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By Fraser Sherman Updated January 04, 2022
American corporations spend well over $100 billion a year on leadership training, the Harvard Business Review says. The advantages of leadership development programs include that employees gain valuable career skills while employers create better decision-makers, project managers and team leaders. Sometimes though, the money spent produces zero benefits.
Tip
Training and developing new leaders can inspire employees, build their loyalty and produce the company's next generation of leaders. It can also end up a waste of money if the company's daily routines don't support and reinforce the training.
Leadership Training in Organizations
Leadership development, Marketing 91 says, is the process of helping individuals gain leadership skills. Better skills make it easier to fill slots when managers retire or quit and increases employee competence at leading others and handling crises. Grooming members of your own team is usually cheaper than hiring from outside the firm. It also shows a commitment to employees that can build loyalty.
Development can include giving employees opportunities to show leadership and having one of the management team members mentor them. Leadership training in organizations, Talent IMS says, is something extra, programs that educate individuals in leadership training topics such as discipline, vision and motivating others. If they have leadership potential, the training brings it out. Some people are born leaders, but others can learn leadership.
Leadership development can be as simple as coaching a staffer or assigning them to take point on a tough assignment. Leadership training usually involves paying for classes and trainers from special leadership training organizations. Projections Inc. says classes can cost $50 an hour or $1,000 a day. Individual coaching can cost $150 to $200 an hour.
Advantages of Leadership Development Programs
A company can benefit from leadership development and training, Edi Staffing says, even if the people who took the class don't advance in the corporate hierarchy. Leadership training is inspiring: presentations are compelling and energetic and can whip up enthusiasm in a team. It also tells them their employer wants them to level up and achieve more than they do now.
Making the effort to develop leadership shows the company is invested in its employees' success, which they appreciate. If they think the boss is rooting for them, they're more likely to stick around. If the training brings out any superstar potential, that loyalty may keep them from taking their new skills out there.
Online training, Projections Inc says, can make it even more effective. Employees can log in from anywhere, at any time. Online leadership training is significantly cheaper and less disruptive than bringing in a coach for an in-person class.
Leadership Development and Training Drawbacks
Leadership development and training programs don't come cheap. Online or in-person, the company will have to shell out money for training. The process also costs the company time. Mentoring a promising employee can develop their potential but it takes time away from the mentor's other duties. Classes, even online, use up employee time.
Picking the right training isn't always easy. Lots of trainers recycle generic cliches for a one-size-fits-all approach. That won't be as effective at motivating or developing leadership skills as a more tailored program that says what the employees really need to hear.
A consistent problem is that training and development frequently aren't enough to trigger change. In many cases, employees attend training, feel inspired, but when they return to their departments, they fall back into old routines. If their immediate supervisor doesn't support the higher-ups' efforts to develop new leaders, all the training may end up wasted.
