You Cannot Afford To Put Off Leadership Training Any Longer

In 2019, BEFORE the COVID-19 pandemic, the Brandon Hall Group Competency and Skill Development Survey revealed that:

• Only 19% of organizations felt prepared to develop the skills required in the near future.
• Some 75% said they were “somewhat” prepared, and 7% admitted they were completely unprepared.

Additionally, this research showed:

• 66% agreed employee engagement is not where it needs to be
• 62% said retaining their best employees is challenging
• 36% felt that creativity and innovation in their workforce is stifled
• 34% said talent costs are high because people are not at full capacity, and
• 27% admitted their leadership is unprepared to handle the current and future needs of the business.

This data is PRE-PANDEMIC! This terrible situation has only gotten worse in 2020.

Talent retention is another tough challenge, particularly for privately-owned companies and SMEs. In a Forbes Insights study, 47% of respondents viewed talent retention as significant (33%) or a very significant (13%) challenge. Training and continuous learning opportunities were seen as key drivers of talent retention by almost one-third of the executives surveyed.

Additionally, many mid-level leaders today are millennials who want:

1. Personal/professional improvement
2. Coaches and mentors
3. On-going education opportunities

When these three important career development elements are not present, millennials are quick to jump to other employment opportunities.

So, what do you do? How do you overcome the challenges of training your frontline supervisors, mid-level leaders, and managers during these strange and difficult times?

Well, one thing is for sure – you cannot afford to wait until classroom training becomes safe and normal again. On the other hand, bringing people together into traditional classroom facilities is not ideal for the next 12-18 months, especially if travel is involved for participants.

Additionally, you cannot afford to risk your good staff leaving because they feel your organization or company is not developing them. Doing so will only increase your employee attrition costs and increase the number of unmotivated managers in your organization. And, of course, unmotivated managers spawn unmotivated team members. That’s not a good business model.

Without a doubt, your supervisors, managers, and leaders need new leadership skills and knowledge to propel your organization forward in the post-pandemic highly volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous world.

Virtual Training Is Only Part of the Solution

The leadership training programs you have been running in the past cannot simply be re-formatted for virtual delivery. And unfortunately, very few trainers know how to develop and facilitate online learning experiences. The virtual classroom is NOT a webinar.

So yes, you have to go virtual. And the best way to do so is with a blended solution that combines best-practice facilitation, engagement, interaction, small group discussions and activities, and learning reinforcement methodologies. With the addition of a very special sauce – inspiration.

“I would rather educate and inspire a hundred than teach a thousand.”

There is no doubt that the best education comes not from being taught, but from being inspired. It is why one of my mottos is that “I would rather educate and inspire a hundred than teach a thousand.”

This is why we deliver leadership education programs through a variety of delivery channels, including digital learning, videos, self-paced learning, reinforcement to embed learning, and interactive coaching sessions.

If this appeals to you, let’s talk. Let’s discuss your needs, challenges, opportunities, and desires for the development of your leaders – from frontline supervisors and managers to senior leaders. Book a call with Steven Howard.

Learning is necessary for growth – for the growth of individuals and for the growth of organizations. If you do not re-start learning in your organization now, the chances of growth will diminish significantly for both the organization and your leadership ranks.