Leadership Solutions – What We Learned in 2011 and How to Apply in 2012.

Leadership Training Trends and Further Application

by Catherine Daw, MBA, PMP, CMC – President and CEO, SPM Learning

As a learning company, it is always worthwhile to look back and see what has happened over the past year. What leadership training trends did we experience and what did we learn? Taking it one step further is to consider what we learned that needs further application or attention in 2012.

We took time as a team to consider a whole host of lessons learned that need further work in 2012. With a critical eye, we have honed it down to a magic seven things we learned in 2011 that can be applied in 2012:

1. Improve Influencing Skills

Our top selling course in 2011 was Exercising Influence. It keeps coming up in conversations with clients, prospects and people working on the ground within organizations. There is an increasing awareness thatinfluencing skills can help in effectively executing strategy. Most individuals can learn the basic management skills, but the difficult part is leading and influencing others. People are realizing this is a big gap.

Given the way we work now and more so in 2012 – through collaboration, virtual teams, globally and locally, via different streams of communications – our ability to influence will be critical to getting work done, innovating and solving the big issues of the day. While we may have a natural style we use and are comfortable with, more than ever we will need a much wider range of influencing skills and tools to be successful.

2. Communities of Practice

Challenged by virtual teams, work at home policies, and the movement of people and teams around the organization, we have seen an increasing movement to create online communities of practice. These allow people to apply the material they have learned in class. Classroom training doesn’t seem to be on the decrease – but different ways of delivery are coming up while there is increased awareness that some material is better delivered in person. How to effectively implement these communities will be the focus for 2012.

3. Be Ready for Change – Whatever It Is

Developing leaders who can anticipate, and then execute on changes when they appear, has been receiving increasing attention. “Leading change” and “ability to execute” are top leadership capabilities in today’s volatile market. We have started to see a demand for change management content and programs, as well as a return to certain project management fundamentals to create a stable foundation for change initiatives. Developing leaders, managers and staff who can anticipate and prepare for what’s next is a key theme in 2012.

4. Value for Money

Those organizations that have chosen to invest in learning during the recession are the ones that have seen the most growth – a more forward thinking view.

A learning program ensures value for the investment made when:
It targets learning opportunities and aligns them with corporate objectives.
It ensures the gap between training and application is reduced.
It offers consistent reinforcement and extras support.

Organizations will wisely continue to seek a clear way to assess value for the training investment made.

5. Managers Need More Advanced Leadership Capabilities

Managers need more ‘leadership’ than just basic management training. We see clients refreshing and redeveloping their programs for managers to develop effective leadership skills. Leaders and managers who can anticipate and adapt to the changing business environment are essential for organization survival. More work needs to be done in this area – there is no substitute for strong leadership at all levels in an organization.

6. Risk Management

Prior to the recession, many organizations were taking on high risk without understanding their risk tolerance or conducting effective risk management practices. Today, we see an increased recognition that the ‘ostrich syndrome’ means you ACCEPT risk. An increased focus on managing stakeholder expectations and applying easy to use risk management practices will be the reality check organizations will need in an ever changing environment.

7. Outside/In:

Even if you aren’t in the global market, you must continually look outside rather than just inwardly to your own market.The global landscape, rate of change in business, new technologies, and a radically changing workforce are making the role of talent and leadership development practitioners even more critical.

Real learning organizations create companies made up of employees skilled at creating, acquiring, and transferring knowledge. These people help their firms cultivate tolerance, foster open discussion, and think inclusively and systemically. They are able to adapt to the volatility more quickly than their competitors.

These seven things we learned in 2011 are for your consideration, thoughts and application. Add, subtract or modify. We would love to hear your thoughts as we move into 2012 – the year of the dragon.