Business Leadership Development: How to Improve Leadership Abilities and Competencies
Leadership abilities are some of the most sought after skills by organizations of all sizes. Globally, the business leadership development market is valued at $81.19 billion, and anticipated to reach a valuation of $216.9 billion by 2034. Mission-driven organizations understand that their impact is strongly tied to leadership, but the way to drive impact is not just through hiring and retaining strong leaders, it is also crucial to grow leadership competencies internally. Leadership development is a broad topic, however, and many organizations struggle to find, create, and implement a plan that produces tangible results. The ability to evaluate and improve the leadership competencies of employees across all levels of an organization fosters better communication and improved performance, and it also sets your organization up to continue its impact when it’s time for a valuable leader in your organization to move on. Mastering leadership development does not just create a competitive advantage—it’s a necessity for the long-term health of your organization. Let’s explore how you can build and enhance essential leadership skills within your organization.
Leadership Competencies: Attributes of a Strong Leader
There is no single definition of what constitutes a good leader. Typically, a strong leader in a mission-driven organization is someone who is highly ethical, can empower others, is a clear communicator, and can foster a sense of community and belonging. But different organizations – and even different teams within the same organization – value different leadership traits, largely due to the variety of goals from group to group. While Edgility can’t hand you a list of leadership competencies and attributes that will magically build a strong leader for your organization, we can guide you to determine what attributes a good leader needs in your specific context and help you establish how to evaluate them. With this clarity, your organization can then grow the leadership competencies that your team values.
Understanding Business Leadership Development
Market research powerhouse Gartner defines business leadership development as “the set of activities that prepare current and future leaders to perform effectively in their roles.” Edgility would add that good business leadership development and evaluation increases leadership competencies in staff at every level of your organization and focuses on the future via tangible next steps. It is easy to get caught up in what your organization needs now in terms of improved leadership skills. But as any leader or board member knows, if your organization only focuses on what it needs today and tomorrow and ignores months or years into the future, you will always have to play catch up. Taking the time now to explore leadership development now is the best way to ensure your organization will be agile, competitive, and able to grow regardless of internal or external challenges.
There are two ways Edgility recommends to create transparent future-focused goals around leadership skills for your staff: Career pathways and competency frameworks. If you’re a long time follower of our work, you’ve probably heard us talk about both in relation to talent management and equitable compensation, but they’re also a great way of determining the leadership competencies needed across every level of your organization. You can also look at roles you’re continuously seeking outside talent for: how could internal business leadership development equip existing employees with the skills to take over that role or roles in the future? The strengths and opportunities for growth of your current staff (and your organization as a whole) are important factors that should inform the tools you use to encourage leadership development.
How to Improve Leadership Abilities
There are many ways to improve leadership abilities, but Edgility recommends beginning with these steps.
- Build a short list of key attributes. An overview of leadership development programs by both Harvard and MIT Sloan show that a key area of weakness in many of these programs is their lack of specificity. They promise general “improvement” without tying development to key indicators of leadership growth. In many organizations, the opposite is true: they tie too many things to leadership development and overburdening their teams with vague goals. To truly drive leadership learning and see a significant improvement in performance, organizations should focus on 2-3 competencies at a time. Choose those that make the most sense for your organization and allow a reasonable time frame to attain them.
- Conduct an evaluation. Knowing your organization’s strengths and weaknesses is the best starting point for crafting impactful goals. A leadership evaluation or SWOT analysis can be used to understand the organization’s opportunities and establish the key roles staff will play in obtaining the clear objectives discovered during the process.
- Choose professional development opportunities with your list in mind. Whether you choose to create a leadership development plan internally or work with an external partner, you’ll be able to find or design the right one with your short list of attributes and goals in mind.
- Consider perennial challenges. While Edgility always recommends keeping your individual organizational circumstances in mind to make impactful decisions, some focus areas can benefit nearly all teams. Communication and emotional intelligence are considered critically important skills by many organizations and there is almost always room for improvement.
The Interim Leadership Factor
An interim leader plays a crucial role in maintaining stability and direction when an organization is between permanent leaders or undergoing a period of transition. A strong interim leader steps in to keep teams focused, operations running smoothly, and organizational objectives on track. In the best case scenario, your organization has developed internal competencies and evaluated your leadership regularly to designate focus areas and keep them up to date. With regular evaluations, you’ll have been building leadership competencies internally for years and can draw from your existing team to fill an interim leadership role. This is, in fact, one of the best reasons to engage in business leadership evaluations and development.
Of course, leadership transitions can catch even the best-prepared organizations off guard. Edgility’s Leadership Transition Playbook is designed to give your organization the tools and guidance to confidently manage leadership transitions with a clear, actionable plan. If you’re in the midst of a leadership transition you’ll find what you need to answer your most pressing questions and keep your organization on track while you search for your next permanent leader.
Next Steps for Leadership Success
With a clearer idea of what makes a strong leader for your organization, the next step is applying these principles. There are many viable paths forward, but Edgility encourages you to take a top-down approach. Start by evaluating your senior leaders to determine what competencies matter most to your organization and where there are areas for growth. Edgility’s CEO/ED Evaluation Service helps organizations design a framework to assess your organization’s most influential leader: the one at the top. You can learn more about the service here, or contact our team to ask questions and get the process started. We look forward to helping your organization grow its leadership competencies.
