Leadership experience is not enough!

Being a Leader requires intentional, continuous development, it doesn't just happen because we have experience as a leader. It's not something that magically occurs with time on the job or because a person has had a certain title.

Meet Joe. Recognized by the CEO for his forward-thinking approach, Joe ascended to the role of EVP, overseeing thousands of employees. He'd successfully managed a small team in his early career and continued to gain years of leadership experience, including international assignments and participation in a couple of prestigious leadership events, Joe lacked self-awareness and emotional intelligence. His failure to actively learn from experience was evident in consistently low engagement scores, high functional spending, and elevated turnover rates within his team. Unaware of his limitations, Joe's promotion outpaced his capability, he had a high IQ and could provide intellectual answers to almost anything, but he wasn't able to adapt his leadership to meet demands. When asked to leave, he was blindsided, leaving his successor to rebuild profitability and re-engage disheartened staff.

Many organizations think too much about transactional, single leadership programmes, run by HR rather than taking a holistic picture of leadership. Josh Bersin, an HR guru found that only 12% of organizations have what he calls level 4 leadership maturity. This means that leadership is viewed systematically, it is part of the organizational DNA, sponsored by the executive team, it's continuous learning; developing leaders at all levels with ongoing networking and knowledge sharing amongst leaders. Whereas level 1 leadership is running programmes often created in isolation by L&D.

You might think that leadership maturity develops with experience and leaders get better at the role and development isn't needed anymore. However, research suggests that leadership effectiveness diminishes over time if not actively nurtured. Zenger Folkman studied the 360 feedback of 65,268 leaders and categorised these based on time in the job. They found that rather than an increase in leadership effectiveness over time, the results show a steady decline. This being an indication that learning is not happening on the job. (Just like Joe)

Let's just think about this.....

Leadership growth doesn't naturally align with experience. We also know that as leaders ascend to more powerful positions, the flow of developmental feedback often dwindles. Coupled with our inherent tendency towards low self-awareness, this creates a significant challenge. Without fostering a culture of continuous growth—a culture centered on feedback, learning, and self-awareness—our organizations risk placing leaders in influential roles without questions. The consequence? Critical oversights that could jeopardize our roles, functions, or even the entire business.

What can we do?

Develop Self Awareness

Leadership Development starts with self awareness. We need to be able to understand how others see us and how we are impacting on them. We might think we are a great leader but only our teams can make that statement.

We have many tools available e.g engagement surveys, 360 feedback, growth dialogues, feedback tools, so there's no end of ways to gain feedback to develop our self awareness, but we need to be able to act on this. No matter how difficult this is, it's important for our growth. I am not saying it's easy and I am just as guilty as everyone of wanting to defend my actions - when my team thought I was distant and always in meetings and never available for them, every defense mechanism and justification kicked in, which thankfully I kept in my head! "This isn't me...it was just"...No excuses, I needed to change and do it at speed!

Become an Intentional Learner

The problem isn't usually that leaders don't know how to lead. Most can tick off the courses attended, the theories they know and the workshops they have attended. Many have brains packed with leadership knowledge, but if this is not translated into action and changed behaviours, then how useful is it? One leader who attended a leadership programme that I was running could tell me the latest theories, the books read, the TedTalks he viewed, he had the answers and it was only at the end of 3 days that he said "Now I get it, this is about me isn't it?"

Effective leadership is defined by our behavior, not the information residing in our brains. Zenger.

Amy Edmondson emphasizes the concept of framing work as learning. While in the agile methodology, retrospectives are ingrained as a fundamental part of work, I wonder how often we neglect feedback amidst the hustle of daily work life? It's a common struggle for many companies to establish continuous feedback loops, often rushing to move onto the next task or project without reflecting on past experiences. Yet, in today's business landscape, the value of understanding what worked and what didn't cannot be overstated. It could make the difference between you and your competitors succeeding!

We may excel at discussing tangible aspects when we review projects, but when it comes to behavioral feedback, we often overlook its significance. I've encountered numerous instances where leaders focus solely on task outcomes, neglecting the behaviours that either propelled or hindered progress. When redirected to reflect on these behaviours, the discussion becomes richer, fostering genuine learning opportunities rather than what can sometimes be a more superficial analysis.

Rotate Talent

It's imperative to craft a talent mobility strategy that not only facilitates the development of individual leaders but also fosters knowledge sharing and cross-functional learning throughout the organization. By doing so, we can gain broader insights, break down silos, and foster collaboration across teams. Crucially, this strategy must embed learning into its core. This requires leaders not to hoard talent but enable people to move around the company and grow. Also remembering to gain the valuable learning acquired from such rotations which will benefit the wider organization. I've seen too many people take a two year overseas assignment and then return to HQ only to have their experience ignored and their learning overlooked; such a loss to the company.

To truly maximize learning impact, we must create avenues for sharing insights across the organization. For instance, high-potential programmes should serve as platforms for sharing learning, allowing identified "superstars" to disseminate their knowledge to other leaders. This means prioritizing inclusivity in learning rather than exclusivity. I've encountered situations where cohorts in executive programmes, separated by years, raise identical issues about the business—a clear indication that information sharing was lacking. Let's bridge these gaps and ensure that valuable insights are shared and leveraged effectively across the organization.

Develop Talent

As leaders, our primary responsibility is to cultivate the potential within our teams. Many organizations have self-development at the heart of their culture, yet it's essential to recognize that not everyone possesses the same level of self-awareness. Many team members may benefit from additional coaching or mentoring to identify their development needs effectively and to understand how they can develop.

As leaders, we can play a pivotal role in supporting our team members through this process. Initiating conversations about their career aspirations and the skills required to achieve them is an excellent starting point. Moreover, organizations bear the responsibility of facilitating learning opportunities. This could involve leveraging various learning experience platforms or, more recently, AI-enabled autonomous learning systems, which offer personalized learning experiences tailored to individual needs.

Learn How to Learn

When we discuss the learning organizations and the imperative of continuous learning in our rapidly evolving world, do we truly grasp the essence of learning itself? How often have we encountered the sentiment, "It was a good leadership programme, but I've heard most of it before"? While acquiring knowledge is commendable, it's essential to question what actionable changes we've made as a result.

Similarly, consider project retrospectives where leaders gather the team to analyze successes, failures, and areas for improvement. How frequently do we deflect blame onto others, avoiding personal accountability? This reluctance to acknowledge our own contributions, driven by a fear of vulnerability, impedes genuine growth.

Chris Argyris coined the terms "espoused theory" and "theory-in-use" to illustrate this discrepancy between our perceived behaviour and our actual actions. Learning demands vulnerability and introspection. Merely consuming information, whether through reading or seminars, isn't enough; learning requires deliberate effort and a willingness to embrace change.

Get Feedback on your Leadership

In order to adeptly navigate shifting conditions and maintain unwavering support and motivation within your team, it's essential to possess a keen awareness of both your strengths and areas for improvement. By actively seeking clear, actionable feedback, you equip yourself with the insights needed to make informed decisions and seamlessly pivot as circumstances demand.

Remember there is probably a resistance to give you feedback, so start in a way that feels safe for the team. This could be anonymous feedback and start with the following question; What can I start, stop and continue doing as your leader? Now act upon what you hear and tell your team what you are doing to change. Keep going!

Senior Leaders Role Modelling Learning

We cannot create a learning culture without role modelling this ourselves, as leaders. The world is changing at speed and advances in AI are daily, so we cannot afford not to learn. Work is not longer a job that remains relatively stable, it's constantly evolving which means we need to do so too! A clear message from the top that demonstrates that our business environment today requires us to be able to constantly learn and innovate which inevitably means failing and learning from this, is important. Frame work as learning because it is!

The most promising path forward is getting the current leadership team to become more focused on everyone learning from their work experience. Implementation is not something HR alone can do. Only the collective effort of the entire senior leadership team can make that happen. It is the missing piece to the leadership development puzzle. Money can’t buy it. External consultants and suppliers cannot provide it. It is completely in the hands of the current leadership team. Zenger

Conclusion

We don't have a choice about learning, we need to intentionally learn everyday. We realise that leadership will not develop just with experience, in fact, effectiveness will decline. It therefore becomes more important than ever to ensure that leaders gain greater self awareness through ongoing feedback and continuous development. This requires courage for many who still think that leaders need to have all the answers and never show their vulnerability. Shift your thinking and leave behind the "know it all" and become a "learn it all" leader, believe me, it's a much better place over here!

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Beyond Leadership Development Programmes

Liz Rider is an Organizational Psychologist, LinkedIn Top Voice on Leadership and Former Global Head of Leadership. Her expertise lies in executive coaching, leadership development, and delivering impactful speaking events for large multinationals globally. She believes that work is becoming unsustainable and through human centric leadership, we can change this.