Problems with Leadership Programs

[sanantone]

Whether it's a leadership development program within a company, a university's executive leadership course, or a degree program, there are outcome issues that need to be addressed. 

This article is more of an opinion, but the author is correct based on research data. Leadership is a vague concept that can't be measured, so the goal of the company should be to produce leaders who can get results. Every organization has its own set of goals. If you're a for-profit business, your goals will likely include increased sales and productivity from employees. If you're a non-profit or governmental organization, then you might be looking to reduce turnover and improve the outcomes of the clients or community residents served. These goals require different skills and possibly even different leadership styles that canned leadership curriculum cannot address. 

https://www.td.org/insights/why-most-lea...-and-money

This article talks about studies that show that many leadership programs are a waste of money due to poor design. An interesting finding that was mentioned is that adult learners forget 50% of what they learned in a lecture within two weeks. It also talks about how the quality of leadership programs are usually measured by how many people are promoted or surveys asking program participants about their satisfaction level. The actual effectiveness of leadership programs is usually not measured. Getting a promotion based on perceived qualifications does not matter if performance is not improved. 

The author goes on to make recommendations on how to improve leadership development. 

https://www.forbes.com/sites/work-in-pro...ad188c5bf4

Here's another article on why leadership programs fail.

https://www.mckinsey.com/featured-insigh...grams-fail