, and a number of other business “woes.”
Zippia reports that every year that a business delays in implementing leadership programs, it costs them 7% of their total annual sales.
Ultimately, the risks of neglecting leadership development are too great to be ignored.
Leadership Development Doesn’t Have to be so Hard — Aden Leadership Will Help
Aden Leadership helps individuals and organizations — big and small — to develop their leadership abilities. The Aden Advantage lies within a step-by-step process that guides committed leaders to access their most authentic selves, resulting in growth as a person and as a leader.
Our leadership development programs help individuals learn how to shift their language, communication, and behaviors to positively impact their key relationships and become effective, compassionate, and selfless leaders.
If you want to unlock your organization’s true potential, then you need to start developing your leadership skills — and that of your employees. Thank you. Please visit Aden Leadership.
