Behaviourist B.F. Skinner maintained that, ‚education is what survives when what has been learnt has been forgotten‛. Much has been written about the need to create learning organisations and more resources than fleas on a stray dog have been spent on leadership formation within organisations. The fact that leadership formation assumes such a high priority within most organisations is fully justified but in terms of how it is done, is it money well spent? In the face of this learning avalanche, a nagging question persists: Is the effort surrounding leadership formation producing learning or education (as per Skinner’s definition)? In other words, are organisations and the individuals within them, better off for all the attention on leadership development? Are our leadership programmes really making a significant impact on the way we think, do business, and live our lives?
If, in the context of our leadership development programmes, we are seeking real education, we can learn from Harvard psychologist and educator, Howard Gardner. He argues that education shifts are the result of several factors. Understanding these factors serves as the driving force underpinning educational shifts, providing valuable insights for companies serious about leadership formation.
1. The shift in values
This shift relocates education from a religious base to a secular one. Significantly, education is fundamentally and primarily a values undertaking. If you wish to know something of a company’s values, look no further than its approach to leadership development. However, there has also been another significant value shift that companies ignore at their peril. I am referring to the value shift that has occurred across the respective generations. As these generations meet in the workplace, there is a collision between their respective values.
Generational Theory presupposes that the different behaviour exhibited by respective generations is due to a differing set of values driving that behaviour. Companies serious about developing leaders need to pay careful attention as to how the shift in values impacts the development, structure and delivery of their programmes. A move away from a content-based approach to leadership development to one that places more emphasis on process and outcomes is required. Leadership processes need to replace leadership programmes. Learning about process, and how an individual or group can assume responsibility for their own learning (education), are far tougher undertakings. This realisation is still to be learnt by many business schools and academic institutions, which persist in content-driven curriculum at the expense of a focus on process and outcomes. Instead of ceremonies to hand out certificates of learning, there should be ceremonies of ‘certificate burning’ to symbolize the commitment to a journey begun rather than one ended! Radical perhaps, but it would serve to strike a chord and certainly make a point. If you ever come across such an event please do invite me.
2. The shift through science
In analysing how people learn, scientists have come to recognise a shift from intelligence to intelligences. This marks a move away from a more traditionalist view that recognises a single ‘intelligence’, which varies in its development from person to person, to that of seeing people in possession of multiple ‘intelligences’. A derivative of the ‘single intelligence’ approach was to adopt a uniform approach to learning where everyone is treated equally when it comes to their capacity to absorb and appropriate the input received. It is a ‘one size fits all’ kind of approach which is stubbornly resisting relinquishing its dominant position in a world characterised by acts of urban terror and rising xenophobia. The new scientific insights will affect a philosophy towards learning which is far more individualistic. The growing emphasis will be on finding out as much information about the person as possible and designing a learning process that is congenial to that specific individual, aided of course by advances in technology. This tailor-made approach will become the template for developing leaders in the context of the emerging Connection economy. While some educators and higher learning institutions have been experimenting with multiple learning styles for some time, most corporate training departments, business schools and leadership development programmes might acknowledge the need for individualisation, but all too few actual practice it.
This shift will impact approaches to both teaching and learning; it will also require nimbleness and adaptability from the design to the implementation when it comes to leadership development within companies. Companies in the habit of outsourcing the responsibility of leadership education to consultants and business schools had better pay close attention to the philosophy and methodology employed by those tasked with such responsibility.
3. The shift through globalization
This reality is demanding a new breed of leader. Anyone hoping to lead in a world colliding with itself at every intersection will need to attain new levels of interpersonal intelligence and multicultural understanding. The old frameworks simply no longer work. Learning from the future will supersede learning from the past in much the same way that talent is replacing experience when it comes to what companies are looking to aquire. Does this mean there is nothing we can learn from the past or that experience is totally redundant? Of course not.
But companies need to recognise the new requirements and check whether or not they are making the necessary adjustments. This is not just fine-tuning that we are talking about. Here’s a tip: When last did you have a programme / process that failed? If you can’t recall one the chances are that your company isn’t doing enough in making this adjustment‌ give yourself a ‘F’ on your balanced scorecard! Responding to forces of globalisation and respecting the diversity of culture and belief systems is neither easy nor optional. How is your company going about this? What conversations are you having within your company concerning this paradoxical challenge?
As we consider these three shift-drivers is it any wonder that leadership development takes on a whole new complexion? In my experience companies worldwide are simply not doing enough thinking when it comes to how to develop leadership within the complexity of our current reality. Far too many programmes are captive to old thinking and paradigms. Not enough authentic conversation is taking place and we are hiding behind sophisticated developmental tools and machinery that is costly, ineffective and redundant. The implications of abandoning it are intimidating but the consequences of not doing so could prove fatal. This paralysis pervades not merely the halls of academia but the corridors of business.
I have just returned from two high level leadership development programmes in two companies from very different industries. Both companies are leaders in their respective industries, both are blue-chip organisations and both are multinationals. But sadly, in both cases the shadow cast by the legacy of a content-driven approach to ‘learning’ was all too apparent. Impressive programmes with big budgets but I fear programmes where little real ‘education’ will ensue and ones with questionable outcomes.
We need education: that which survives when what has been learnt has been forgotten. The challenge is not the lack of teachers but the lack of awareness (the Buddhists have a saying that when the learner is ready the teacher appears). This task will take time and so, in the words of one French military leader, ‚In that case we had better start today‛.
Why not make an appointment with some participants of a leadership development programme your company is running, take them to lunch, and ask them – really ask them, what they think of what they are experiencing. You may be surprised!
Acknowledgements:
Globalization: Culture and Education in the new Millenium: Marcelo M. Suarez-Orozco and Desiree boalian Qin-Hilliard
How Education Changes: Considerations of History, Science and Values: Howard Gardner
Maybe leadership development is not working because the wrong people are being developed.The age-old question of whether leaders are born or made comes to mind. But then the definition of a leader has changed. A leader used to be someone who took charge, was a dominant personality, had more head-knowledge than the others around him. Or someone who had married the boss ’s daughter.But leaders are found in the unlikeliest places. Instead of haunting the corridors of middle-management or business schools trying to find the next replacement leader, why not observe everyone in the company? From the tea lady up through the ranks.Take the definitions that we find everywhere about this new age leader and apply them to the people in the company. Who knows everyone in the company, the name of the receptionist ’s children and that Joan in Accounts is allergic to pickles? Who does everyone automatically turn to when they have problems at work or home? Who is instinctively able to defuse tensions between people and has a knack of getting the best out of them? Who is always in the background doing, helping, assisting? Who knows the name of the guy who waters the plants once a week? Who always has their finger on the pulse of the latest news, advancements, breakthroughs? Who reads a lot? Who always seems connected to everyone and everything? Who is also smart? Who has a rock-solid set of values?The new leader is the complete opposite of the traditional leader because the new leader leads by serving.And so it ’s not about leadership development, but rather leadership opportunities.Find these people in your organisation (who inherently have most of these characteristics listed), and find opportunities for them to learn and make mistakes and learn some more. Expand their horizons and support them all the way. Because then you will have the makings of a true leader.
One message in the article made me think about the following: – when is leadership abilities learned most effectively: by attending a two hour standard leadership program each month, or be thrown into really challenging real-life situations at your work during that month. Will it help to teach your employees leadership skills when they never even get the opportunity to actually use those skills? Companies might benefit to now and then push up the responsibility level for their employees even when it is not in their job descriptions. Unfortunately, the facts usually become clear to people only after they have experienced those facts! Leadership programs might be more effective if it puts people in simulated situations of when leadership abilities are required – you will also see who has those inbred leadership abilities as anj noted in the previous comment. Let same-level employees go through a crisis like evacuating the building and discussing it afterwards, give them angry “clients or suppliers ” to work with and put them in difficult judgment-call type of decision making situations. Your leader will surface naturally – the one who keeps his cool, the one others tend to listen to when opinions are aired, the person who say “now THAT was challenging and interesting! “