The writer finds that there are so many theories, so many practices about leadership development that businesses sometimes confuse as to what actually the heart of a leadership development is. More importantly, while theorists and practioners heavily promote their theories of leadership development, I, as a consultant to many businesses, often question myself about the path to a true leadership competency development. I attempt to find answers to questions like the development of a Leadership Band and an e-Leader, Particularly, I question which theory or which guru that should be taken as a model for further application to the Dotcom organization or the e-Business. Have the business leader, high ranking executive, and the HR people, in any sense, ever seriously compared or studied many of the theories available or the frame of knowledge proposed by different gurus before making a decision on the model of leadership development? Have you ever doubted the applicability of most existing leadership development programs to the business of the 21st century that heavily utilises the e-Strategy?
Another vital question is about the actual implementation of these programs throughout the various units in the organization. How is that made happened? Is there any guarantee? Is the affect real and tangible, not just another subjective feeling that it is good. I am sure that we all accept that a leader can change the organization, I just wish to point out that the means is as important as the ends. So it is quality important to us on how we derive at the end product, a leader. Certainly, the training program or seminar that aims to develop “the sate of leadership”, “leadership and the changes” or “leadership style”, etc. is among the useful means. Thereafter, another question ishow we measure the effectiveness of the given course? What leadership competency indicator should be used to tell the success of the leadership development course?
Last question, what characteristics and qualifications an e-leader for Dotcom organization should possess? You would have no problem guessing a rough idea if you are a regular fan of this column. If you are new, however, please follow the future articles.
Before attempting to go ahead with any leadership development course, you must find answer to these questions first or you will end up lacking any true leader in the organization, just like many past training and development courses that gave us an empty promise because of no actual implementation was taken. Moreover, if the model of leadership development cannot link with performance measurement system i.e. Pay-for-Result program, or Competency-Based Pay, the development would deem for failure.
At this point, you probably feel interested and are eager to have the answer, to know the guideline of leadership development for your company. I take this chance to present an interesting issue before you start to invest in your people, seriously. We will examine how the West Point develops its leader. A great leader like General McArther (if you have a chance to see this movie, you will get many benefits to apply the many points of leadership development on your organization) once made this unfading statement in his last day with the military “the old soldier never dies”.
The book title ‘The West Point Way of Leadership’ by Col.Larry R. Donnithorne (Ret.) presents an interesting step of leadership development, starting from being a follower of the first year student, then exercising a leadership skill of the sophomore student by being a squad leader, and moving to higher level of leadership such as being a captain, and a commander in the junior and the senior respectively. During those years, students are melted to understand and embrace the organization culture, to develop disciplines, to study the nation’s history and the history of the West Point, including the moral and ethics. The theme idea of the West Point way of leadership is to become a good follower is the first step towards a good leader. A good follower must live with disciplines and rules. A follower must strictly obeys the order of the leader. Unfortunately most leadership development programs simply skip the ideal of being a good follower, and jump to the course of how to be a good leader or roaming about the leadership styles.
Training to become a leader of different rankings means that the sophomore, junior, and senior students will gradually learn to take more control and expand more exercise to their authorities.
Why studying a history? To develop a strong sense of proudness in the institution and to instill a good moral conduct to the student. This is the basis of every society and every nation that every leader must hold on to. Without a good moral conduct and correct principle, a leader has no value to organization and the country. In business organization, this moral conduct has often been referred to as value, corporate culture, and code of conduct, all of which are the driving force to successfully carry out any strategy. This article provides a background to the development of the e-Leader for business organization. In the nest article, I will present the more detailed mechanic of leadership development which is known as the ‘Leadership Engine’.
Dr.Danai Thieanphut
Managing Director
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