Developing strength and managing weaknesses should be the central theme of any development journey.
KENNETH LEAN
Development is an ever ringing buzz word in organisational circles. Most times though this buzz focuses on weakness as that need to be developed. But how does one lead to understand what a real development need is? Recently, I was asked to coach a Vice President of a large MNC; while briefing me,
the HR Business Partner handed over a list of areas the leader needed change. These changes were a bit different from the manager’s list,
and the coachee had a totally different set of development needs for himself; whose agenda deems fit in this situation and who is right? How would one decode these briefs?
Most of us who are in the leadership development space come across these situations quite often. Some managers and HR Business Partners arrive at conclusions based on their perceptions, unfortunately. Ideally and most practically, it is crucially important to use scientifically proven diagnostics and interviews with concurrence to the coachee’s self- awareness. When one is equipped with the grace of self-awareness, self development becomes an evening walk. The brief can be easily interpreted and the right intervention could be swiftly applied.
Interestingly still, a few line managers push their reportees to develop their weaknesses; just like making an elephant climb a tree. It is at these junctures that
I often wonder – isn’t it
better to not try to develop
the weak area; instead
focus on unused strengths
and over used weaknesses?
If a behaviour centric
diagnosis can segregate the
developable half strengths
and half weaknesses from
deep hard wired weaknesses, it sure makes the job of development easy. Inevitably though, the very fact that the answers to development rests within a person, is a situation too real to escape; an expert only bring techniques and motivation to her/his development. The change hence, by all means needs to be owned and driven by the individual.
What then is the role of a consultant/ mentor/coach in the journey of the leaders’ development? I have always been a firm believer , that a good development conversation is the core to set the motivation path and the objectives of development clear. This development conversation needs to be honest, transparent and confidential. If a consultant/ coach could very early in the process identify motivations and attitudes of the leader in question – it would make the conversation a lot more purposeful and enriching. Most significantly, the ability of a consultant to create ‘eureka’ moments for the coachee holds the motivation scale up. Consequently, the shining goals will ensure that the vision of the aspired development is never lost. The agility of the consultant in positioning stretching questions in making the leader see her/his own behaviour is critical to a good development conversation. To illustrate descriptively, during a recent
third development meeting, a leader who was
in denial mode for a while, suddenly saw the light on how his behaviour was hampering his growth and that of the environment around him. With this new discovery he wanted to change everything around him; the positioning of stretching questions threw open many windows of opportunity. It then took me some good mirror holding to make the coachee see the merit of whatever is written there.
Developing strength and managing weaknesses should be the central theme of any development journey. These are one of those challenges why an instructor led training, at times is not effective. A holistically supportive environment that does not see development as a correction of weakness, is a big encouragement for a leader. Development should always be linked to fulfilling potential – which means it’s a journey of discoveries – like a treasure hunt. Fittingly, the consultant’s ability to create clarity of the context along with the coachee is invaluable in any discovery phase.
How can feedback be forgotten in any human communication? Feedback will continue to perpetually be a valuable tool
in any development conversation. Here, feedback should particularly be constructive, unadulterated, credible and genuine. Feedback should be used to formulate a constant mechanism which can generate meaningful interactions with the leader right through the journey. The consultant could play a crucial role to more specifically help the leader use feedback efficiently. The consistent and competent contribution of the consultant, the line manager and other support systems play a pivotal role in creating the right stretch assignments, exposure and experience in the development process.
Eventually, this development conversation will give bloom to a meaningful development journey. Conversations are always the first step to growing a healthy mind. A healthy mind
is always a required step towards positive development and fulfillment.
Every conversation if well intended is a development opportunity. Who then do you want to converse with today?
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