If you’ve ever searched for activities to improve your business, one you’ll likely come across is ‘leadership training’. For some, this is immediately dismissed, as they believe it can’t be taught. Others may skim past it because they’re unsure what precisely it is.
Quite simply, this type of training programme provides the necessary skills and knowledge for people in leadership roles to perform better. Here, we explore why this is so important, how it will benefit your business, and the ways in which you can incorporate it into your operations.
Why Leadership Training Is Important
If someone is seen as a great leader, then others will be inspired to perform better too. But in order to get to this stage, a certain set of skills is required. Those who have no prior experience will unlikely have these initially, making the jump very difficult for them.
Without training, they will probably feel thrown in at the deep end, increasing the risk of them making mistakes. They might find certain tasks challenging, such as giving team members feedback and setting goals with them. You might discover that those who lack confidence in their abilities to lead will request leadership training.
This coaching will allow someone else to pinpoint areas to better their leadership capabilities, which the employee may not be aware of. It will also give the staff member the chance to reflect on their abilities, so that they can contribute to their own self-development – something sought by many when looking for a new role.
How This Helps Your Business
Both personal growth and leadership training can be advertised as an employee benefit on job descriptions, clearly demonstrating that your business is an advocate for organisational learning and development. This will likely result in a much higher number of applicants, meaning you’ll have more choice and will be able to select the very best of the talent available.
And once the employees have received their training, your business will continue to reap the rewards. They will be able to help drive your vision forward, and feel like they are making a difference and have prospects ahead of them. This will lead to increased motivation, in turn resulting in boosted productivity and performance.
Their satisfaction will be improved as well, meaning retention rates will likely be higher and you’ll be holding onto your best performers. These things collectively should bring about a better experience for the customer, ultimately leading to more profits for your business.
Ideas For Training
If you want to take advantage of these benefits yourself, there are a variety of ways in which you can offer leadership training.
One idea is to be experiential. Practical exercises will give employees a chance to learn by performing, rather than listening. They can shadow your current leaders, manage projects or create solutions to problems. Although this means they will add value for the business much sooner, it could mean that your future leaders are exposed to too much too soon, causing them to feel overwhelmed.
Instead, you can use the resources you already have by getting your business’ existing managers to share their skills and knowledge. This can be done through mentorship and coaching. Whilst a valuable approach, many managers struggle to commit to this in the long run due to them being busy with their own role. It can be frustrating to all involved.
A way around this is to offer specialised training programmes from a third party. They can dedicate themselves to developing your leaders, without there being any detrimental effect to your business.
The Programmes Available
Programmes that are specifically targeted to the needs of your organisation and the leader in question ensure greater levels of success. All our courses here at Bright Direction offer exactly this, allowing you to create change your way.
We are based in Bolton and have three specific programmes available in leadership training, with two being the ILM Level 2 Award and the ILM Level 2 Certificate In Team Leading. The former gets employees to grips with leadership via the basics, whilst the latter builds upon this with a wider array of knowledge, skills and practical tasks.
There is also the ILM Level 3 Diploma for Managers, a combined knowledge and competency-based qualification. This will allow you to create future leaders in a cost-effective way. The employees will boost their confidence in managing a team, as well as feel more able to take control of their own professional and personal development.
All our courses are a recognised qualification, meaning both you and the potential leaders will know they are receiving training that is of an excellent quality. To find out how you can incorporate one of our programmes into your business, get in touch with us today. Give us a call on 01204 859 859, email us at info@brightdirectiontraining.co.uk, or fill out our contact form here.
