Investing in Our Leaders

Have you ever heard or even asked the following question yourself: “What happens if we invest in developing our people and then they leave the company?”

Well, what happens if we don’t, and they stay?

These are both meaty questions, particularly when it comes to deciding where to invest precious financial resources in an organization.

The ongoing development of a company’s leaders seems like a no-brainer and yet there often are competing demands for both time and money.

Many organizations are focused these days on measuring the engagement levels of their employees. And often, when reviewing the results of employee engagement surveys, we see a pattern of low engagement driven by a lack of confidence in how the organization is being led.

Included among the areas often perceived by employees as contributing to lower engagement is ineffective communication, a lack of imagination on how to adapt and/or reinvent the organization in times of change, an absence of transparency and not enough clarity.

An effective leadership development program can address each of the above areas and improve the competencies of an organization’s leaders and managers.

In our work with organizations, we have found that the only true way to organizational transformation is through the personal transformation of the organization’s leaders. The transformation of individual leaders and the cultures they help reinforce can be impacted dramatically by investing in leadership development.

In fact, when an organization provides leaders with the opportunity to continuously improve and hone their skills, it often sees an increase in the retention of those leaders, thereby increasing the likelihood that leaders receiving training and coaching actually stay with the organization.