Leadership development matters. Organisations spend more than €60 billion globally on leadership development programmes every year. And with public scrutiny towards C-level executives higher than ever, effective leadership stands as the cornerstone of long-term business success.
Leadership skills not only drive the decision-making process, but also shape the trajectory of an organisation. Today’s fresh-faced team members are tomorrow’s leaders, so developing the right skills and capabilities to become a positive leader is vital to long-term organisational success.
Explore our guide to the dynamic world of effective leadership development, and learn about what makes leadership training so important for individuals and teams.
Leadership development is a strategic process aimed at nurturing individuals' leadership skills to their fullest potential. In this sense, leadership development is a tool for organisational success, requiring budget investment to generate value for a business. But it’s also about empowering individuals to help them achieve their goals, and further their careers. At it’s core, a leadership development programme equips teams with knowledge, tools and a mindset to inspire, motivate, and guide others and themselves towards shared objectives.
Leadership development comes in many different forms, and executive education leadership training programmes, such as those offered at Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University (RSM), are by far the most effective way to build leadership skills.
On an individual level, investing in leadership development can have a significant impact on your career trajectory, ability to manage situations, and even on your overall wellbeing. Embarking on a journey of leadership development offers many different, and often surprising benefits. Here are four key benefits that demonstrate the transformative power of investing in your leadership capabilities:
Leadership development programmes equip you with tools and resources you can draw upon to make faster, more effective decisions with greater confidence. Being able to analyse complex situations, understand stakeholders involved, evaluate options and make informed choices all lie at the heart of leadership, no matter in what stage of your career you’re in.
Ask any senior leader, and they’ll tell you that one of the keys to leadership is communication. Communication now moves at lightning speeds, and with teams becoming more diverse, being able to communicate with teams and individuals from all backgrounds is vital to leadership. Leadership programmes, such as Leading with Presence at RSM, focus solely on honing communication skills, ensuring you can convey your vision, foster collaboration and inspire those around you.
Any leadership development programmes asks you to look inward, fostering healthy introspection so that you can understand your strengths, weaknesses, and leadership style. Ivin Mauricio, a participant of RSM’s Advanced Management and Leadership Programme, highlighted a deeply personal experience during his learning journey at RSM. By better understanding yourself, you will be able to perform more effectively as a leader, and leverage your strengths to achieve your individual goals.
Leading teams and organisations means being able to quickly adapt and innovate new solutions. The volatile business landscape of the past decade has taught us that true leaders embrace change, transform in times of disruption, and drive innovative solutions. The short course Leading Change at RSM focuses on exactly this capability, and is essential for any advanced leader and people manager.
Often, it’s more effective for organisations to develop entire leadership teams. This creates better standardisation of learning, and often results in a faster learning process. To develop teams to become better leaders, here are a few effective strategies to utilise.
Develop customized leadership development programs that cater to the specific needs and goals of your teams. Built from the ground-up around your organisation’s challenges, needs and unique competitive environment, customised programmes are incredibly effective at developing leadership capabilities within your teams. RSM’s customised programmes draws upon the cutting-edge academic research of its business experts to co-create practical, immersive programmes that are designed to make a difference within your organisation.
As an option with less time investment and less customisation, it is also possible to utilise in-company training. This involves taking pre-existing leadership courses at an educational provider such as RSM, and integrating them into your own organisation so that it is targeted towards your needs, objectives and people. This is a more simple process, leveraging the proven success of pre-existing short courses to instill leadership skills into teams with high impact and lower time and effort investment to implement.
Learn relevant team leader skills. Your new knowledge and tools to deal effectively with motivational problems, dysfunctional team members, conflicts and lack of a common direction can be applied into your work immediately.
Take your leadership capabilities to the next level, sharpen your critical thinking skills, and enhance your impact as a leader in this intensive modular programme for seasoned professionals.
Learn new perspectives and techniques to reach your highest personal and professional potentials as a leader, including how to build trust, manage conflict, use positive emotions for successful decision-making, and implement effective time management.
Expand your leadership repertoire; gain new perspectives, increase your ability as a leader and develop your own way to inspire your people.
Learn to understand and diagnose change, lead change, and implement change - by learning more about the change management process.
Develop your HR skills to drive positive changes in organisational culture and elevate your role as an HR leader. Learn to think critically beyond HR, and shape the future of organisational culture by aligning HR practices with your company’s values.
The fast track if you’re a professional or expert moving into the role of a manager or supervisor for the first time. Acquire techniques and competences to run your team smoothly and effectively.
Learn how to make your voice heard, take ownership, develop and understand your network, and gain confidence in being present. Learn how to manage yourself, manage relationships, manage diversity, and manage networks.
Enhance your capabilities to manage power dynamics and lead with purpose, integrity, and empathy. Learn how to navigate the ever-evolving business landscape with refined soft skills and political acumen.
No matter how you implement your leadership development programme, focusing on bringing engaging learning experiences to your workforce will bring the best out of your people, and this will have a demonstrable positive impact on your organisation.
RSM provides in-depth, innovative learning solutions for individuals and organisation, from immersive short courses to fully co-created customised learning programmes. As the best business school in the Netherlands for executive education, RSM is a great choice as a learning partner to support your teams, and your organisation's goals.
Read more about our short course offering for individuals.
Customised leadership development solutions to meet your organisation's needs.
