How to make Leadership and Personal Development a priority

7 years ago, I worked for one of the major consulting firms who made leadership and personal development a priority. The firm recognised the impact that investing in their consultant’s and manager’s development was a win – win for the firm, as it not only equipped us with the necessary skills but it was also a great motivational tool, and the firm understood that in a people business, the motivation, commitment and engagement of their staff was key. The more committed their staff were, the better the performance of the firm

From a personal perspective, there were a number of interesting lessons that I learned from the investment I received in my personal and leadership development.

Firstly the firm was clear about linking both leadership and personal development to a business need, whether it was around helping the business to grow, winning business at better margins or improved service delivery.

Generally, the firm’s partners and senior managers were committed to leadership and personal development. Most of them modelled the behaviours they expected from their staff. Many also lead on specific leadership and personal development programmes, and acted as mentors for others.

The firm offered a range of modular programmes that allowed managers and staff to ‘buy into’ when they had an identified need. In addition, for more senior managers who had specific development needs, 1 to 1 coaching was offered as an alternative.

Because many of the programmes were a modular format, it allowed us to plan our development during times that were slightly less busy. However, it was not acceptable to miss any training because you had other work commitments. Anyone who did was severely reprimanded!

Finally, my line manager always followed up with me on what development actions I had undertaken and how I had used them to benefit myself and the firm. The firm also looked across the business to ensure that it was getting value for money from its investment too.

The key lesson for me was that if you want to make leadership and personal development a priority then you have to demonstrate its importance. Too many organisations talk about their people being the most important asset but in reality they don’t take leadership and personal development seriously enough.