If you’re rising through the ranks and are fast becoming an expert in your company, the next step might be a managerial role. However, despite 86% of businesses noting the urgent and important need to develop leadership talent, only 13% of businesses focus on it, according to Deloitte’s Global Human Capital Trends Survey 2014.
Plenty of time and effort goes into developing the sorts of leadership skills management roles require, so instead of waiting for on-the-job training that might never surface, consider enrolling on a leadership development programme. Here are five clear reasons why it’s a good thing to do.
Improve communication
In leadership, communication is critical. It will allow you to master the art of negotiation, influence employees in a positive manner, and manage conflicts between team members, customers, or otherwise. By learning to communicate better, you can make your team more efficient and effective, as well as remove any risk of your tasks being misinterpreted.
Develop emotional intelligence
Many leadership courses focus on how to interpret the emotions of others – and control your own. By being able to effectively do these two things, you can lead better and in a more considerate fashion, overcoming obstacles more easily, and acting in a manner less likely to annoy or anger your colleagues or subordinates.
Build self-confidence
If you lack confidence, you will find it difficult to inspire your staff and capably direct them. By being trained in leadership, you can be more confident in your managerial decision-making, which will lead to more decisive actions, which will gain the respect of your staff more readily.
Increase productivity
Typically, leaders are responsible for the ongoing success of their teams, and in most businesses, that means ensuring staff are productive, increasing their skills to take on more work, more capably. A leadership course will provide you with the approaches required to enable increased productivity, such as identifying talented team members, developing better processes and workflows, and being able to understand causes of productivity loss.
Improve risk management
The higher up you ascend through a company, the more likely you will deal with sources of risk – hiring capable staff that can effectively perform their roles, drawing up effectual contracts that don’t expose the business to risk or negatively affect its finances, ensuring the delivery of projects in a timely and orderly manner. With leadership training, you will be given ways to identify these risks and combat them, protecting the work of your team, and your continuing rise through the ranks.
Are you a leader? Perhaps you are aiming to ascend the ladder in your business or industry? Let us know whether you have been on leadership training, and how it helped you, in the comments section.
