How can you overcome resistance to leadership development programs?

Reason behind resistance is fear of unknown and lack of vision as we are all comfortable at comfort zone. From Industrial era to upcoming AI era, most important thing is your mindset to accept change and ability to skill up yourself with the time. Top three sources of resistance are : 1. No proper vision of the future or lack of aspiration 2. Fear of getting exposed 5. No peripheral vision. To overcome resistance, Management/HR should be able to create a shared vision and show a road map to all the incumbents about fruit of leadership development initiatives. Increased knowledge not only skill up them but also help them to build a social capital. Driving force should be more than the restraining force in their mind.

In my experience, adult sometimes perceive development as a sign of being incompetent and this is due to working in unsafe environment, and being reluctant to feeling exposed . Hence, ensure that the work environment is supportive of development and it encourages leaders to go through the experience. Furthermore, show the relevance of the development opportunities to the leaders daily work, how these opportunities can elevate performance and support building a great team.

In my view, this is an extremely important to develop new muscles and strengthen the existing ones for people who are climbing the ladder towards CXO roles. In most of cases, there are no resistance and people resisting LDPs hardly become a leader. Generally, people are excited about this journey and keen to participate in such developmental initiatives. Some do it on personal level and few are privileged to get organisation’s attention and support for the same. However, this should be organisational endeavour to make it aspirational, contextual and individual specific so that people see the value and leverage the opportunity to the full possible extent.

Leadership development is a life-long pursuit, not a timebound program. When it is positioned as a point in time experience, it should be scrutinized. Leadership takes effort, work, practice, and lots of feedback. Also, resistance very frequently comes from the opportunity cost of the time investment. Putting a lot of highly compensated people in a room together without clearly defined business case for the impact of that investment should attract scrutiny and potential pushback.

1. Communication:Clearly communicate the purpose, benefits, and goals of the leadership development program to all stakeholders. 2. Involvement:Involve key stakeholders in the design and planning of the program to increase buy-in and ownership. 3. Tailored Approach: Customise the leadership development program to meet the specific needs and challenges of your organization and its leaders 5. Celebrating Success: Recognise and celebrate the achievements of leaders who have benefited from the development program. 6. Continuous Evaluation: Continuously evaluate the effectiveness of the program through feedback, metrics, and assessments. Remember, it's important to address resistance with empathy and understanding.

'Purpose'! Firstly identify the right people. Then help them understand the 'purpose'- 'for the Organisation' and 'for the individual' Establish a proper connection between the organisational and individual purposes- which is in simple terms, answer to the questions- why are we doing this? What is in it for the Organisation, for the individual and mostly for the larger good of the society or world.. Once this connect is established.... resistance fades away.

Many L&D programs are overly generic and fail to address the specific challenges a company faces. It's essential to align these programs with the company's objectives to secure support from leadership and executive stakeholders. However, alignment alone is not enough. Even if your program aligns well strategically and functionally, it falls short if you're not communicating effectively with your intended audience and stakeholders. This is where collaborating with your communications team becomes crucial. Together, you can craft a tailored communication campaign that speaks directly to all your target groups and key stakeholders.

Resistance may be faced when: 1. participants do not see their top managers leading by example. They may ask themselves why should I go for this leadership program if I cannot live and practice the learning within this environment? 2. Sometimes because it’s not the right time to go for a leadership program specially when the company is facing high turnover or when volatility is high at this moment. 3. another key reason, is when participants do not see the company context or the reason behind the program. when the vision, or the strategy are missing

The success of the leadership development program depends upon the rewards and recognition attached to it. Further the communication must be from the top management to bring seriousness to the program

The golden rule of "always starting with the WHY" applies here too. People have to understand what's in it for me. They should avoid the sense they have been invited or "forced" by somebody else (their boss, HR, company) to attend. Active listening technics should apply on a sample basis, to be sure the leadership program matches the potential expectations of the trainees. E.g. by organizing a focus group to collect thier opinion. Psycological or personality tests might be set in preparation, so the ice breaking opening of the program may be the review of the "as-is" profile, to set together the expectations towards the best possible "to-be" of each participant. The keyword is: CO-DESIGN.

It is crucial to involve them from the beginning... and by beginning, I mean before the program. A practice we do in our program for our clients is to have an onboarding session. During this session, we give them a comprehensive overview of the program and address their questions. At the end of the session, we make it clear that their participation is by choice because part of empowering is giving thwm a choice to join or not to join. Of course, prior to this I work closely with HR and Talent to orchestrate this.

A development programme is only ever successful if you are working with who the participants are, what they want and what they already have. Each participant is an individual and should be treated as such, so your activities need to have space and time for personal reflection, discussion and then practice. Framing your programme as an 'offering' means they can take responsibility for their own learning. You want to inspire new ways of thinking that will continue to shape their successes long after your interactions.

Combating resistance entails effective communication, education, and strategic initiatives to promote a positive perspective on impending changes. Recognizing and addressing these sources of resistance are crucial for fostering a culture that embraces adaptability and innovation.

When you involve your audience, they will feel part of it and in the process they will evolve! We have always stressed on the need of meeting participants. You will find, the challenges may be very different what training department is talking about! This is called pre-workshop mining. When you make them owners of the program, they will be fully involved in the whole process. Secondly when you gamify these programs, they look forward to some relaxation along with learning. People resist because they don’t want to sit in long lectures. Experiential learning programs engage them throughout! I had experiences where participants have come to me after 2 days or program, that they want to do more!! Learning with fun is the key!

An interesting angle could be to address it proactively at design stage, rather than address resistance post program launch. Some ways to do that is - 1) Partner with participants upfront to understand expectations from the program, to understand what affects their engagement and ideas/insights that you may not be privy to, 2) Study post program evaluation of previously run programs to understand what possible gaps exist and 3) Keep yours ears open - the external environment isn't always predictable, so it's good to keep an open ear for feedback/tweaks/more data, info

Harness the Influence of Managers and Peers: Harnessing the influence of managers and peers can serve as a powerful catalyst for overcoming resistance and driving behavior change. In my experience, I leveraged the support of senior leaders and influential peers to champion leadership development initiatives and advocate for their importance within the organization. By showcasing success stories and testimonials from participants, we were able to inspire others to embrace the programs and overcome any lingering doubts or skepticism.

This is key to any long term development program. In our program, we recognize this and involve our learner's manager right from the start. We ensure the managers and the learners are on the same page by attending an onboarding session where the both of them discuss areas for improvement. Throughout our program, we get our learners to update their managers and have regular feedback session. We also incorporate 360 feedback tool so our learners gain real feedback which they can work on throughout this program. This is probthw most practical way to help the leaders improve.

Commitment to leadership development starts at the top. Leadership needs to prioritize development, understand and promote the programs by creating a culture of learning and development in their teams. This is not a one-size-fits-all strategy. Leaders need to engage their team, managers, and peers to identify how they can support learning with the participants that aligns with their growth needs, ie. mentoring, shadow learning, stretch project, coaching, etc. If the participant has a voice in their development, there will be higher ownership.

The insights shared by other thought leaders are spot on and I concur. To add, speak the language of the business and its executives to track, metric and articulate development ROI. Examples: 47% internal promotion rate in < 1 year; 26% cross-department promotion rate in < 2 years; 52% in-role title promotion in 1 year; 34% increase in emerging leader nominations; saved > $3M in client business given roles were quickly filled internally, etc. Using data speaks not only the business language, but the language your business stakeholders understand. The ROI generates your business case for more funding, support, alignment and the ultimate need for not only the programs to be in place, but to be accelerated and amplified year after year.

Monitoring is key to a good leadership development program. Monitoring is used to assess the leader's progress. We achieve this through 2 data point. The first is their progress update during our mentoring session. Here they share what they did differently and the outcome. Another is we gain feedback from their line manager. This is important because one of the goal of our program is to ensure the improvement in our learners benefits their leader.

Knowing your ROI is critical to your LD programs. The saying "the future is in the follow up". Once leadership establishes the quantifiable (measurable) goals, skills, and behavior development/competency metrics at the organizational and participant level, they can monitor the effectiveness by measuring the impact against their objectives. This requires clarity of those metrics. The process will be through seeking data from a variety of means, ie. surveys, discussion sessions, observation of others, and the feedback of the participant how they have grown and their experience of the program.

The passage outlines the importance of continuous evaluation and refinement in leadership development programs. By utilizing feedback sessions, surveys, and performance metrics, the author was able to gather insights to enhance the program's effectiveness and tailor it to the changing needs of both participants and the organization. It emphasizes a strategic approach to overcoming resistance to these programs, focusing on empathy, effective communication, and empowerment. The author calls for a collective effort to foster a culture of learning and development, highlighting the role of resilience, empathy, and commitment to unlocking human potential for organizational growth and success.

Most organizations want to Learn, and often ask what is new and effective to increase the bottom line and improve stakeholder relationships, find out what they want to learn and start there. Leadership development is often expensive and takes time to come to fruition ( as it involves change). Start with something quick and easy so they can build trust with you. Sometimes this approach can work.

In my experience there cannot be resistance to any ‘growth and development’ agenda , if you have your objectives and expected outcome clearly articulated and defined. The only thing which can give todays organisations a ‘competitive advantage’ is ‘ leadership development’ that enriches personal and professional growth , besides strong & capable set of talents who are ready to lead and take org to next level with focus on innovation ans new age cutting edge techno commercial acumen. “No resistance if you assure & deliver result” !

Craft a culture that values and encourages continuous learning and development across employee life cycle . Encourage individuals to take ownership of their professional growth and provide opportunities for ongoing skill development and career advancement.

Here is something I would like to consider when I look at resistance to leadership development . the identified leaders want to go ahead in career. So would be happy to be part of a program which is aimed at their development and growth unless they don’t perceive that it is going to add value. This could be from their past experience with “trainers”, or poorly executed programs. Lot of well intentioned top down programs eventually are just tick boxes with the same trainers running off sites and entertaining the “leaders” in games. Sell the right story and the right product and experienced professionals will not give up on self interest

If there is resistance, it is important to understand the reasons behind it. This will help in modifying, amending or responding to the resistance. Ignoring resistance is not a good approach as it can provide valuable feedback and an opportunity to improve. A good leader should have a growth mindset, which means they should be open to continuous learning and change. Effective communication of the benefits of the program and its delivery method can greatly impact collaboration and cooperation. It is advisable to involve other leaders, coaches or mentors to promote the benefits of the program. After overcoming resistance, it is important to seek feedback on how the program can be improved for future delivery.