Teaching Leaders Should Be Child's Play
Anyone who has ever watched a child learning in a classroom knows that some educators just seem to connect. What these educators seem to intuitively know is that children learn when adults tie new learning to something the children previously knew. "If you want to teach young children you start where they are," according to one of the pioneers of early childhood education, J. McVicker Hunt. Some educators just teach without any concern to where the individuals in the class have started so they fail to connect what people currently know with what they would like or need to know.
The same problem exists in adult learning. Current trends in adult learning build competency models of "the best leaders," then form models to "teach" others to be that kind of leader. In fact, over 75% of all leadership development programs start with competency models, according to Jessica Sweeny-Platt of the U. S. Leadership Development Conference. This is backwards.
Why not start with what leaders already know? Why not build on your strengths instead of trying to follow someone else's "model?" Current statistics tell us that 30-50 % of all leaders derail. The causes for derailment vary. But usually it's not a lack of initiative or effort on the part of the leaders, rather that they don't know what to do to be more effective. It's time for a new direction.
Either in a workshop or individually, leaders need to decide what they think makes an "ideal" leader. Once a person has created his or her unique model, it's time to evaluate how that leader compares to his/her own ideal. This step can be accomplished through formal assessments or informal conversations.
Finally, we look at the context in which the leader is leading. Different skills are needed for a start-up than for a company going through a merger or acquisition. Here's where the connection is made. The leader now learns just what he or she needs to be more effective in each situation -- it's an individual development plan for each leader.
The results are clear: increased self-management leads to increased learning and leadership development.
At Leadership Solutions we no longer start with someone else's research model; we start with an individual's current strengths and work to build from there to increase a leader's effectiveness. Adults, like children, who "connect" with what they are learning, are not likely to derail or fail as leaders.
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