Leadership Development – are you ready?

Leader Development – are you ready? - at a recent MLQ Practitioner Conference in Melbourne, Professor Bruce J. Avolio presented a framework through which to understand why some leaders respond well to development and others don’t.

Leadership Development Readiness

The framework presented by Professor Bruce J. Avolio brings together the elements of the leader’s motivation to develop and their ability to develop.

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Avolio’s framework highlights the need for a leader to have an understanding of these elements before they can be successful in developing skills in leadership. The two main headings of Motivation to Develop and Ability to Develop are broken into subheadings as follows:

Motivation to Develop

• Motivation to lead – does the leader actually want to be a leader?
• Leader self-confidence – how confident are they in their own ability to lead?
• Motivation to learn – are they motivated to learn new skills?
• Goal orientation – do they have the focus to set and meet developmental goals?

Ability to Develop

• Awareness of strengths & weaknesses – is the leader aware of their abilities, as perceived by others?
• Awareness of thinking – does the leader listen to their ‘self-talk’ and understand the impact that this can have on their development?
• Emotional regulation – does the leader have the ability to understand the impact of their emotions on themselves and others and, regulate this?

Readers familiar with the Situational Leadership model may link Motivation to Develop with ‘Will Do’ and Ability to Develop with ‘Can Do’, but see how this framework takes that to another level by taking goal orientation, awareness of thinking and emotional regulation into account. These are key skills for leaders to develop as they progress up an organisational hierarchy.

So What?

Before investing in developing the leadership skills in your organisation, take time to understand the participants against this framework. Have confidential conversation with them (perhaps using an external party) and if they don’t tick the box for each of these criteria, consider holding off on your leadership development investment until they do.

As the old saying goes, you can lead a horse to water but you can’t make them drink!

Further Information

If you’d like to talk about leadership development for your organisation, please us my Contact Form.

Article first published on JohnBelchamber.com

Author: John Belchamber (37 Posts)

Founder & Senior Consultant at Invoke Results, John Belchamber has been passionate about developing people and business performance since taking up his first management role at the age of 19. John’s experience across a range of business disciplines and industries ensures that he is able to help his clients 'build a better business'.