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Leader in You Part 1: Preparing to Engage in Leader Development

This is the first article in the Leader In You series, which will help you develop intrapersonal leader skills.

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Updated:

March 9, 2023

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Why Is Leader Development Important?

Research suggests that professionals feel they lack leadership skills. The Center for Creative Leadership found that 26% of first-time managers felt they were not ready to lead others, and almost 60% reported not receiving additional training for their new role (CCL, n.d.). Attending professional development training for leadership development can help address these issues. However, many of these trainings are costly, and some are ineffective. Skillsoft found that only 41% of organizations rate programs for new leaders to be effective (Skillsoft, n.d.).

Do any of these statistics resonate with you? Do you wish there were something you could do to improve your personal development? It is the responsibility of the people, not always the organization, to guide their own leadership professional development (DeRue & Ashford, 2010). This perspective puts the responsibility on the individual, but resources must be provided by the organization to facilitate this process. Intrapersonal, or leader, development is a great way to start approaching your personal professional development. With the right resources, you can engage in this on your own. We will aim to provide you with these resources in our personal leader development series.

Preparing to Practice Leader Development

This leadership article series will provide you with more information on leader development and self-awareness. The series will support your engagement in personal development during a two-week period.

Before engaging in the process of developing the leader in you, it is important to have a philosophy to guide your work toward leader development and self-improvement. We will provide you with tips to approach your personal leader development, take action to improve your personal leader development, and learn from the process through self-reflection based on the framework developed by DeRue and Ashford (2010) and McCall (2010).

Approaching

Get in the right mindset. Why do you want to improve as a leader? Determine your readiness and motivation to make a commitment to self-improvement.
Set goals. We will share information to help you set goals. Write a goal down first, and you are more likely to do it (Murphy, 2018).
This is a chance to learn. Don't worry about failure. Recognize that learning more about personal leadership development is the first step toward success.
Recognize that this is a process. Be patient with yourself as you engage in this process. Maintain a positive attitude. Enjoy the process and progress you make along the way.

Taking Action

Get a coach and get a mentor. One of our past articles distinguished between a coach and a mentor. A coach can help you with the short-term process, but a mentor will help you make sure you are applying, maintaining, and building on leader competencies throughout your professional career.
Seek professional experiences where you can apply leadership skills. Past research shows that this may be the most effective way to improve one's leader and leadership development (McCall, 2010). Try to apply the competencies you are working toward within situations in both your professional life and personal life.
Take on challenging assignments. A recipe for leader success is overcoming significant professional challenges. Know your limits, but do not be afraid of trying something new. This will help you develop grit and other desirable leadership qualities (McCall, 2010).
Ask colleagues for feedback. Start with your coach and mentor. Then, ask team members you trust. Consider their feedback when setting your goals. Don't take constructive criticism personally.
Regulate your thoughts and feelings. It is normal to struggle with the process of self-improvement. Talk with your coach or mentor for encouragement.

Reflection

Recognize that "serendipity, accidents, dead ends, and do-overs" line the personal path to leader development (McCall, 2010, p.5). The author recognizes that there will be failures, successes, and some things that you can only attribute to timing and luck as you engage in this personal journey.
Take control of the things you can, but realize that factors beyond your control can impact your leader development.
Evaluate the process. If you engage in the two-week approach to self-leadership that we provide, ask yourself the following questions at the end.