The Business of Talent Evolution or Revolution Wednesday

The Business of Talent Evolution or Revolution? Wednesday 9 th of December Clarion Hotel, Liffey Valley, Dublin

Developing Leadership Talent: The Drivers, The Strategies and The Outcomes Professor Thomas N. Garavan Research Professor - Leadership Edinburgh Napier Business School

Overview of Presentation • What is Leadership Development About? • What Drives Leadership Development in Organisations? • How Do Organisations Accomplish Leader and Leadership Development? • Is Leadership Development a Good Investment? • Future Trends in Leadership Development? • Questions? ?

What is Leadership Development About? • Important distinction between Leader and Leadership Development • Leader development focuses on the development of individual leaders whereas leadership development focuses on development processes that involve multiple individuals • Leader development enhances the capacity of leaders to participate in leader – follower processes

What is Leadership Development About? • Leader development assumes that where you develop the KSAs of a leader this will result in more effective leadership • Leader development does not take into account the complex and highly dynamic nature of leadership and that it is essentially a collective and interpersonal process • Leadership development processes focus on developing the capacity of collectives to engage in the leaderships process

What is Leadership Development About? • Leadership development attends to the interpersonal dynamics of leadership and the development of social capital • The majority of development practices in organisations predominantly focus on leader rather than leadership development • It is however necessary to use leader and leadership development to develop leadership capacity. Strike a balance between individual leader skill, enhancement and organisational capacity building

What Drives Leader and Leadership Development in Organisations? • The factors that drive leader and leadership development depends on the organisational context: Ø SMEs Ø Public Sector Organisations Ø Multinational Companies

SMEs • The values and beliefs of the owner-manager about leadership development are central to both leader and leadership development. It will not happen if the owner-manager is negative towards leadership development • The existence of other HR practices are an important facilitator of leader and leadership development • Leadership development practices are considered to be more complex to implement. Therefore, the existence of leadership and HR expertise are very important

SMEs (Cont. ) • Strategic alignment is complex in SMEs due to: Ø The nature of the strategy formulation process Ø Strategy making is very informal and created ‘on the fly’ Ø Strategy is delivered from implementation rather than planned • Leader and Leadership Development in SMEs is typically viewed as a ‘deficit’ rather than a ‘developmental’ process • SMEs do no conduct much that can be called Leadership development. Predominantly Leader development

Public Sector Organisations • The culture and ethos of public sector organisations is a very significant driver of leader and leadership development • Line Manager (middle managers) buy-in is very important for both take-up of leadership development and supporting others to participate in leadership development • The role of the HR function in public sector organisations is primarily to manage the delivery of leadership development. The thinking of HR/development professionals is often at odds with line management

Public Sector Organisations (Cont. ) • Senior management in public sector organisations are less likely to understand the value of leadership development • Collective leadership approaches are preferred to individual leadership models. Strong emphasis on the consensual, the collective and the political

Multinational Companies • Major emphasis placed on alignment of leadership development with subsidiary and global strategy • Alignment between subsidiary and global approach to leadership development • Leadership development driven by multiple HR objectives such as diversity and inclusion, knowledge transfer, cultural and behavioural focuses

Multinational Companies (Cont. ) • Cross-cultural differences are important in implementing leadership development. Western leadership development models prevail • Subsidiary size and ownership are major influencers of leadership development. Larger subsidiaries have more resources and capabilities. Significant differences across ownership e. g. UK/Irish, US AND ASIAN

How Do Organisations Accomplish Leader And Leadership Development? • SMEs Ø Little evidence of customised, individualised or stratified development processes Ø Major reliance on informal leadership development practices such as knowledge sharing, informal coaching, mentoring and conversations Ø Leader development becomes more formal as the firm grows. However strong emphasis on developing individual competencies Ø Very little use of feedback and mentoring/coaching strategies. Classroom based activities are the most popular

How Do Organisations Accomplish Leader and Leadership Development? • Public Sector Organisations Ø Strong reliance on traditional nomination systems with little use of needs identification processes or PDP processes. Ø Evidence of increased use of mentoring and coaching for senior managers. Ø Very little evidence of stratified development approaches, customisation and individualisation Ø Leadership development is frequently equated with courses and workshops

How Do Organisations Accomplish Leader and Leadership Development? • Multinationals Ø Major focus on development interventions focused on global mind-set and resilience. These typically include international assignments Ø Increased focus on multicultural development emphasising diversity, inclusion and engagement Ø Development of leadership organisational breadth using rotational assignments and mobility strategies Ø Development of leader strategic mind-set using action learning and special projects

How Do Organisations Accomplish Leader and Leadership Development? • Multinationals (Cont. ) Ø Skills culture and behaviour interventions such as formal workshop processes Ø Leadership development focused on broadening knowledge such as MBAs and other masters levels programmes Ø Career focused interventions such as coaching, mentoring, sponsorship and feedback processes Ø Major evidence of stratified development processes, customisation and individualised interventions Ø The PDP is ubiquitous in MNCs

Is Leadership a Good Investment? • The evidence base for the outcomes of leadership development is very disappointing • There are few studies that provide good evidence using well designed research approaches • The evidence based in at best perceptual, based on wishful thinking and here is a self fulfilling prophesy that it is a good thing for organisations to do.

Is Leadership a Good Investment? • Demonstrating the value of leadership development is complex and requires a control of many other variables that may explain leadership effectiveness and organisational outcomes • The evidence for individual outcomes is more convincing. However how it impacts the bottom line is terra incognita

Future Trends in Leadership Development • Trend 1: Increased focus on vertical leadership development Ø Horizontal leadership development focus on the development of skills, abilities and behaviours. There is a strong emphasis on competencies. These will remain important Ø Horizontal development is ideal in situations that are clearly defined. Ø Vertical development emphasises how leaders make sense of the world in a progressive and experiential way Ø Vertical development is a progressive development process facilitated by context. It is located in experience and facilitated by support

Future Trends in Leadership Development • Trend 2: Ownership for Development is increasingly owned by the Individual Ø Leaders are expected to be proactive, self-directed and have a strong learning orientation Ø Development works best when leaders take personal ownership of the development process Ø Leaders are expected to craft their development trajectories Ø Self-directed development is facilitated by feedback intensive processes

Future Trends in Leadership Development? • Trend 3: Increased Emphasis on Collective Leadership Ø Organisational complexity presents leaders with significant adaptive challenges which require a collective rather than an individual response Ø Increasingly leadership development will focus on collaboration, influencing skills and networking Ø Less emphasis on a model of leadership that emphasises the heroic and leaders as decisive authority figures Ø Leaders are any individuals actively involved in the process of providing direction, alignment and commitment

Future Trends in Leadership Development • Trend 4: A shift from Skill-set to Mind-set Ø Increased realisation that leadership effectiveness is as much about mindset as skill-set Ø Dimensions of mind-set that leadership development will be focused on include: feedback orientation, change adaptability, emotional intelligence, a leader identity Ø These mind-set elements increasingly require novel approaches to leadership development Ø One particular approach is arts-based leadership development including the use of drawings, theatre, film and other performance oriented media to help leaders gain insight about leader identity and how they view followers

Future Trends in Leadership Development • Trend 5: Increased Focus on Multicultural Leadership Development Ø Leaders are frequently required to lead in multicultural environments with teams, clients, partners and other stakeholders from different cultural backgrounds Ø Multicultural leadership will embrace more than one leadership model - a focus on looking for leadership wisdom from many cultures and societies Ø Multicultural leadership development is an inclusive approach and incorporates the influences, practices and values of diverse cultures

Questions • Any questions? ?