You're Doing The Wrong Things To Improve Leadership

Most Organizations Struggle to Improve their Leadership.

80% of "Leadership Development" programs COMPLETELY Fail, with "Limited Success" the rest of the time.

This leads to most Organizations Fearing what this means for their Future.

I understand why that is, but it shouldn't be that way!

I recently did some work with 40 Leaders at an organization.

When we started, the Leaders couldn't STOP telling me about ALL of their Problems and Struggles.

In LESS than 2 Months, they all now STRUGGLE to come up with ANY Challenges they don't think they can handle!

Sessions now are Focused on the Future of the Organization.

How is it that I can get these results in 2 months, when most Organizations have Struggled with this for LITERAL Decades?

It's actually not very hard to accomplish, we just have to use a different approach to "Leadership".

Who Is It About?

The first place I see Organizations get this wrong is in the question of, "Who is Leadership About?"

Most Leaders look at a course, article, or a lesson and say, "Oh! I'll use this in my Leadership!"

It's not "technically" wrong to think this way, but it is an Extremely Shallow Interpretation.

When we are looking at Leadership within Organizations, there are individual lessons that must be learned, BUT the greatest Growth occurs when we think about the Lessons for the ENTIRE Organization.

It isn't about You!

For instance, there is a common Emotional Intelligence Lesson that Leaders learn about the Power of Taking a Break and Breathing.

When you notice that you're close to a Breaking Point, instead of going over the edge it can be Beneficial to take a pause and take a deep Breath.

It's a good lesson, yes, but shallow.

To get the fullness of the Value, you need to think outside of yourself.

Can you notice when other Leaders or the People on your Team are near "Their" Breaking Point?

Can you Pause the conversation before "They" Break?

Can you Develop a Culture where People see in others when a Breath could be Beneficial?

That is a WHOLE different level of useful!

Leadership isn't just about "Me", it needs to be about "Us".

Does This Apply?

The next problem I see is that many Organizations don't understand if something should Apply to them.

Another way to approach this problem is, What is "Leadership"?

Try to answer the question.

Then ask 10 other people to answer the question.

99% of the time, everyone will have a different definition of Leadership, and NONE of them will be incorrect.

That is because there are over 850+ "Academic" Definitions of "Leadership".

That number is from research done in 1995, and doesn't take into account Non-Academic Definitions nor New Definitions since.

So, when you are Learning a Leadership Lesson... which type of "Leadership" are you talking about?

The Reality is that "few" people actually know, even among those "Teaching" Leadership!

Some types of Leadership are purposefully vague or broad to encompass more types of Organizations, but fail to be beneficial in many situations.

Other types of Leadership are purposefully hyper-specific to handle very specific types of situations, but fail to be useful outside of those situations.

So, does this "Leadership" actually Apply to You and your Organization?

Most of the time, it doesn't!

You must understand what Type of Leadership you are fostering at your Organization.

Where Does It Apply?

This is another huge Problem I regularly see - "Where" does it apply?

Most Organizations try to fit their Leaders into different types of Leaders.

It's the wrong approach though.

The type of Programs you select may not actually fit or Apply to all of your Leaders!

As an easy example of this, most Organizations would agree that "Creative Problem Solving" is a valuable skill for Leaders.

However, you probably don't want Accountants to use "Creative Problem Solving" to make the Organization "Appear" to be in a better position than it actually is.

Just ask Enron.

They "Creatively" found Accounting Loopholes, and misused Mark-to-Market Accounting, Special Purpose Entities, and Poor Financial Reporting that led to a $40 Billion Lawsuit and a 99% drop in Stock Value.

Not all forms of Leadership Apply to all Leaders, and it shouldn't!

This is taking a Modular approach, thinking that "any" Leadership Program will be beneficial to "all" Leaders.

It doesn't work, and it hasn't worked for Decades.

Instead, you need a Cultivation Approach.

You need to understand the different types of Leaders "within" your Organization.

Then you need to give them what "they" need to Succeed based on what "Applies" to them!

Is It Being Applied?

There is a popular quote, "Knowledge is Power".

It is wrong.

Only "Applied" Knowledge is Power.

Why do so many "Leadership" Programs Fail?

Most of them only "Teach" Knowledge.

After it is taught, there is no Follow-Up, and no Follow-Through.

All of the money going into that program becomes WASTED because it's all Static Learning.

It never gets used.

It never gets Applied.

For Leadership Programs to be of any use, they must use Dynamic Application!

By the way - doing "Role-Play" is not enough.

Role-Play is a "decent" start, but if there isn't Dynamic Practice in REAL situations, then the information will still become Useless.

If the information being Learned isn't being USED in the Real World within 2 weeks, it WILL get lost almost immediately.

Is "My" Psychophysiology Right?

Perhaps the most impactful problem that "Leadership Development" never addresses is our own Psychophysiology.

If you pay attention to "Leadership Development", it Focuses on "Skills".

That's fine, but the problem is that Skills are almost always undercut by the state of our Psychophysiology.

The vast majority of people are in Dis-Stress, with 80% of people being at the worst form known as Burnout.

You can't Learn new Skills when you are in Dis-Stress, let alone Burnout.

However, if you get your Psychophysiology right, it becomes simple to create Change.

Why am I able to help 40 Leaders stop being Dis-Stressed about their problems?

I understand Psychophysiology.

I develop it intensely in myself, and I know how to further impact others around me with it.

So when I'm in a room with other Leaders, my simple Presence can help them become Calm and see Problems more Clearly.

This isn't something special about "me" though, I'm a fairly average human.

This is something ANY Leader can do.

It's a part of being Human.

But few people actually understand how to utilize it to their advantage.

Then, when you also combine this with the "Who is it about?" question above, you begin to create magic.

It's not just about "your" Psychophysiology, it's about the entire Team's Psychophysiology.

Develop that, and your team becomes Unstoppable.