“Most executives, when asked where leadership development happens, think primarily of the classroom. However, when executives are asked what shaped them as leaders, most cite real-world, on-the-job experiences.”
– From “Strategy Activation: Develop your leaders in context” by Noah Rabinowitz and Jim Aggen, Korn Ferry
Even the most innovative classroom training cannot teach your company’s future leaders everything they need to know. They also need to get out on the front lines and learn by being accountable for important real-world projects.
Some important benefits of real-world leadership training are explored in “Strategy Activation: Develop your leaders in context,” a new report from Korn Ferry. Noah Rabinowitz and Jim Aggen, the authors of the report, highlight four benefits of real-world action training for leaders, which we think are worth knowing about:
- “Strategies get communicated clearly beyond the boardroom.” The authors rightly point out that many of the biggest ideas and initiatives that are developed at the top of organizations never get put into practice. But contextual leadership training offers a highly effective way to try out big ideas and help the best of them take hold through the organization.
- “Straightforward plans are created for solving problems.” When leaders-in-training take on real-world challenges the solutions they discover – such as hiring new talent or adding resources – can serve as a catalyst for needed change throughout an organization.
- “Pioneering ideas get prioritized.” Trainees are able to try out innovative new ideas that go beyond what their supervisors would delegate or suggest. Those ideas can then take hold and become part of a bigger process of innovation and change. The authors note that in that way, leadership training acts like “a safety net” that protects and preserves innovation.
- “A network of leaders is born.” The right kind of real-world training encourages future leaders to not only connect and build ties across different units, but also to learn the art of cross-functional problem solving.
