A leadership development program

David Mollish and Diane Landers, GAI Consultants, in their article entitled Establishing Staff Development as a High Priority Relies on Interaction, Tenacity and an Enthusiastic Executive-Level Champion, believe that the surest way to develop both the organization and future leaders is to identify and develop staff continually (2012). In many ways, this is common sensical -- one of the maxims of leadership has always been that it is imperative one trains their successor so that there is business and organizational continuity. However, Mollish and Landers take this even further noting that there are three key benefits from establishing and promoting a robust Leadership Development Program (LDP):

"A sustainable investment in the company's future is established.

Leadership potential is recognized early in an employee's career.

Learning, leadership, and loyalty become intrinsic values, corporate-wide."

Essentially, this means that the organization as a whole must be committed to the idea of continual development, and must put the resources necessary into the identification of potential leaders, as well as the fiscal investment in continual training, the time away from the job at hand, and the mental and strategic commitment to the resources necessary for an ongoing program.

What is also interesting is to hypothesize about the type of leader these programs would engender? We know that, leaders and managers are not the same, just as leadership theory and managerial theory are similar but not synonymous. In general, a manager is someone who conducts and organizes affairs, projects, or people. Managers are given the authority by their organization to lead employees, therefore, they have subordinates. So even though managers are in charge, they are not leaders in terms of the definition. Managers do as they are directed, and in turn direct their subordinates. Management requires planning, schedules, production, and time constraints; basically management is task oriented (Brown, 2001). The task orientation is quite critical -- management is often tactical, while leadership is strategic. Leaders do not have subordinates, they have followers. Leadership inspires, motivates and sets the direction to achieve goals; leaders focus on people. Both people and organizations want leaders. People want leaders to assist them in accomplishing their goals. Organizations want leaders to not only motivate, but to provide organizational direction for employees to follow. According to Kouzes and Posner (1994), five key behaviors for what is wanted of leaders from both people and organizations are: "(a) challenge the process, (b) inspire a shared vision, (c) enable others to act, (d) model the way, and (e) encourage the heart" (p. 960).