Learning and Development Developing leaders and managers L&D CHAPTER 17 Developing leaders and managers

THE PURPOSE OF THE CHAPTER To explore how an organisation’s leadership and management development processes can help to build its future capability as well as aiding the achievement of excellent performance in a current situation. KEY THEMES The leadership pipeline How effective is leadership and management development? Assessing the evidence Putting findings into practice What kind of development? Tasks for HR professionals

THE LEADERSHIP PIPELINE: THE TOP LEVEL Corporate leadership Those responsible for setting and executing corporate strategy Key tasks Building and sustaining vision and values Achieving an organisational culture and a quality of life that will engage internal and external stakeholders Leading a regular organising process Working with a broad-based group in a continuous strategising process Developing and maintaining a learning culture.

THE LEADERSHIP PIPELINE: THE MIDDLE LEVEL Operational leadership Those in charge of a department or geographical area or with other leadership responsibilities Key tasks Creating a high-performing workplace by: making critical decisions about opportunities afforded by communication and information technology ensuring the success of organisational change creating a culture of lifelong learning for all employees ensuring engaged and healthy employees

THE LEADERSHIP PIPELINE: FIRST-LINE LEVEL First line leadership Team leaders and others with people leadership responsibilities. Key tasks Creating a workplace context in which individuals and teams can collectively achieve high performance Ensuring that individuals and team have the attitudes, motivation and opportunity to apply their knowledge and skills to ‘going the extra mile’ for the organisation Encouraging and supporting individuals and teams in the use of discretionary power

Research findings: KEY FAILINGS IN LEADERSHIP AND MANAGEMENT DEVELOPMENT ACROSS THE WORLD Lack of appropriate leadership development strategies Poor implementation and evaluation of leadership development programmes Lack of effective succession planning Neglect of multinational leaders Poor partnership between HR and corporate leaders

Leadership and management development: RESEARCH-RELATED ISSUES Much MD practice in the UK lacks a convincing evidence base. MD practice makes little use of qualitative research findings. Researchers fail to agree on what ‘leadership’ constitutes. Most research ignores the middle and first-line levels of the leadership pipeline. Much MD practice is based on inappropriate management models and is unclear about what managers actually do in the particular organisation. MD programmes can serve as an instrument of control exercised by senior management over those in lesser positions. This makes it hard to ensure their objective evaluation.

DEVELOPING LMD STRATEGY: THE STARTING POINT (Beard and Irvine, 2005) What do we mean by ‘leadership’ and ‘management’ in this organisation? What is the culture of our organisation – or what shift in culture do we want our LMD strategy to help us achieve? What are the best methods of developing individuals in the leadership and management skills and behaviours needed at key transition points in the leadership pipeline? How can we evaluate our LMD effectively, in terms both of whether training and learning needs were accurately identified and of the impact of that activity on the business and on individuals?

PRINCIPLES TO GUIDE LEADERSHIP AND MANAGEMENT DEVELOPMENT

The Hays Consultancy case: TASK 1: KEY QUESTIONS TO ASK What specific outcomes for the business were the three enhanced sets of skills intended to achieve, and what measures were used to operationalise and measure them? Who decided on the measures and their implementation? What specific outcomes were set to change the culture and behaviours of top management, and how were they measured? When were outcomes measured? What systems, processes and procedures are there in the workplace to ensure that participants’ action plans are carried through and are regularly updated? What will the company do to identify and develop those with the potential to enter the leadership pipeline in future?

The Hays Consultancy case: TASK 2: KEY INFORMATION NEEDED Programme design and methods reflect a strategy of experiential learning. Will new leadership tasks and methods be supported or initiated by changes in business processes, and will unlearning and relearning be supported by organisational systems? How will desired changes in values, attitudes and behaviour be reinforced after the programme? Do the programme’s methods encourage lateral thinking and double- loop learning? What criteria determined the use of the development methods mentioned, and were any other methods of work-based learning included? On what basis was the leadership competency framework produced, and what has been the organisational impact of the competencies? Was there an assignment component in the programme, and is any intended for the programme now being rolled out?

Educational programmes can provide value for: potential managers managers involved in structural and role change managers who are set in their ways managers preparing for more strategic roles

RESPONSE TO THE COMPLACENT MANAGER . . . Organisationally-based development must have a clear strategic focus New tasks and methods in which leaders and managers are being developed need the support of changes in business and HR processes and practices Educational programmes can play an important part in leadership and management development There must be an organisational culture which ensures that unlearning can occur and that new learning can be effectively applied in the workplace There must be regular monitoring and effective evaluation of the business and individual outcomes of any development strategy or programme

SEVEN AREAS OF IMPACT FOR LMD 1 Integration of LMD strategy with talent and career management and other areas of HR strategy 2 Active involvement of business units as well as the centre in planning, operating and evaluating the LMD system 3 Proactivity of HR professionals in interpreting business priorities and translating them into LMD policies and practices 4 Close partnership between HR professionals and business leaders to achieve the necessary cultural change 5 Operational leaders and managers competent to train and develop others and to implement LMD strategy in their workplaces 6 Formal LMD programmes that encompass a critical mass 7 Measurement of key outcomes of LMD strategy, and monitoring and evaluation of the operation of the whole LMD system