“The best way to move an organization forward – through any strategic initiative – is by developing better leaders.” – CEO of a $17.1B company and client of Velocity Leadership Consulting
With a changed leadership landscape – which includes addressing priorities such as COVID, DEI, talent turnover, and succession – companies are faced with dilemmas of unprecedented proportions. In interviews with my clients, the realization that success rides on the proficiency and effectiveness of leaders is echoed over and over.
Lacking a comprehensive leadership development program that is structured to meet the organization’s leadership needs, mid-size and large organizations repeatedly encounter obstacles when individual leaders seek to improve skills on their own. The result is lack of continuity in terms of process, communication, and approaches to problem solving and decision making. This leads to fragmentation within the team and a lack of efficiency, effectiveness, and productivity, which costs substantially in decreased output, limited ideas, lost traction, and missed opportunities.
“Waiting for COVID to be over before starting [leadership development] is like hoping a more perfect time comes. If we had done that, we’d still be waiting and moving backwards.” – CHRO of a $353M company and Velocity client.
Leadership development is often added to the bottom of a long list of priorities – and never happens. Companies that acknowledge leadership development as a top priority consistently move ahead to overcome unforeseen, difficult challenges such as COVID, and benefit from the solid leadership that underpins and catalyzes the fulfillment of other priorities.
The mounting challenges faced by businesses support the need for leadership development as an urgent priority. In her recent Forbes article, Leadership Trends For 2021 And Beyond, Maureen Metcalf, CEO of the Innovative Leadership Institute and Forbes Councils Member, outlines trends she sees on the horizon:
- Continued economic volatility
- Greater complexity in the business environment
- Increased demand for work-from-home situations and flexibility for workers
- Greater diversity in the workforce
- A constant push for innovation
“I see a direct correlation to skill performance and soft skill awareness. We must have leaders who show up and are able to listen to diverse groups of people. The best leaders are welcoming and empathetic.” – CEO of a large multi-national company and Velocity client
These ever-evolving demands on leaders require major shifts in knowledge and skills. As expectations increase for leaders to deliver results faster, they are called upon to adapt their teams and organizations rapidly. To be equipped to do so requires the development of advanced leadership skills, which is precisely why we have created, and are proud to introduce, the Exponential Results Leadership Consulting Program.
The program helps transform good leaders into great ones. It is ideal for organizations facing:
- Post-acquisition needs to rapidly integrate the senior team and establish a productive culture
- Performance gaps that require improved leadership skills
- Pressure to build portfolios for private equity
- The need to develop succession candidates and emerging leaders
- Re-inventing, re-aligning, or elevating an established senior-level team
- Integrating a diverse, senior leadership team
“We should have started leadership development earlier. The work is precisely what put us ahead during COVID, but we didn’t see results from it for 12-18 months” – CEO and client of Velocity.
Velocity’s Leadership Development Program for senior-level teams is based on leading-edge science that produces lasting results company wide. Its comprehensive approach provides fast, deep change across the entire leadership team, yielding greater individual self-awareness, genuine engagement, maturity of expectations, and a common approach and vernacular within a competency model that incorporates consistent values and norms.
All members of an executive team are coached concurrently using our exclusive, neuroscience-based Power PathwaysTM process. The team’s progress to goals is tracked using our proprietary Power PathwaysTM Portal. The Leadership Development Program can be customized with a variety of elements to meet each organization’s specific needs:
- Development of leadership competencies
- 360 evaluations and interviews of the leadership team
- Observation of meetings and work on team dynamics
- Leadership training classes, both virtual and in-person
The business environment will always be evolving but the last year has demonstrated how rapidly that can happen. Challenges and change are a given. Rather than being blind-sided and always running to catch up, wouldn’t it feel great to know that your senior leadership team has the depth of continuity and the level of skill required to face any challenges and respond as rapidly as they come – for the optimal benefit of your organization?
If you recognize that it’s time to address leadership development, let’s discuss your next steps towards maximizing your leadership team’s readiness for the challenges and demands of a more complex business environment.
Velocity Leadership Consulting
Velocity Leadership Consulting focuses on helping executive leaders become extraordinary by uncovering their blind spots and acquiring skills and specific actions they can put into play. Using our unique, science-based, Power Pathways™ approach, we bring leadership teams to new levels with rapid results, transforming both cultures and the bottom line.