There is an analogy that’s popular with business speakers and writers, and you may have heard it.
It’s the scenario of a pilot who resets the flight’s course by one degree. This tiny, almost invisible alteration ends up creating a significant change. Traveling a mere 60 miles will take you off-course by a mile from your original destination.
It’s a good analogy for leadership. Your leaders set the direction of the company. They shape how you grow. Small, minor actions they take daily have a massive long-term impact on your business.
That’s why leadership training is so crucial. Read on to learn how leadership training for businesses helps fast-track that growth.
Leadership Skills Training and Business Growth: The Vital Link
There is a direct link between the quality of leadership in a business and the growth of that business.
When you have skilled and trained leaders, you have people who can think strategically and help direct the company. They also know how to motivate teams with effective communication skills.
So, it will help your entire organization work towards any specific growth target. A good leader also knows how to make a business more productive. They’ll keep morale high and help teams improve efficiency.
Once you recognize the link, you’ve taken a crucial step in helping your business become more competitive.
Effective Modern Leadership: General Skills
Relevant skills and personal qualities are the two aspects that produce any exceptional leader. Nevertheless, though some people are natural leaders, it’s a learned skill for most people.
Take emotional intelligence, for example. That is the quality that enables people to manage their own emotions and the emotions of their team.
They’re also good at spotting people’s emotional wellbeing. It’s vital in the workplace because you’ll have a leader who can create a positive work environment.
So, it’s one of the traits you need to spot when recruiting and a skill you should prioritize in training.
Communication skills are also high on the list of leadership qualities. But that goes beyond finding someone who can talk effectively one-on-one or in groups. Excellent communication also means the ability to listen.
A good leader is also one who can make difficult decisions. They use this skill to steer the company, often making a tough call to help it grow.
You need people who are comfortable doing that but also have a balance of other qualities. Tough decisions go hand in hand with integrity and ethics.
These foundational skill sets are what any company looks for in its leaders. When you have someone who can tick many of these boxes, you boost your odds of success – and business growth.
Effective Modern Leadership: Specialist Skills for Business Growth
Beyond general leadership qualities, your leaders need to have a set of more specialist skills and traits. Here are some that should be a priority for you.
Resilience Training
A resilient person copes well with change. And change is a vital part of growing a business. Training a leader on developing their resilience will give you someone who can handle business turbulence.
They can steer the ship through choppy waters and keep their team focused.
A Focus on Strategy
You often hear the phrase: think strategically. What this means is someone who can focus on the long term rather than only the immediate challenges.
In business, it means you have a leader who can look beyond the company’s current issues. They can find a path to the future – and to business growth. Good strategic thinkers know how to spot trends and plan.
They are also good at sharing their vision with the rest of their team and inspiring them to follow.
An Aptitude for Change Management
You want leaders who know how to handle business transitions. These people can adapt their team and organization to sudden market changes and come out on the other side as a stronger company.
It’s closely tied to resilience, a vital skill in an increasingly competitive and fast-paced business world.
They Embrace Innovation
Innovative businesses grow fast. You don’t want people who do things because that’s how it’s always been.
You want people with creative mindsets who can bring new ideas to the business and encourage the rest of the team to do the same.
Innovations will bring life into any company, so train your leaders on how to think and act creatively and how to question the status quo.
Ethics
Principled leadership sets the standard for a business founded on ethics and integrity. That will protect your business brand and public image, which will help you grow.
It’s also something that your teams will value as much as your customers.
An ethical company with a high degree of corporate social responsibility will stand the best chance of growing in a competitive marketplace.
Leadership Training and Nurturing a Learning Culture
When you focus on training the leaders in your business, you’ll help create a learning-led culture in your company. Leaders and managers will experience first-hand the benefits of that training.
It will trickle down into the rest of the organization. Managers will place more importance on developing the skill sets of their team and supporting their career advancement.
You’ll build a culture encouraging everyone to push and develop their core skills, making teams more adaptable.
When professional development is at the heart of your business, you’ll also create a respected reputation as a company that cares for and continuously trains its employees.
After all, if you can grow your people, you can grow your business.
Matching Leadership Training to Your Business
Leadership training isn’t a one-size-fits-all. When developing the skills set of your leaders, you need to align the training with your business needs. That will maximize its impact on your organizational growth.
Begin by assessing your existing leadership capabilities in your company. This step will act as a baseline. You want to look at skill sets, personal qualities, and cultural dynamics to get a more holistic picture of where things currently stand.
Once you’ve done this assessment, you can hone in on gaps. Doing so will help you prioritize your training needs across the business. It will also help you produce more custom training and coaching programs.
Custom programs will better fit your leadership’s current gaps, giving you a better return on any hours or money spent on training.
How to Measure the Business Impact of Your Training
If you want your leadership training to help your business grow, you need to measure it. That will give you concrete evidence that the time and money you spend training your leaders has the desired effect.
You need metrics to do this. Incorporating interviews, assessments, and informal feedback allows everyone on the team to share personal insights into the leader and their opinion on the effectiveness of the training.
Collecting metrics is a valuable way to gather feelings from the team.
Do they feel more motivated by their leader? Do they have a clearer sense of direction? Those are all critical measurements to tick if you want leaders that grow your business.
You can also look at data, such as productivity rates in the leader’s team, like the percentage of projects completed on time. Staff retention rates are another good indicator.
Employee performance at annual appraisals is another measurement to monitor. If a leader improves the performance of their entire team, it means your training has had a measurable impact.
Don’t forget to track how far along your business is in terms of your strategic goals. That’s where you want to see the most impact.
Always look at the metrics that are most closely tied to what you want from your business growth.
Using Leadership Change for Business Growth: Common Challenges
Leadership training isn’t always smooth sailing. You may encounter some challenges if you use it to accelerate business growth.
The most common hurdle faced by businesses is making that training relevant. Don’t make the mistake of choosing a leadership training program that doesn’t suit your culture or industry.
If you are in a fast-paced and agile environment like software, you need leadership that embraces the uniqueness of that.
Another challenge is getting your leaders to transfer their learning to the office. Good leadership training will help you do this via practical guidance instead of merely teaching theory.
Growth Signals will also combine training with coaching, and we have a dedicated program to help you put that theory into practice.
The final challenge to remember is to refresh your training continually. Refrain from relying on old programs that worked for your business a decade ago.
Times have changed, and your company needs to change to stay ahead of your competitors.
Leadership Training for Businesses: Making It Work for You
Leadership training for businesses isn’t a luxurious extra. It’s crucial. Take advantage of this route to growth because strong leaders will help your business meet its most challenging goals.
At Growth Signals, we have optimized our training to meet the changing demands of business. Review our program now, and contact us to take that first important step.
