How to Set Leadership Development Goals for Your Management Team

Want results and retention? Stop micromanaging and start developing.

Business has always fascinated me, most notably companies that deliver a commodity yet perform exceptionally well against their competitors. Some themes emerge in nearly every case I have directly experienced or closely analyzed.

This article will focus on how these highly successful businesses approach their human capital and, most importantly, the development of their talent.

Before we get to the heart of implementing a thriving leadership development habit, let’s align on how I use certain words, such as:

• leadership
• accountability
• micromanagement
• results

To my way of thinking and that of every executive coaching client in my book, while leadership is a specific role, it is also, more importantly, a state of mind.

Leadership Development Framework

Leadership is the mindset of ownership, empowerment, and responsibility. It’s is the courage to be oneself in the service of others.

Accountability is embracing and courageously making decisions, proactively asking for what is needed, and accepting the results. Correctly executed, it is an empowering aspect of a leadership development program. Micromanagement is *not* accountability, nor is it leadership coaching.

Here’s an example to seal the point: as a leader, let us assume your standard for your company is to wear professional attire. The unspoken intent is that your team will be clean, presentable, wearing appropriate clothing for your industry, and ready to work. That would be accountability based on trust.

The micromanager asks whether you washed your hair or brushed your teeth first; they want to know if you put on your left shoe before your right. None of those micro-decisions matter in the execution of meeting the standard. However, micromanagers are pathologically focused on “how” something is done versus “that” something is done. When called to task, they relabel their bad behavior as ‘accountability.’

At Leader’s Cut, we include the measure of attraction and retention of top talent (the people equation) under the umbrella of ‘results,’ which most define only in monetary terms like revenue, margin, etc.

What is Leadership Development, and why is it Important?

Many businesses speak about how important their team members are to them, using phrases like, “People are our most important asset.” More important is what kind of leadership development program they have to make their aspiration an actuality.

Motivation Factors – Autonomy, Mastery, Purpose (AMP)

As Dan Pink noted in his book Drive, people are motivated by Autonomy, Mastery, and Purpose (AMP). To create an environment where people bring their innate talent to bear for the benefit of the organization and their coworkers, thought must be given to these motivations.

Using the process of coaching to create AMP through an active development plan sends a clear message of concern for each individual. Further, coaching has the benefit of delivering superior productivity and retention, undeniably improving the P&L.

How to set Leadership Development Goals

To create a successful program, we start with development goals at the organizational level. What would you like to accomplish? Would you like to become better organized using process and structure?

Perhaps you’d like to create an atmosphere of accountability throughout the organization. And who couldn’t benefit from more transparent, more consistent, and timely communication?!

That said, uncover what I would call your critical few objectives in the realm of development that would contribute to the overall vision you’ve already established. Call out exactly what improvements the Leadership Team could make to improve your future exponentially.

Leadership Development Goals For Team Members

Begin with your vision for your organization, then move through each segment, team, and team member to determine their contribution to attaining the vision for the year.

This is a crucial process as many of Leader’s Cut executive leadership coaching clients begin the engagement without defining this thread that connects every team member, contractor, and customer.

Next, tie in the vision and goals of your company to the vision and goals of that individual with leadership SMART goals.

SMART = Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Timely

Treating them as complete people with a critical role in team success, their leadership development plan should reflect their vision for executing their role through AMP and include what they expect of you as their leader.

Leadership Coaching Services

How does executive and business leadership development coaching help you create, build, and implement a development plan program?

At Leader’s Cut, we work with individual leaders and leadership teams to bring simplicity, clarity, and direction. To meet Ken Kilday, Certified Executive Coach and Certified Organizational Development Coach, schedule a quick Meet & Greet and see if you click.

Would you rather jump right in, determine the possibilities, and experience the coaching process? Then, our complimentary Breakthrough Strategy Session is for you. You will take the Talent Dynamics Profile Assessment and spend time with Ken to articulate, prioritize, and plan initial action steps that move your business forward faster.

Let’s start a conversation to determine the best coaching approach for your needs.