Conclusion

DEVELOPING LEADERSHIP CAPACITY in others is important and vital work. As we said, leaders are, in part, responsible for creating the culture of their departments. Leaders are no longer “worker bees,” per se, but they facilitate the work of those individuals on the front line. Facilitate is an important word. Take a quick look at dictionary.com and you will find that facilitate means “to make easy or easier.” Another definition is “to increase the likelihood, strength, or effectiveness of (as behavior or a response).” A number of management texts prescribe that the four primary functions of a manager are to “plan, lead, organize, and control.” To us, this sounds a little archaic—in fact, cobwebs come to mind. Not that these words are inherently wrong, but we could place the word facilitate in front of each.

The days of the manager, vice president, or CEO knowing everything about the business are over; business is just too complex. As a result, members at each level of management must become masters at facilitating processes and tasks at all levels of the organization. They have to work with others to obtain optimal results because going it alone simply does not match the current business environment. All of us must have the ability to “facilitate” planning, leading, organizing, and controlling. In our experience, facilitation does not come to many managers naturally and, in some cases, it is not their fault that they haven’t learned this. After all, it has not been part of the dominant paradigm of management in business.

Likewise, the days of lavish training budgets and off-site facilities are fewer and farther between. Tuition reimbursement and travel budgets are being cut. Much of the training in Fortune 500 corporations has moved to an e-learning format. This is fine, and certainly has its place, but few would disagree that having a human being as a coach and mentor is a much more fulfilling and rewarding experience.

So, as the pace of organizational life continues to increase and our scope increases to a global community, we truly wonder where employees will gain the skills they need to be successful. The answer, in part, is that you will need to facilitate the development of your people. Yes, one more task added to an already full plate, but we believe that if done well, time, money, and resources can be saved, individuals will have a better developmental experience, and we will truly be building leadership capacity in our people. Hopefully, as many of the tips in this book suggest, it is aligned with the strategic priorities of your department and the organization.

Here’s a favorite quote of ours that applies to this discussion: “Every system is perfectly designed for the results it gets.” Think about this quote for a few moments. The system of customer service at Nordstrom is different from that of K-mart. The system of customer service is different at the Ritz Carlton than at the Days Inn. Systems are all around us. We each have a system of how we manage our money, keep our house, and parent our children. Some systems yield great results, and others … not so good. In fact, your department has a system of leadership development. We would guess that, for some readers, the “system” may be that there isn’t one, and for others, it may be quite robust and advanced.

Regardless, if you would like to get somewhere new, the system needs to be tweaked. After all, we know the results of the current system. You have gotten this far in the book because you would like to try something new. So let’s get to work at “facilitating” the development of a new system that will provide your team members with the knowledge, skills, and abilities to lead your organization more effectively. To get you started, we suggest completing The Leadership Development 50 (LD50 Snapshot).