At The MAPP we believe strong leadership is essential for business success, but – still relevant after nearly 2 years – is a sobering thought published for those involved in leadership training from Mike Myatt writing in Forbes:

“Here’s the thing – when it comes to leadership, the training industry has been broken for years. You don’t train leaders you develop them – a subtle yet important distinction lost on many. Leadership training is alive and well, but it should have died long, long ago.”
He goes on to say “The solution to the leadership training problem is to scrap it in favor of development. Don’t train leaders, coach them, mentor them, disciple them, and develop them, but please don’t attempt to train them.”

Here at The MAPP we love this article because it chimes with our thinking about working with people, their ideas and their organisations. We use tools like MAPP and put them in the hands of coaches, mentors and facilitators who support leaders as they work on their own development. That’s when what Mike suggests, is actually observed: “Where training attempts to standardise by blending to a norm and acclimating to the status quo, development strives to call out the unique and differentiate by shattering the status quo. Training is something leaders dread and will try and avoid, whereas they will embrace and look forward to development. Development is nuanced, contextual, collaborative, fluid, and above all else, actionable.”

Do you train or develop your leaders?