What are three fundamental principles for leadership development?
Here’s what Pam Krulitz, CEO and co-founder of Optify online coaching platform, believes about how leadership development happens:
- It happens in the flow of work. That means leaders become better leaders during a regular workday, as part of their daily tasks, probably while leading a team, facing big goals and figuring out how to achieve them. “That’s when you have that laboratory for learning,” Krulitz says. “It’s not something you can do on the side.”
- It happens over time. True growth, whether it’s a seed put in the ground or a skill someone is learning, doesn’t happen overnight or from a single day—or even a weeklong training session. “It requires reflection and practice and experimenting to make the mind shifts that are fundamental to leadership growth,” she says.
- It happens with a coach. A professional with experience in leadership who has studied the field is best-suited to teaching leadership. “It’s a discipline, for sure,” Krulitz says. Good coaches know how to listen, ask the right questions, bring out the best in people and understand that the work has to happen in a safe space to allow for vulnerability and breakthroughs.
Krulitz, who has been a leadership coach for 18 years, presented these thoughts and more during an HR Tech Talk titled “Amplify Your Leadership Development with Online Coaching” on the first day of the virtual HR Tech Conference, which began Tuesday and runs through Friday. Registration remains open for the free, online event and sessions will be available for attendees to view for 30 days afterward. Register here.
Online coaching, Krulitz believes, is a powerful way to boost leadership development, which is key for organizations because the quality of an organization is based on the quality of its leaders.
Industry analyst Josh Bersin also believes in the increasing role of online coaching, she says, quoting one of his recent articles: “It’s time to rethink your leadership development strategy because online coaching is clearly here to stay.”
Regardless of the format, Krulitz says, coaching must be personalized to the individual to succeed. She even describes it as a “profoundly personal experience.”
“It’s an experience that asks each of us to become more self-aware to change our behavior, to learn and grow and stretch in ways that may not be comfortable sometimes. It’s not a one-size-fits-all checklist that you can follow to become a great leader.”
For more, registered attendees can watch the full session here.
