When culture hinders leadership development

Leadership requires you to meet objectives that might contradict each other. On one hand, it is expected that your vision be for long-term success and on the other, it is essential that you prioritize current goals and get immediate results.

Learning and development programs have gained a much-deserved spotlight due to their effectiveness in setting priorities in such situations. Empowering the leader with insightful strategies and action plans, these programs bring about an affirmative change in their behavior. The fact that we cannot be oblivious to is that the focus here remains only on change from within.

So, although the leader is now more evolved with a new outlook and more diverse perspectives, the environment around them is unchanged.

This nature vs. nurture situation creates obstacles to their overall growth as effective leaders.

Progress is a combination of external and internal growth

Whether it is to combat uncertainty, encourage innovation or instill inclusion in people, we credit the environment in the workplace as the catalyzer of positive growth. On conscious and subconscious levels, we get affected by the people around us – their words, values, priorities and actions. They are windows into an individual’s priorities.

For example, if a leader is outspoken about their inclusive opinions but refrains from addressing complex issues, then there is a discrepancy between their verbal values and their actual actions. Employees learn from this misaligned behavior and infer the obvious conclusion. Influenced by such repeated acts, their choices are modified, altering the culture of the workplace.

On the flipside, an effective leader maintains a balance between staying connected with fellow leaders and not losing touch with their direct reports. They stay aware of the ground realities while expanding their vision for the future. Trying to gain the trust and acknowledgment of their team, they inform them of their priorities and purpose through aligned verbal and non-verbal actions.

Thus, unless the external environment does not align with internal development, holistic growth is not possible.

What are development programs getting wrong?

>> They stay exclusive to the individual journey of a leader, which does not take into consideration the system around them.

>> The obliviousness of the significance of efforts by leadership development to make the culture progressive.

Define leadership to enable development

The connotations of leadership are multiple and vary across organizations. To analyze what power and privilege your leader holds in initiating change at the workplace, define it.

Articulate the meaning as clearly as the expectations from the leader, which can be explained in a language that is the same for everyone. Irrelevant, complex and unnecessarily descriptive language should be avoided to maintain consistency around its significance. It should then be shared at all levels and not be limited to executive roles.

Next is the stage for leveraging the capabilities:

>> Proven present strength: Explore the areas where leadership has excelled and achieved results.

>> Scope for improvement: Examine the resources required to enable improvement in the future.

>> Repetition of success: Enforce the unique actions to ensure continued success.

The real leadership challenge is the development of the people around you to establish a culture where collective growth is a mutual responsibility.

>> Fuel growth with feedback: First and foremost, begin by asking your people. There is no better way to invest in people’s growth than by getting familiar with their goals. Does the company lack resources, or is there a lack of mentorship opportunities? Are people unable to expand their skills or do their purposes not align with the objectives of the company?

>> Align performance systems with promoted behaviours: Leadership is not supposed to be enforced. If recruitment and rewards are not based on the ideas that are encouraged and the actions that are idealized, then it sets the wrong example. Consider all the formal and informal opportunities that allowed you to reduce this gap and delve deep into what can be done to align actions with decisions.

There is no policy or playbook that can teach and enforce a culture as effectively as consistent practices that are driven by a self-aware leader.