Why Leadership Training is Crucial for Every Individual
not just Managers, Supervisors, and Executives
Leadership is not a title or a position. It is influence and the ability to deliver results. When you unpack that statement, every individual, regardless of their position or title within an organization, has influence and delivers results. Every individual impacts those around them, the organization’s branding, the culture, and the bottom line. We influence others through behavior, attitude, confidence, competencies, composure, agility, ability to communicate effectively and how we contribute to teams. Understanding and maximizing the attributes associated with these is foundational for an individual to optimize their performance, delivering excellence in every situation.
Leading others well, begins with leading oneself first. Investing in developing the “leader within” for every individual in your organization can lead to transformational change. The return on investment of leadership training for everyone includes increased confidence, competence, composure, agility and more. When every individual is growing and leading themselves well there is a direct impact in their department, beyond their departments and across the organization.
Think about the impact on your team, department, or organization if every employee was confident, interacted and lead with high emotional intelligence (understood their emotions and how they impacted others), showed up in each situation with composure (professionalism and diplomacy, empathy, calm under pressure) and a genuine desire to encourage and support their teammates. Would your organization function differently if everyone took ownership for communication (both in the delivery and in the receiving), if they were aware and took ownership of their contributions to the trust gauge that impacts your culture? What would the impact be if all your employees (call center, administrative assistants, finance, human resources, sales, technology staff, as well as managers, directors, and executives) ALL demonstrated high emotional intelligence, communicated efficiently, contributed positively to culture and team building?
"The single biggest way to impact an organization is to focus on leadership development. There is almost no limit to the potential of an organization that recruits good people, raises them up as leaders and continually develops them.” ̶ John C. Maxwell
There is a boomerang impact for organizations that invest in leadership training for all. They communicate value, and they equip and empower all to lead. The increased leadership ability across every department and team in turn impacts the organization’s culture, branding, market impact and bottom line. Let us look at the benefits to the individual, which in turn directly benefit the organization:
Benefits to your employees:
Feel Valued and Appreciated – when employers invest in training to support an employee’s development that directly impacts their success, as well as preparing them for opportunities for future success, people feel valued and appreciated.
Empowered Decision Maker and Problem Solver – increased understanding of oneself (awareness/reflection) which develops confidence, agility, and belief in one’s skills to assess and solve problems.
Increased Composure, Emotional Intelligence – Elevated understanding and strategies to develop self-awareness, self-reflection and self-regulation directly impact an individual’s composure (ability to show-up calm under pressure); their ability to anticipate, adapt and act when unexpected changes occur (agility).
Enhanced Communicator – learn insights and strategies that strengthen and refine communication skills, which in turn directly effects their confidence, composure, influence, contributions, impact and ability to lead others.
Team Member – as an individual grows in their self-awareness and self-regulation, they gain insight into how they impact team members (positively and negatively). They learn strategies to change the behaviors that take away from contributing positively to trust, culture and team.
Opens Doors for Opportunity – as individuals develop their leader competencies, they are more prepared for opportunities that come their way.
“When opportunity knocks it is too late to get prepared.” ̶ John C. Maxwell
Benefits to your organization (boomerang):
Positively Impacts Trust – Trust is a binding agent. When organizations invest in training that have a profound impact on an individual’s growth, they have communicated that they value that individual. Communicating value can increase employee commitment, loyalty and confidence. Employees that feel valued have greater trust in their leaders. Increased trust impact performance.
Positively Impacts Culture and Morale – When there is common vision (leader development), investment in employee growth (leadership training), focus and clear expectations (everyone growing oneself for the purpose of increasing communication, team building, trust, productivity), trust across the organization increases. Trust is the barometer for positive, high-functioning culture.
Synergy, Innovation, and Increased Productivity – When the trust gauge is strong, the climate is one of positive energy and team members work interdependently, you create an environment that cultivates synergy, creativity, innovation, and increased productivity.
Accountability, Ownership, Commitment – consider the impact if every individual in your department, team or organization were committed to their leadership growth, developing self-first for the purpose of positively impacting those around them. How would that impact culture, trust, communication and teamwork? How would it manifest the organization’s mission and vision? When there is a climate of “all” (everyone committed to their own growth), employees are more inclined to move from compliance to commitment.
Organizations that recognize and invest in Leadership training for every individual know they increase their competitive edge. There are a lot of conversations about the need for leadership training, but not a lot of action to provide leadership training to all staff. Organizations that take action understand that inaction is a greater risk.
“There are risks and costs to a program of action. But they are far less than the risks and costs to comfortable inaction.” ̶ John F. Kennedy (35th U.S. President)
Go Beyond Consulting’s Online Leadership Institute is packed with valuable content focused on developing the leaders within every individual. Whether you are a front-line worker, a C-suite executive or somewhere in between, can develop your leadership competencies. Our Leadership institute meets every individual exactly where they are in their development journey, providing insights to identify areas for growth and providing strategies to take action. Consider an infinity loop; as you grow and develop internally you increase your self-awareness, self-reflection, self-regulation, confidence, emotional intelligence, communication, agility, etc. You are more equipped and empowered to lead others effectively, maximizing your potential, expanding your influence, and optimizing your performance.
Go Beyond what you currently offer your employees.
