UNIT III

Leadership Development

Management development is an organization’s conscious effort to provide its managers and

potential managers and leaders with opportunities to grow, learn, and change, in hopes of
producing over the long term a cadre of managers / leaders with the skills necessary to
function effectively in that organization

 Strategies used to develop managers include management education, Experience,

management training, Coaching, mentoring and on-the-job experiences (shadowing).

Management by education:

Education generally refers to acquiring knowledge without concern about immediate

application. The extent of formal education is positively correlated with achieving managerial
and leadership positions and with the level of leadership position attained. Most high-level
leaders are intelligent, well-informed people who gather knowledge throughout their career.

 Management education is the acquisition of a broad range of conceptual knowledge

and skills in formal classroom settings in degree-granting institutions
 Bachelor’s or Master’s degree programs in business administration
 Executive education programs

Management by Experience:

Factors that make any given experience potent in development leadership growth:

•The people you work with

•The characteristics of the role (tasks)

Leaders in any field tend to first stand out by virtue of their technical proficiency.
Competence or proficiency are factors that serve as basis for emergence or selection of a
leader.

The best experiences for leadership development are those that challenge the manager
realistically. The goal of leadership development is to provide meaningful development
opportunities, not to push managers to the point where they are most likely to fail. An
important part of capitalizing on challenging experiences is for the leader/manager to be
given scope in choosing how to resolve the problem.

Sources of Experience – The two major developmental factors in any work situation are
work associates and the task itself. Work associates can serve as positive or negative models.
Work-related tasks give the leader an opportunity to become an effective and innovative
problem solver.
Broad Experience- Many aspects of leadership are situational. Gaining experience in
different settings is therefore advantageous. Multifunctional development is an organization’s
intentional efforts to enhance the effectiveness of future leaders by giving them experience in
multiple organizational functions.

Another perspective on how experience contributes to leadership effectiveness is that certain

pivotal events- offer occurring early in life- help people recognize a capacity to make things
happen and gain the support of others. The pivotal experience might be an event or a
relationship, sad or joyous, but it is always a powerful process of learning and adaptation

Mentoring:

Our experience is strengthened through mentoring. Leadership practitioners should look for
opportunities to build mentoring relationships with senior leaders whenever possible. They
are two ways of mentoring-

Informal mentoring:–Occurs when a dependent and mentor build a long-term relationship

based on friendship, similar interests, and mutual respect.

Formal mentoring:–Occurs when the organization assigns a relatively inexperienced but high-
potential leader to one of the top executives in the company.

The three types of mentoring are as follows:

1. Traditional One-on-one Mentoring:

A mentee and mentor are matched, either through a program or on their own. Mentee-mentor
partners participate in a mentoring relationship with structure and timeframe of their making
or as established by a formal mentoring program.

2. Distance Mentoring:

A mentoring relationship in which the two parties (or group) are in different locations.
Sometimes called “virtual” mentoring.

“Virtual mentoring” simply refers to any mentoring activity that does not take place face-to-
face. With today’s technology there is a suite of communication tools open to this style of
mentoring, including Skype, telephone, email and messaging.

When your workforce is widely dispersed, virtual mentoring can be your only option. If you
are working in a fast moving high-tech environment, virtual mentoring may seem more
appropriate to your culture.

Advantages of Virtual mentoring:

 A virtual program has some clear advantages

 It is flexible
  Social status cannot effect the mentor relationships
 Gets time to frame solutions for the questions (Through Email)

3. Group Mentoring:

A single mentor is matched with a cohort of mentees. Initial program structure is provided
while allowing mentor to direct progress, pace and activities.

Coaching often comes from a mentor, a more experienced person who develops an employee
abilities through tutoring, coaching, guidance, and emotional support. A mentor is often a
person’s manager, but it can also be a staff professional or a co-worker. Mentoring is
traditionally thought of as an informal relationship based on compatibility between two
personalities. Yet current research says that about 40% of organizations use formal
mentoring.

Shadowing:

Work shadowing means that one person (the shadow) visits another (the host) to experience
their work by observing them for an agreed period of time. There are no hard and fast rules
for the time period involved and this should be agreed in advance between the parties. Work
shadowing provides a unique opportunity to find out how other staff works. It enables
participants to gain a deeper knowledge and understanding of other roles and functions in the
organization.

Types of Work Shadowing

a) Observation:
As a visitor you will spend the period observing the day to day work of your host and
attending relevant meetings where appropriate. This is suitable where an understanding of the
role of the host is required.
Advantages: the shadow’s role is clear; little interruption to the host’s work during the
shadowing. Disadvantages: little interaction; little chance to learn

b) Active involvement:
The partners discuss what is coming up i.e. briefing before a section of the day’s work
Advantages: an excellent learning strategy; items don’t wait too long to be discussed; a
reasonable interaction. Disadvantages: some interruption to the host’s work;

a) Regular briefings:
This type of shadowing provides short periods of focused activity, rather than passive
ongoing observation. It will need to be carefully scheduled if it is not to become too
disruptive. Advantages: really focuses on the shadow’s learning objectives as it is very
targeted. Disadvantages: fairly time intensive for the host; relies on realistic learning
objectives; may be unintentionally too narrow in focus.

b) Hands on:
This is an extension of the observation model, where you undertake a task for your host
during the period. This will provide you with hands on experience in the role whilst under the
supervision of the host. Advantages: minute-by-minute explanation, discussion and
interaction. Disadvantages: slows down and affects the shadower’s work.

Self Development:
It is a process to enhance previously acquired skills, knowledge, and experience. Its goal is to
increase readiness and potential for positions of greater responsibility. Effective self-
development focuses on aspects of character, knowledge, and capabilities that needs to be
improving. Self-development is continuous; it takes place during institutional training and
operational assignments.

Self-development focuses on maximizing individual strengths, minimizing weaknesses,

and achieving individual development goals. Initial self-development is very
structured and generally narrow in focus. The focus broadens as individuals understand
their strengths and weaknesses, determine their individual needs and become more
experienced.