Do You Rely On Accidental Learning?
Over the last couple of months I have seen a rise in stories and reports about the looming war for talent. This shortage of talent has been eased slightly by the economic downturn but it hasn’t eliminated it. All signs point to even fiercer competition for the best and brightest in the years ahead.
So in the face of killer competition for leaders, how are you developing your current and future leadership stars? Unfortunately many organizations are hoping their leaders somehow find the skills and competencies they need to excel. This is called accidental learning, and if it’s the cornerstone of your leadership development plan you should have some cause for concern.
‘Accidental learning’ relies on the hope that people have acquired, through trial and error, the skills they will need to keep advancing to more senior levels of leadership. But that just doesn’t happen. Sure there are many managers who pick up just enough knowledge and skill to get by, but in the long run they won’t be properly prepared to truly lead without careful planning.
One of the biggest problems with accidental learning is that it provides very little of the feedback necessary for proper development. Leaders need to hear feedback from many different sources to develop all of the competencies needed for real excellence. And they also need to hear critical feedback as well. This is the real problem, we have set up our organizations in large part to eliminate criticism and this deprives our future leaders of important learning opportunities.
No one likes to be criticized. But if we never hear anything critical we assume that things are going great and we don’t need to develop. We can’t hope that people will pick up the skills and competencies they need to be great leaders. We need to plan ways that they can receive meaningful feedback on their strengths and weaknesses and then provide personalized development plans to address them.
One proven, effective tool for providing feedback are 360 degree assessment programs. These types of feedback programs, when done right, will give the aspiring leader input from bosses, peers, direct reports and themselves. Effective 360′s will help individuals and their senior leaders align themselves with the goals and expectations of the organization. They will also dispassionately outline strengths and weaknesses that can be addressed with targeted learning opportunities.
When it comes to 360 programs there are a world of possibilities. You can develop your own instruments, but be warned, this is a very time consuming process and takes time to find the right balance. You also run the risk of cultivating some wariness or distrust among employees as they wonder just how candid they can be with their feedback.
Fortunately there are several extremely good 360 programs that can be provided by external consultants. I recommend these because they lend more anonymity to the process and allow respondents to really say what’s on their mind. This is good. You want people to be as candid as possible to provide the most realistic feedback. That is how you learn the areas that you need to focus on developing in each individual.
There are specific competencies that your current and future leaders will need to have to guide your organization successfully into the future. Don’t rely on accidental learning to hope they find them and improve them. Instead, plan ways that your leaders get the feedback and development they need to really excel. Imagine how much more productive they will be with such targeted and focused training. This is too important to leave to chance, you must be proactive, it will not happen just by hoping or wishing it so.
