Are You Flexing Your Leadership Muscle? Juliet Summers shares her views.

If your business is only as strong as its people, then your managers are its backbone. Yet often, leadership development is treated as a nice-to-have rather than mission critical. Are your managers pulling their weight, or are they unintentionally holding your business back?

According to Gallup, 70% of team engagement is directly influenced by managers. A great leader can drive performance, motivation, and retention, while a poor one can send productivity plummeting and push top talent out the door. In fact, poor or untrained managers is a leading cause of disengagement and employee turnover, costing businesses billions annually.  I should know, I’ve seen leadership development from all angles over the years and I’m passionate about it – it’s a game changer for leaders and businesses!

Despite clear evidence, UK companies invest less than £2,000 per manager per year on leadership development – a drop in the ocean compared to the impact managers have on business success. To add to this, it costs on average £19k to recruit when businesses loose talent.

So, what happens when businesses don’t equip their managers with the skills they need, here’s a couple of examples you’ll probably recognise:

The over-promoted leader: We’ve all seen it – the high-performing, technically brilliant employee who excels in their role and is rewarded with promotion to management. But being great at the job and being great at leading others are two completely different skill sets and mindsets. Without proper training and development, managers often struggle, leading to frustrated teams and lack lustre performance.

The reluctant or ineffective leader: Not everyone wants to lead. Some step up because they feel they have to, not because they have the passion or confidence to. These managers often avoid difficult conversations, fail to inspire, and hesitate to make tough decisions. Without proper development, they remain passive and ineffective, leaving their teams directionless.

The Cost of Doing Nothing

Failing to invest in leadership development is like a downward spiral.  Without strong, capable and credible leadership:

• Employee engagement and retention suffer, increasing recruitment, training costs and unproductive time.
• Productivity declines as teams lack direction, motivation and accountability.
• Innovation slows as managers fail to create an environment that fosters creativity and collaboration and teams can’t be bothered anymore.

With stakes this high, getting leadership development right is a force multiplier, developing great leaders who create:

• Higher retention: Employees are more likely to stay in companies with strong leadership and this builds succession.
• Greater productivity: Well-trained managers drive efficiency, performance and engagement whilst unlocking innovation and creating a talent pipeline.
• Stronger company culture: Effective leaders shape positive, high-performing workplace environments and a competitive advantage.

The best businesses don’t just train managers; they embed leadership development into their culture, ensuring ongoing development support. Choosing the right partner to work with your managers is key. Here’s some top tips to consider:

1. Integrate – The best leadership programmes align with your company’s strategy, goals, challenges and allow leaders to explore how to apply their learning to real situations together.  Make a conscious decision on how you develop the whole leadership population – there’s different approaches.
2. Leadership buy-in – For leadership development to work, it must have buy-in from leaders that matter and be positioned as a priority alongside HR.  There are many ways to do this, including clearing a path for your managers to attend or building in leadership connects.  (You’d be surprised how many companies invest and then pull managers off workshops, don’t support them with time, feedback or even an interest in what their learning.)
3. Engage Your Managers Early – Involve managers in shaping their development to increase commitment and impact.  This can involve assessments, development conversations, positioning the programme, coaching, engagement with senior management and links to succession planning.
4. Prioritise real-world experience – Work with facilitators who have hands-on leadership experience, not just theoretical knowledge.
5. Look for CPD accreditation – Ensure credibility and quality.
6. Maximise application of learning:  Madness is doing the same thing and expecting a different result, yet many managers fail to apply or try out new skills.  Wrap coaching support alongside or post your development programme and see the results multiply with personalised development and accountability that gets to where it can really impact.
7. Measure success & celebrate it – Celebrate managers prioritising and applying development as well as completing a programme.  Track improvements in engagement, retention, succession and performance to showcase the ROI of leadership development.

Time to flex your leadership muscle?

The question isn’t whether you can afford to invest in leadership development – it’s whether you can afford not to. With leadership having such a direct impact on the bottom line, it’s time to start developing your managers, and build a stronger, more successful business.

You can probably tell, I’m passionate about quality leadership development and have spent my corporate career in this space so have seen it all!  I work with businesses now to inspire great leaders that are confident in themselves as leaders, know how to maximise talent and can contribute to the success of their business. If you’d like to find out more or have a chat about your leadership development then do reach out.    To take a look at a leadership development programme that ticks all the boxes, then check out the 360 Degree Manager programme at 360 Degree Management Training Programme | TICL.