Building a business through personal development How Integrated Leadership Development helps the individual. Anna Harris and Lynne Derman weigh in… “Training employees for leadership is a necessary part of business development.

Ensuring that the current leaders can do their jobs and that there are future leaders ready to take their place when they leave makes sense. Traditionally, the approach to leadership training has been in teaching people the “skills” of leadership.

Making sure leaders understood financial management, strategic planning, marketing and so much more was at the forefront of business thinking.

“Recently, however, this approach has changed. Repeated studies show that it is not the leaders who are most familiar with these hard skills who are getting the best results; it’s those with what were traditionally called the “soft skills” like motivation, empathy, connection, and communication.

“After realising the importance of these skills, companies began actively seeking ways to train their leaders to climb the consciousness ladder.

“The greatest leaders are those who are the humblest, those who give time and focus to the people they are with,” says Lynne Derman, Head of People and Talent at 21st Century, adding, “Self-awareness is the starting point. If we aren’t self-aware, then we are just blundering through.”

The rise of Integrated Leadership Development “After many decades of study and experience, Integrated Leadership Development has begun to take off in businesses across the world. As the name suggests, this type of leadership training seeks to empower leaders with the hard skills necessary to do their jobs and, more importantly, the soft skills they need to take their teams to the next level.

“Anna Harris, consultant at 21st Century, explains that this kind of training is a journey that leaders take to improve themselves and develop the skills that make them the kind of leaders who are respected for who they are, more than simply their position.

“This isn’t a case of trainers walking in and saying, ‘Now we are going to fix you’. It’s a process that considers the specific needs of the individuals and organisation involved. If the organisation is serious about change and people development, it can take as much as a year,” she says.

“And these courses are making an impact. Harris and Derman report that client feedback for their Integrated Leadership Development courses has been exultant, not just from the businesses who are seeing measurable growth, but from the leaders themselves, who say the changes have impacted them across the spectrum of their lives in business, socially, at home with their families, and in their personal sense of self. “Integrated Leadership development is proving excellent for the person themselves,” says Derman.

“People are experiencing dramatic personal growth, which is impacting their lives, their well-being and their mental health. This, in turn, is leading to huge impacts on the businesses they work for, which makes sense. The success of a business’ people is what leads to that business’ success.”

The four major changes “Harris explains that following Integrated Leadership Development, the attendees are all showing development in four major areas of their personality, which in turn is leading them to report increased happiness and personal growth. Improved self-awareness “Everyone has vulnerabilities and weaknesses. In the business of the past, people may have been afraid to acknowledge these weaknesses or accept suggestions for self-improvement made by others. Integrated Leadership Development unlocks leaders’ abilities to better understand where and why they are fallible, giving them target areas for personal growth while also allowing them to become more comfortable with who they are.

This, in turn, leads to better career development and personal fulfilment as leaders are able to focus on the skills they do have, rather than spending time, energy and effort hiding or deflecting from their weaknesses.

“Studies on leadership have shown that those people who score themselves as being all fives on evaluations are generally the worst performers, whereas those with more of an awareness of their strengths and weaknesses tend to be the top performers,” says Derman.

Builds self-confidence “Integrated Leadership Development empowers leaders with the knowledge that they have vulnerabilities and that this is okay while also giving them the skills to work around these weaknesses and counter them.

This leads directly to improved self-confidence as they realise that they are truly capable of doing their jobs well and that they no longer need to feel intimidated or overwhelmed.

“This also means they are better able to manage themselves in a professional manner and feel confident in how to do this,” says Derman.

Increased productivity “Leaders who have undergone Integrated Leadership development report that they are fitting more into life and reaching personal and professional milestones that were previously considered out of reach. Their increased self-awareness and dampening of their personal egos have made them better decision-makers.

“By coming to the realisation of their limitations and being comfortable with these vulnerabilities while also being aware of the strength that lies within their teams, leaders are better able to delegate tasks to the right people,” says Derman.

“This stronger decision-making combined with more efficient communication skills means work they had either previously done themselves or tried to force on the wrong people is now efficiently delegated to the right person, with minimal conflict. This is freeing up a lot of time for focus on other things, not just at work, but in their personal lives,” she adds.

Greater respect from peers and colleagues “Leaders are expected to maintain a work environment that is aligned with the company’s objectives while growing their employees and assisting them in meeting their key performance indicators.

Leaders who are unaware of their own strengths and weaknesses struggle to measure the performance of others, and their egos may prevent them from fully developing or assisting their team in meeting their goals. “Leaders who are empowered with self-awareness and the willingness to accept their vulnerabilities have no fear of using their teams' strengths, growing those around them, and making sacrifices for the good of their group.

“The greatest leaders are open to feedback and remain humble,” says Harris.

“They don’t always know the answers. That’s normal and it sends out the message that it’s okay to be vulnerable. This gives the followers the power to acknowledge when they don’t know something and to ask for help. It ensures fewer problems occur because people are too afraid to speak up on a lack of knowledge and the team grows as weak areas are found and corrected.”

“This vulnerability, combined with their newfound confidence in their role as leaders, has traditionally been associated with the best leaders in history.

“The fact that they feel they belong in their role means their egos are no longer coming into play in their leadership. Combined with their better decision-making and the improved performance of their team, this leads to greater respect from those who work for them, who now value them for who they are rather than the position they occupy. It’s an upward spiral,” says Harris.”

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About 21st Century:
21st Century, a level 2 BBBEE company, is one of the largest Business and People Solutions consultancies in Africa, specialising in sustainable business solutions and underpinned by exceptional Analytics and Research capabilities, with a team of more than 60 skilled specialists, servicing over 1700 clients – including non-profit organisations, unlisted companies, government, parastatals and over two-thirds of the companies listed on the JSE. 21st Century offers bespoke business and strategy planning services, operating model and organisational design, creative reward practice modelling and market data, change, stakeholder and culture management, training courses and comprehensive human capital and talent plans.

21st Century continues to offer solutions via a combination of virtual channels and on-site presence. 21st Century has 5 business areas, focussing on: Remuneration and Reward; Organisational Design; Change Management; People & Talent and Analytics. 21st Century has both national and international capabilities. We offer full-spectrum Human Capital services to sub-Saharan Africa & Middle East clients, and as the African representative of the GECN group ( www.gecn.com ) have access to expertise on every continent around the world.

For more information visit: www.21century.co.za or contact us at (011) 447 0306 Or contact Craig Raath Executive Director at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

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Bronwyn Levy
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