Advantages and Disadvantages of Leadership and Management Development
Leadership and management development encompasses a variety of formal and informal activities that help managers improve their skills and benefit their organizations and employees. It is now widely acknowledged that effective management is vital to business success and national economic well-being. Yet only 40% of organizations have formal initiatives to develop the people in their organizations.
Although managers and leaders carry out essential functions, the two have significant differences. A leader is more likely to be influential and inspires others, while a manager is more focused on achieving results and following a process. Leader uses intuition to guide their decisions, while a manager uses logic to implement them. Both leaders and managers must demonstrate integrity, honesty, vision, and efficiency.
Despite the benefits of leadership and management development, there are also risks associated with its implementation. Studies on the effectiveness of different approaches have revealed mixed results. Some interventions may be counterproductive to a given organization’s needs, while others may have an unintended effect. This is why more rigorous evaluations of specific interventions are needed.
Although traditional teaching-style interventions have their place, they generally focus on imparting declarative knowledge rather than actionable information. Furthermore, leaders need to be able to handle change. They cannot sustain their authority, morale, and respect without adapting to new conditions. Therefore, leadership and management development are essential to achieving organizational goals.
Leadership and management development initiatives should focus on addressing the needs of the business and its culture. Behavioral change is difficult and takes time. Moreover, a person can only absorb so much information at one time. Thus, organizations should focus on a small number of critical skills and competencies to ensure the success of their leadership and management development efforts. Moreover, a company should ensure that the training programs include opportunities for ongoing learning.
In addition, leaders focus on developing their abilities and consider learning new skills vital for personal and professional growth. On the other hand, managers often use skills they already have. Leadership is more proactive, while management focuses more on organizing and controlling people. In addition, leaders tend to take more risks than managers do. It is important to note that leadership develops the skills of the people around them.
When planning for leadership development, organizations must dig past the hype and “one size fits all” approaches to identify the best program for their needs. The ultimate goal of leadership and management development is to empower people to act as the guardians and coaches of the organization’s future. To achieve this, organizations need to develop effective managers. This is the purpose of the learning and development function and is realized in several different leadership and management development programs.
Leadership development can be a complex process involving both cognitive and emotional processes. It can include learning to be more empathetic towards others and developing specific behavioral skills. This process may include the use of various psychotherapeutic techniques. However, these methods must be evaluated carefully to avoid potentially harmful effects. Sometimes, the plans are not as effective as expected and may lead to unintended adverse consequences.
