Leadership responsibility often arrives before leadership preparation.
As summer comes to a close, one of my favorite times of the year begins, and it’s not because of pumpkin spice.
I enjoy the fall weather, but what truly excites me is the start of Leadership Greater Augusta, a community leadership program I facilitate. It’s a time when emerging leaders gather to begin a new chapter in their development.
For many people, the opportunity to lead comes well before the opportunity to learn how.
A widely cited analysis of 17,000 leaders found that participants in formal leadership development programs were, on average, 42 years old. That’s roughly a decade after many had begun supervising others. More recent research from the Center for Creative Leadership found that nearly 60% of first-time managers received no training when they transitioned into their first leadership role.
That gap still surprises me.
The Peter Principle, introduced by Dr. Laurence J. Peter, proposes that people in hierarchical organizations tend to be promoted based on their success in their current roles until they reach a position for which they are no longer adequately equipped.
Can you see how this can happen when an excellent individual contributor becomes a manager? The skills that helped them succeed in one role are not necessarily the skills required to lead others. Their success no longer depends only on the work they can accomplish themselves. It now depends on their ability to create the conditions for other people to succeed.
Without preparation and development, that transition can be jarring. A capable person may find themselves struggling in a fundamentally different role, and the effects can reach far beyond the new manager, impacting employees, teams, and the organization as a whole.
By the time new leaders are exposed to leadership development, we may already be playing catch-up.
Effective leadership requires a strong foundation. That’s why Leadership Greater Augusta begins by looking inward and building self-awareness in three foundational areas:
- Strengths – understand what you do well and find intentional ways to do more of it.
- Values – identify the principles that guide your decisions, particularly when the right path is not obvious or easy.
- Legacy – consider the effect you want your leadership to have on the people and places entrusted to you.
Moment of reflection
- What was your first leadership role?
- Did you feel prepared for it?
- What were you not ready for?
- When did you receive your first leadership training?
- How could your experience help someone else grow into an effective leader?
You already carry more wisdom than you may realize.
Let’s activate it.
Jason
“Activated Wisdom” comes from Leading Strong.
Research referenced:
- Jack Zenger, “We Wait Too Long to Train Our Leaders”
- Center for Creative Leadership, “Developing New Managers? Set Them Up for Success”