Leadership Training is not just a Business “Nice to Have.” IT’S IMPERITIVE!!

The Cost of Complacency:

Why Failing to Train New Supervisors, Managers and Directors in Leadership Skills is a Risk You Can’t Afford.

Leadership is often assumed to be a natural progression of professional success. An employee excels in their role, demonstrates commitment, and is promoted to a supervisory or managerial position, or even a director role. But while promotions recognise technical ability and dedication, they rarely consider people leadership preparedness.

The reality is that many new supervisors, managers, and even seasoned directors operate in their roles for years without ever receiving just basic leadership training. The effects of this oversight are evident across many organisations across the world. Lack of people leadership is leading to poor team performance, disengaged employees, and long-term organisational dysfunction.

So, what are the potential consequences of neglecting leadership training at every level? And why is a lack of development a cost no organisation can really afford?

A Shared Challenge Across Roles

Whether it is a new supervisor, and middle manager or a seasoned director, stepping into a leadership position without training poses significant challenges. Supervisors often lack the foundational skills needed to manage a team, while directors, despite many years of experience, may struggle with the strategic and interpersonal demands of the modern ways of people leadership.

For new supervisors or managers, the immediate hurdles include:

• Effective Communication: Transitioning from colleague to leader can create tension amongst their colleagues that were formerly their peers. Without training, supervisors and managers may fail to communicate clearly or confidently enough to engage their teams.
• Conflict Management: Mediating disputes and giving feedback require emotional intelligence, and these are skills that are not always natural to people who are new into supervisory and management roles. Not being skilled enough to handle difficult characters amongst the team can lead to supervisors and managers losing control, or, as I like to call it, a “Tail Wagging The Dog” situation.
• Prioritisation and Delegation: Juggling team responsibilities with personal tasks can overwhelm those untrained in time people leadership strategies. Knowing what and how to delegate effectively is an essential component to becoming a leader.

For more senior roles, the challenges are different but equally pressing:

• Inspiring Strategic Vision: Managers and Directors must lead with purpose and communicate the organisation’s objectives and goals. Without leadership training, their vision may fail to resonate and results in lack of people engagement.
• Managing Through Influence: Unlike supervisors who interact closely with teams, directors often lead indirectly, requiring skills to inspire and align stakeholders from a distance. It is not uncommon for there to be a disconnect between directors and coal face operators.
• Navigating Complex Relationships: Directors frequently balance competing priorities between executives, staff, and external partners, a task made exponentially harder without formal people leadership development.

Whether at the supervisory, manager or a director level, the absence of training often leads to the two polar outcomes, which is either a perception of weak leadership through indecisiveness, or alternatively, the unapproachable and autocratic leadership that becomes overly aggressive and bullyish.

The Consequences of Neglecting Leadership Development

The failure to provide leadership training affects both individuals and the broader organisation. Its impacts include:

1. High Turnover and Disengagement
   Employees who feel unsupported by their leaders, whether supervisors, managers, or directors, are more likely to disengage or leave. Supervisors face frustration from teams expecting direction and mentorship, while directors struggle with teams resistant to their leadership. This erodes morale at every level.
2. Stunted Organisational Growth
   Weak leadership, particularly at the director level, creates a bottleneck for innovation and growth. Without clear strategic direction or empowered managers, organisations fail to evolve, leaving them vulnerable in competitive markets.
3. Dysfunctional Workplace Culture
   Supervisors influence team morale, while directors set the tone for organisational culture. Without training, leaders can inadvertently foster toxic behaviours, like favouritism, poor accountability, or unclear expectations. It is not uncommon for cross-functional managers and directors to publicly fall out over internal politics, this is often due to a lack of conflict resolution leadership skills.
4. Lost Credibility and Reputation
   Directors who operate without leadership training risk undermining their credibility with employees, stakeholders, and even clients. Over time, this can damage the organisation’s reputation and hinder recruitment efforts.

Breaking the Cycle: The Case for Leadership Training at All Levels

Leadership training is not a one-size-fits-all solution, but it is a universal need. For leaders at all levels, it lays the groundwork for effective management. But for directors, it sharpens the skills required to lead strategically and inspire others.

The benefits of leadership training to individuals and organisations alike are outlined below:

1. Developing Core Leadership Skills
   Supervisors learn to communicate, resolve conflicts, and delegate, while directors refine their ability to influence, strategise, and foster collaboration across departments.
2. Boosting Confidence and Credibility
   Training provides both new and experienced leaders with frameworks to handle challenges, helping supervisors build authority and directors regain credibility where needed.
3. Aligning Leadership at All Levels
   A leadership development programme creates consistency, ensuring supervisors, managers, and directors share a unified approach to driving organisational goals.
4. Improving Retention and Engagement
   Employees are more likely to stay engaged under leaders who inspire, support, and challenge them. Leadership training equips supervisors and directors to do just that.
5. Driving Organisational Excellence
   Strong leaders at all levels increase productivity, foster innovation, and create a culture of accountability and trust, yielding measurable returns over time.

Fostering a Culture of Leadership Development

To avoid the pitfalls of untrained leaders, organisations must prioritise leadership development at every stage of the career ladder. Here is how:

• Leadership Onboarding: Provide supervisors and directors with tailored onboarding that not only addresses the unique challenges of their roles, but also the essential people leadership skills that they need to collaborate effectively with their teams.
• Continuous Professional Development: Offer periodic workshops, executive coaching, and online courses to ensure leadership skills evolve with organisational needs.
• Mentorship Programmes: Pair supervisors with managers and directors with executives, creating a culture of shared knowledge and support.
• Encourage Self-Reflection: Build an environment where leaders regularly evaluate their skills and seek feedback. 360 Feedback should be encouraged from direct reports to allow leaders to understand where there do need development.
• Employee Engagement: Actively assess what the engagement is like throughout the business. Employees are often a litmus paper for how a business and its leadership are performing. It can sometimes be brutal hearing negative feedback, but at least you know where to start.

In Summary:

Leadership Training is not just a Business “Nice to Have.” IT’S IMPERITIVE!!

Whether it is supervisors struggling to balance tasks and team dynamics to directors grappling with strategic leadership demands, neglecting leadership development is potentially a costly error. For new supervisors, the absence of training leads to short-lived tenures and frustrated teams. For directors, years of managing without formal development can stagnate their effectiveness and damage organisational credibility.

Leadership is not just a natural occurrence in everyone, it is a learned and developed skill that takes years to craft and is rarely perfected. Organisations must invest in training at all levels, empowering supervisors to lead confidently and enabling directors to inspire and strategise effectively. By prioritising leadership development, organisations can unlock the full potential of their leaders, fostering a culture of excellence that drives success now and in the future.

Investing in leadership is not just about today, it is about building resilient, capable leaders for the future, who can take a business to new heights.

Start investing in your leaders, and you will start seeing the results.

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