A version of this article was first published on Troy Media www.troymedia.com/2016/09/11/stop-outsourcing-leadership-development/ If you ask a successful leader to recall his or her most impactful development experience, chances are it happened while on the job engaged in real work. This was reinforced on a recent project designed to help organizations transfer and retain the business-critical knowledge of retiring baby boomers (a copy of the report can be downloaded at apgst.ca/projects/pdfs/APGST-KnowledgeTransfer-Report-2016-WEB.pdf). Interviews with over 40 successful, long-tenured leaders confirmed the best development takes place on the job. For example, an assignment that stretches one’s personal resources; the opportunity to work side-by-side with a mentor; struggling and succeeding with a challenging project. While we have long known that most development happens in the workplace, we continue to rely on external, formal training to build leadership capability. There are 5 key reasons to shift away from traditional leadership training and development and turn your focus toward helping employees develop critical skills and capabilities while they work.
Sources This article was inspired by a 10-month project sponsored by APGST that took a deep-dive look at how organizations can transfer and retain critical knowledge as baby boomers exit the workplace in record numbers. This project reinforced for me that importance of embedded learning as a critical leadership development approach. A full biography of research that informed my recommendations can be found in the final report, which is a resource guide for HR practitioners and leaders on how to engage in critical knowledge transfer.
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