7 High-Stake Development Areas for Leadership

Effective leadership drives organizational performance, employee engagement, and innovation. As a result, identifying and cultivating development areas for leadership growth is crucial for any organization’s long-term success and sustainability.

By pinpointing specific areas where leaders can grow, organizations ensure their leaders have the skillsets to handle current and future challenges.

This article will discuss the most strategic leadership development areas and why you should prioritize upskilling your leaders in each area. Additionally, we’ll discuss actionable strategies leaders can adopt for personal growth and improved leadership effectiveness.

Business and financial acumen

A leader must understand the business before even getting into the nitty gritty of managing people or making decisions. Furthermore, leaders need to grasp the numbers (at least at a high level) to understand where the business generates revenue.

For that, they need to develop business acumen, which is the understanding of a business’s workings and operations.

According to Dana Ginn, Chief Operating Officer at Gotara, business acumen is not a commonly found skill in leaders. Based on their research, 75% of managers lack business acumen.

How is business acumen a strategic leadership development area?

Business and financial acumen help leaders to make informed decisions as they are aware of:

• Organizational functions and goals

• Market conditions

• Financial indicators

• Potential opportunities

• Possible crises

How to develop these skills in existing (or aspiring) leaders

You can help leaders at your organization develop business and financial acumen by:

• Being transparent on the financial aspects of the company

• Conducting business education and training programs

• Encouraging cross-functional projects where leaders get insights into different departments of the organization

• Helping them find a mentor or coach

• Creating networking opportunities with peers in the industry

• Providing regular resources that help them keep up with industry trends

• Encouraging interactions with customers so they understand the problems and consumer expectations first-hand

Adaptive thinking and problem-solving

Once leaders identify a problem, they must engage directly in finding solutions. This is where problem-solving skills are essential, enabling them to effectively identify and evaluate potential solutions.

Moreover, market conditions and business priorities are constantly evolving. Consequently, solutions to any given problem must be adaptable to new circumstances. In some cases, the nature of the issue itself may change. Adaptive thinking allows leaders to navigate these fluctuations, ensuring they can address challenges effectively in dynamic environments.

Why are adaptive thinking and problem-solving strategic leadership development areas?

Leaders need problem-solving skills to evaluate solutions and find the best fit. Further, as priorities shift, they should be able to cope with changes and lead the work while staying organized and helping the team.

How to develop these skills in existing (or aspiring) leaders

You can help your workforce develop problem-solving and change adaptability skills by:

• Assigning demo projects or internal projects

• Scheduling a change management training

• Encouraging leaders to take the lead on any change initiatives

Strategy development and alignment

Another critical leadership development area is the ability to think long-term and decide in what direction reporting teams should head. A C-suite leader will finalize the priorities at the organizational level, department heads at the department level, and the first-level managers will determine at the team level.

Once they have set the priorities, another essential skill is bringing the team on the same page. Ensuring the team understands the plan and their tasks.

Why are strategy development and alignment a strategic leadership development area?

The primary challenge for leaders is determining which problems to prioritize. With numerous tasks demanding attention at any given time, leaders often have the capacity to address only a few. Therefore, identifying which issues to tackle first is crucial.

Many leaders adopt a solution-first mindset, immediately seeking to resolve problems as they arise. However, it is essential to identify the most critical issues to address first. Strategic thinking enables managers to prioritize effectively, focusing on solving the most impactful issues and guiding their teams in the right direction.

How to develop these skills in existing (or aspiring) leaders

You can conduct a blended learning program with formal training and social learning exercises to help managers develop these skills. These could be:

• Involving upcoming leaders in organizational goal-setting and strategic planning exercises

• Giving a demo project and asking them to create a vision and strategy for it

• Involving them in initiatives where they form the entire strategy and build and align their teams

• Conducting succession planning and making potential candidates shadow a leader

Creating engagement

Next, any leader has to keep the workforce engaged to work together. Gallup identified 12 major drivers of an engaged workforce. Three critical drivers from the list were:

• Clear expectations

• Having a coach

• A good relationship with a supervisor

A leader is expected to set clear expectations for employees. Setting expectations alone isn’t enough, though. Further, leaders have to:

• Coach employees to meet those goals

• Discuss future development goals of employees and accordingly finalize their development plan

• Continuously coach employees to help them reach the next level

Why is creating engagement a strategic leadership development area?

Managers account for at least 70% of the variance in employee engagement scores across business units.

Google says coaching is the number one skill of an effective manager. Having managers who are coaches also positively affects:

• Company performance

• Customer service

• Employee retention

• Work culture

How to develop these skills in existing (or aspiring) leaders

You can help your managers become effective coaches by:

• Conducting training on communication and coaching

• Planning workshops on goal-setting

• Helping them get a coach

• Bring managers together in a cohort where they practice different coaching situations, like setting goals, giving critical feedback, and more

Emotional intelligence skills

A manager must understand a team to engage them in the long run. For that, they need emotional intelligence.

Emotional intelligence is the ability to understand and manage one’s own emotions and those of others. It helps build positive relationships and navigate difficult situations.

Why is emotional intelligence a strategic leadership development area?

Emotional intelligence helps leaders to put themselves in team members’ shoes and find what matters to them. As a result, emotionally intelligent leaders form better connections with employees.

Further, the leader is the captain of the ship. All team members reach out to them in difficult situations. When leaders understand their emotions and conduct themselves better in harsh conditions, they set good examples for the team.

How to develop these skills in existing (or aspiring) leaders

You can increase emotional intelligence in your leaders by:

• Aiming for a diverse workforce, so there are multiple opinions

• Conducting assessments on emotional intelligence

• Planning sessions on emotional intelligence

• Designing role-playing and simulated business scenarios to practice listening skills and how to react in situations

Performance management

Setting goals and coaching employees to reach those goals is one part, and measuring results is the second part.

For the latter, leaders need to be good at performance management. It mainly requires the ability to:

• Give feedback: Sharing feedback constructively with team members

• Receive feedback: Getting feedback from team members without being defensive about it

• Result orientation: Detaching themselves from the coaching process and measuring outcomes in isolation

Why is performance management a strategic leadership development area?

Employees look forward to feedback. 75% of employees say they want more frequent feedback at work. And it has a direct impact on engagement. 43% of highly engaged employees get feedback at least once a week.

Performance reviews are no longer a bad word. In fact, it positively impacts workplace productivity.

How to develop these skills in existing (or aspiring) leaders

Help your managers get better at conducting performance review meetings by:

• Giving feedback training sessions

• Planning social learning activities like group exercises and role play to practice giving feedback

• Running surveys for measuring feedback effectiveness and collecting points to improve

• Conducting 360 feedback where leaders also get feedback from direct reports and peers

Self-development

Lastly, self-development is an underrated competency for leaders. It is the habit of continually improving one’s knowledge and refining one’s leadership style.

Focusing on self-development helps leaders stay updated with business trends and promotes growth and innovation in the workplace.

Why is self-development a strategic leadership development area?

A growth mindset helps leaders to:

• Embrace any business challenges and help the team shine in moments of crises

• Learn from failures and help the team avoid making repetitive mistakes

• Promote their own as well as the team’s growth

How to develop these skills in existing (or aspiring) leaders

You can promote a growth mindset by:

• Encouraging to add learning goals as part of performance reviews

• Promoting cross-team collaboration

• Investing in employee reskilling and upskilling

• Building a culture of looking at failure as a learning opportunity

Reasons why continuous growth is needed for effective leadership

Continuous growth and development are imperative for effective leadership. Leaders must be equipped with the necessary skills, knowledge, and adaptability to navigate constant changes in technology, market demands, and workplace environments. Investing in the continuous upskilling of leaders is not just a strategic advantage but a necessity.

This section will explore the top three reasons continuous growth is critical for leadership effectiveness and provide actionable insights for fostering this development.

Leaders need training to begin with

Gallup research indicates that only 10% of people naturally have the talent to manage. Despite this fact, at least 25% of managers get no management training.

Without proper training and development plans, many managers are left to navigate their roles through trial and error, which can lead to inefficiencies and decreased team performance.

Establishing a structured training program for new and existing leaders is essential. This foundation equips them with the fundamental skills needed for their roles and sets the stage for ongoing development.

To assist in creating these plans, consider using our free leadership training template and leadership plan examples.

Technology and the market keep constantly changing

Staying abreast of current trends is crucial for leaders to make informed decisions that align with their organization’s goals. Technological advancements and market shifts require leaders to continuously update their knowledge and skills.

However, leaders need to be cautious against getting swept up in every emerging trend, highlighting the importance of discernment.

By staying updated with technological advancements, leaders can:

• Evaluate and implement better solutions to problems

• Make informed decisions about which trends to embrace and which to pass on

The work environment keeps changing

The modern work environment is perpetually changing, influenced by factors such as remote work, flexible schedules, and evolving employee expectations. Leaders must adapt to these changes to maintain a productive and engaged workforce.

Understanding and responding to shifts in workplace dynamics are crucial for fostering a positive organizational culture and ensuring team cohesion. Continuous growth helps leaders remain agile and responsive to these changes, ultimately contributing to the organization’s long-term success.

Develop leaders and drive results with Engage

Investing in the continuous development of leaders is a strategic imperative. It ensures they are well-equipped to handle the complexities of their roles and drive their teams toward achieving organizational goals.

Nurture leaders who inspire, motivate, and bring out the best in their teams with Engage:

• Conduct leadership assessments and keep track of their current skills using tools such as the skill matrix

• Schedule structured, regular check-ins to track progress and ensure accountability

• Offering access to thousands of learning resources that can easily be added to development plans

• Align leaders and employees and promote accountability and ownership with individual, team, and departmental goals

Additionally, The Deel platform comes with HRIS capabilities, at no additional cost.

Book a demo to see how our solutions will help you build a high-performance workforce.