Low Cost Leadership Development And Its Importance

By Gary Smith


Companies are always in need of good leaders, but developing these from the talent pool or searching them out for recruitment takes time and resources to do. The competition for skilled personnel who can manage and provide guidance for departments or teams is intense. In this day and age, these are considered the tactical or strategic game changers that play the game on a daily basis.

Leaders are not born but made, trained to be the movers and shakers in the business environment. Low cost leadership development is something that is organic to an organization, and a much needed resource today. It is also a program made to search out, monitor and guide talent in preparation for bigger roles.

Companies find it necessary to have potential leaders develop into bigger pictures, to help them adjust and fit into the culture and policies. Leadership development will take time and when rushed could spell failure for a program. The management is always studying how their programs are able to develop better and more effective leaders.

Diversity, innovation, flexibility and vision are the needed drivers for this kind of program. And to save on spending for it entails the need for starting out right where everything starts for most everyone. And this should be at the entry level, while recruitment for midcareerists should be limited, because this is one thing that makes development costlier.

Companies can practice a process of tracking and mentoring for talent starting from the hiring onwards. Thus, recruiters, HR and personnel departments must know how to identify potential candidates during hiring, and to tag these for development when hired. This is the way to have a development program organic to your organization.

When trying to attract established leaders in other companies, there is always some specific need addressed. This is more on the recruitment side, but development should also come in right from the start. These potential hires are felt out, wined and dined and to have their interest and sympathy hooked, and this is the developmental side of the process.

This is the costliest of processes and are specific and targeted so that it is not done often. Also, the benefits of having these people in should be weighed against the costs. This means that these have the most potential of creating success for your company and they should be able to deliver on this almost from the start.

Volunteerism and initiatives based work should also be part of the running of your company. These enable your people to know what they can do based on their own understanding of their skills. And when they display an interest for getting into leadership positions, some benefits and relevant training for more skills should be offered for those who pass the qualifications.

Leadership development starts with the basic need and a commitment to get the right people into your company. When stepping up, consensus should also be something present, so that the person can work well, and direct hires should be a balancing decision. A good company will know its weaknesses and strengths in this area and know how to work from there.




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