Future trends in Leadership Development (Part II)

Horizontal V/s. Vertical development

Horizontal development happens through many channels, such as schooling, training, self-directed and lifelong learning as well as simply through exposure to life. Whereas, Vertical development refers to how we learn to see the world through our eyes, how we change our interpretations of experience and how we transform our views of reality. It is a sum total of what an individual is aware of, or what she pays attention to, and therefore what she influences and integrates. Therefore, transformation of leader’s consciousness or changes in view of reality are much more powerful than any amount of horizontal growth and learning.

I would like to use a metaphor by comparing human mind with a computer. A computer might have lots of memory in its hard disk, however its ability to analyse and use the chunks of information depends upon the RAM and the speed of processor. In the want of adequate RAM and speed of processor even the few terabytes of information will be of little use. Similarly, through Horizontal development we may fill up leader’s mind, with new content, new information (Often quite helpful), yet it may not yield expected results. This is because leader’s thought process (Processor) and his or her ability to think differently (RAM) remains inadequate. 

No doubt, the current methodology of training was relatively effective for the needs and challenges of the past century. However, considering the challenges leaders are currently facing it is not only becoming incompatible but have become outdated and redundant too. The world’s best Executive coach, Marshall Goldsmith has remarked, “Many of our leadership programs are based on the faulty assumption that if we show people what to do, they can automatically do it.” But we all know, there is a difference between knowing what ‘good’ leadership looks like and being able to practice it. Therefore, instead of training leaders about leadership concepts, organisations should emphasise on creating an environment which helps leaders to develop themselves. The question arises as what needs to be stopped or phased out from the way leadership development is currently done?

First and the foremost change which, needs to be brought in is to give away one of the most common approach for leadership development i.e. to follow a ‘Competency Framework’. Most of the organisations are still using it as the sacrosanct method for leadership development. The whole premise of using competency framework for developing leaders is based on the thought that at a particular level every leader needs to have a standard set of competencies, which will help him succeed. Little, we realise that it makes this approach as the most generic in nature. With the advent of newer businesses and the way existing businesses are done, the current methodologies of having static individual competencies is neither adding any value to an individual nor to the organization. Instead, today’s leaders need to have learning agility and self-awareness, so as they can learn on their own. 

This will enable leaders to cope up with rapid and increasingly unpredictable change in the business environment and will help them develop an ability to look beyond what is visible and possible. One of the most common hindrance that leaders face while developing such flexible thinking is their inability to get rid off their own preconceptions. Unless the leaders examine their preconceptions, and how these preconceptions are keeping them from changing, no amount of training (Horizontal Development) will help them succeed. What will really help a leader is her ability to identify as to what she needs to change, and why those changes have not occurred even after repeated efforts. This will force the leader to identify behaviour that ‘backs up’ such preconceptions. For example, let’s assume a leader finds her unable to get to the point more quickly while giving instructions. Leader recognises that she tends to share unnecessary, though often interesting, details. Leader also identifies why she does this; leader fears that failing to give all the necessary details to subordinates, may lead to inadequate instructions, as a result work may not get done properly or she may look like a poor manager. These negative assumptions pull her back and inhibits her to take actions. 

To avoid these negative effects, the leader needs to test her assumptions by designing experiments for the workplace. These tests should start with situations that will not do harm if they don’t work. She must include actions contrary to what she would normally do, and relate to while handling a situation relevant to the overall problem. She should also clearly spell out as to how the results will help assess new ways of handing situations (The immediate managers or the training department can play an important role here by objectively observing and evaluating the experiment). If everything works, she will be motivated to try this in all those areas which she feels desired yet feared changes and were held back by her false assumptions. As a result, her resistance to specific changes will decrease and she would be well prepared to accept future changes/challenges. Needless to mention, questioning her assumptions will move her to a higher level of development. It is worth mentioning that some assumptions may prove to be right as well. This will reinforce the validity of questioning the assumption i.e. leader will become committed to repeat the exercise in future. Sometimes it might so happen that leader’s assumption is right but the company environment may suggest the action as unadvisable. This will help leader develop courage to stand for her decision, and be able to convince others as to how it is best for the organization. 

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