HOW TO TURN YOUR BUSY LEADERS INTO THE TEACHERS THEY NEED TO BE

{ perspectives } LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT

© 2016 Harvard Business School Publishing. All rights reserved. Harvard Business Publishing is an affiliate of Harvard Business School.

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HOW TO TURN YOUR BUSY LEADERS INTO THE TEACHERS THEY NEED TO BE

An ever-accelerating pace of change. Technological innova-tion. Political upheavals and social disruptions. Dispersed and diverse workforces. Multiple generations in the work-place. Do we really need to say that it’s a complex world out there?

In her Harvard Business Review article “The Leaders We Need Now,” Tamara Erickson wrote, “Today’s businesses are facing new, unpredictable challenges. What we’ve thought of as leadership skills—setting direction, having the answers, controlling performance—are less relevant in an environment of constant change. Increasingly, leader-ship is about creating a context for innovation and inclusion in the face of ambiguity and the unexpected.”

Creating that context and operating in a world of ambiguity, in the face of the unexpected, require that our leaders be teachers. This skill is important in formal instructional set-tings and also in informal settings—coaching, mentoring, day-to-day encounters—where most learning takes place.

Whether leaders are taking the time to communicate their organization’s priorities or telling a compelling personal story during a “teachable moment,” they’re delivering learning. They’re becoming more agile in their thinking and making their employees more agile as well. They’re demonstrating the importance of collaboration, up and down the organization. They are creating critical organi-zational context. And ultimately, they’re driving results.

Recognizing its clear advantages, many organizations embrace the notion of leader-led development. Google—by anyone’s definition, a successful 21st-century organiza-tion—looked at employee survey and performance review data and found that the company’s most effective managers were, first and foremost, good coaches. (Professor David Garvin, “How Google Sold Its Engineers on Management,” Harvard Business Review, December 2013.) Many orga-nizations are incorporating the role of teacher as a job requirement for their leaders, from CEO on down.

Today, coaching, guiding, and teaching no longer belong solely to learning and development teams but instead require attention from leaders across an organization. Though busy leaders may push this job aside, leadership development professionals can both inspire and prepare them to teach and make a difference for their teams. BY ELLEN BAILEY, JILL BAUMEISTER, DIANE BELCHER, AND JEFF DeSMET

“ Increasingly, leadership is about creating a context for innovation and inclusion in the face of ambiguity and the unexpected.”TAMARA ERICKSON, “THE LEADERS WE NEED NOW,” HARVARD BUSINESS REVIEW

{ 2 } HOW TO TURN YOUR BUSY LEADERS INTO THE TEACHERS THEY NEED TO BE

more engaged. They have a greater understanding of the strategy and goals of their organization. They feel more connected to them and more clearly see how they can impact the achievement of those goals. And this translates into top- and bottom-line results.

Yet many organizations still struggle with how to tap their leaders to assume this increasingly critical role in employee development. As Brandon Hall Group noted in its 2015 State of Performance Management Study, all the executives interviewed indicated that “developing leaders as coaches” was key to improving performance. But for nearly two-thirds (65 percent) of these executives, turning their leaders into effective development coaches was their most significant challenge.

By understanding the importance of leader-led develop-ment and by following the tips outlined here, you’ll be able to help turn your leaders into the teachers they’re meant to be.

We see leader-led development in action among our clients as well. It matters, and it works. Organizations that use their leaders as teachers have reported that when their leaders are actively involved in development, employees become

Why Leader-Led Development Is So CriticalWhat is there about leader-led development that makes it so critical to an organization’s success? When you’re engaging your leaders as teachers, here’s what you’ll be able to acomplish.

SET THE RIGHT CONTEXTLeader-led development brings much-needed context and direction to work. Leaders are uniquely positioned to present concepts within their company’s specific context and show employees how learning aligns with the busi-ness strategy and goals in big and small moments every day. This context takes learning from abstract to practical, as leaders connect the dots for employees and help them see how the skills they learn will impact the business in the long term.

Providing such context and direction helps get out a con-sistent and clear message across the organization, especially important in times of great complexity. Leaders involved

in development of their teams can help cascade critical knowledge, skills, and understanding throughout the organization. This cascade works best when leaders are directly responsible for developing their teams.

ENGAGE EMPLOYEES IN LEARNINGWhen leaders act as teachers, they’re able to provide not just direction and context but also personalized, one-to-one development. Since they work with their team members every day and know their individual skill sets and learning styles, leaders can contextualize learning with organizational content to make it relevant to each person’s responsibilities, which makes the entire experi-ence more engaging.

“When we recruit, we definitely want people to know that teaching will be part of their success at BD. They will be expected to take the time to teach, coach, and develop people, as well as get into a formal training mode.”EDWARD LUDWIG, FORMER CEO, BECTON DICKINSON (IN THE FOREWARD TO LEADERS AS TEACHERS, BY EDWARD BETOF)

HOW TO TURN YOUR BUSY LEADERS INTO THE TEACHERS THEY NEED TO BE { 3 }

leaders to learn new skills—think communicating via social media—from younger workers and to hear what’s happening on the organization’s front lines with custom-ers or suppliers. It results in greater levels of learning at all ends of the organizational spectrum.

Involving leaders as teachers also drives increased partici-pation and involvement. When their boss is the person providing them with information and monitoring their progress, learners are more likely to attend, do the work, and be prepared for formal learning opportunities. They will also be more attentive and responsive to informal learning moments, which is important, as when learners are more engaged in learning, the learning is more likely to stick.

MEET THE NEEDS OF THE RISING WORKFORCE GENERATIONOne of the drivers of complexity in today’s workplace is the presence of multiple generations with distinctive interests and requirements. In particular, much is being made of millennials’ desire to learn and develop—and their appreciation of mentoring. A 2015 Entrepreneur article pointed out that for millennials, “Feedback is getting a tip. It’s coaching, and they want it multiple times a day.”

Plus, when leaders play the role of teacher, they pro-mote bidirectional learning. The process of transferring knowledge to individuals in more junior roles allows

“Using practicing leaders [to provide instruction] ensures that learning remains grounded in the reality of the workplace and culture. Leaders directly convey their beliefs, experi-ences, and expectations to program participants, thereby facilitating the transmission of cultural knowledge.” JAY CONGER, HANDBOOK OF LEADERSHIP THEORY AND PRACTICE: AN HBS COLLOQUIUM ON ADVANCING LEADERSHIP

All Leaders Can—and Must—Be TeachersEmployee development has become an increasingly critical part of a leader’s job description. According to researcher, consultant, and coach Monique Valcour in her January 2014 HBR.org article, “If You’re Not Helping People Develop, You’re Not Management Material,” “Skilled managers have never been more critical to the success of firms than they are today. Not because employees can’t function without direction, but because managers play a vital role in talent management. Gone are the comprehensive career management systems and expec-tations of long-term employment that once functioned as the glue in the employer-employee contract. In their place, the manager-employee dyad is the new building block of learning and development in firms.”

For leaders, fulfilling this role takes commitment, capabil-ity, and time. Once organizations determine this is a role all leaders must take on, HR can set requirements within performance expectations, and learning and development teams can support leaders through the process. But lead-ers must take on a sense of ownership of this work. The most challenging aspect can be finding the time to do it well. Teaching needs to become part of their mind-set, an integral part of a leader’s job. Learning and develop-ment take place not only in formal training programs but during developmental assignments, regular feedback, conversation,s and mentoring. Leaders need to wear their development hat in all of these settings. 

{ 4 } HOW TO TURN YOUR BUSY LEADERS INTO THE TEACHERS THEY NEED TO BE

WHAT’S IN IT FOR ME?Understandably, your leaders may think “This sounds pretty time-consuming, and I can barely keep up already.” You’ll need to show them what they will gain from doing this work.

Here’s the message for those leaders: Ultimately, the time you invest in others benefits your career, too. As you rise in the organization, your performance will be increasingly measured not only by your individual results, but also by your ability to cultivate talent and get results from others.

Managers who gain a reputation for developing others are seen as leaders. They garner loyalty and build the influence that helps them make positive changes within their organizations.

Leaders who take on a development role—teaching a class, mentoring someone outside their direct reporting struc-ture, overseeing an action learning project—also benefit from hearing from those at other levels and in different groups, providing them with a different perspective on what’s going on in their organization, in the market, and among their customers.

And then, of course, there are the benefits to employees: greater engagement throughout the organization. Better understanding of a company’s strategy and goals—and the role they can play in achieving them. The opportunity to learn from the best. The chance to voice their opinions, observations, and concerns to the organization’s leaders.

For organizations that take a formal approach to leader-led development, the results can be significant. A recent i4cp-ATD Research Report, “Leaders as Teachers: Engaging Employees in High-Performance Learning,” found that high-performing organizations were twice as likely to have a formal program in place than were lower performers. The report also found a strong correlation between having a formalized approach to leaders as teachers and both market results and learning effectiveness.

Carl Zeiss AG is a global leader in the fields of optics and optoelectronics, and has closely embraced the leader-as-teacher philosophy. One compelling reason? As CEO

Dr. Michael Kaschke has said, “You only understand some-thing really well if you teach it to someone else.”

SO WHY AREN’T WE DOING IT?Your leaders may not just be asking themselves what’s in it for them; they may also just be avoiding this critical role. They’re already time-crunched and overextended. Why add something more to their burden? They may not be comfortable with teaching. After all, they’re managers, not teachers. They may not realize the simplicity of guid-ing their teams through valuable learning experiences every day.

Based on our work with our client organizations, we see that many managers spend only a fraction of their time on employee development. Developing employees is a low priority.

To ensure that leaders prioritize their role as a teacher, organizations need to communicate the value in lead-ers as teachers and support leaders as they take on these developmental responsibilities.

When leaders participate consistently in these ways, a leader-as-teacher culture is clearly evident to employees and learning has a much greater impact.

Developing Employees Is Not a Top Priority

Dealing with Today’s Crisis

Focusing on Immediate Results

Paying Attention to Underperformers

Conducting Annual Performance Reviews

Ongoing Development Efforts for All Team Members

HIGH PRIORITY

LOW PRIORITY

HOW TO TURN YOUR BUSY LEADERS INTO THE TEACHERS THEY NEED TO BE { 5 }

WHY IT MATTERS HOW TO GO ABOUT IT

Act as a Coach Coaching offers daily opportunities for leaders to help employees they work with directly learn in the moment how to approach challenges and acquire new skills.

Communicate regularly. Share observations and ask questions. Encourage reflection, and help identify patterns. Build accountability and self-reliance.

Serve as a Mentor

Mentoring develops young talent to think about how to advance their careers, increases engagement, and drives retention.

Make sure you have a strategy that’s geared to today’s young professionals—less formal, more personalized. And remember, not just superstars need mentoring.

Encourage Employees to Embrace Development Opportunities

Your organization’s people are your only sustainable advantage. Development matters.

Treat development as an ongoing process—and dialogue. Leaders should model the importance and talk about their own development experiences.

Play an Active Role in the Organization’s Leadership Development Programs

Employee development is vital to your organization’s success. Leaders need to set the organizational context and demonstrate its value.

Participate! Help define programs, contribute content, talk positively about a program to staff, take part in a launch, post to online forums, and teach a class.

Define or Monitor Action Learning Projects

Action learning projects provide development opportunities and solve real problems for the organization.

Make sure that any project tackles a real, beneficial organizational problem that can be addressed in the short term with clear objectives and outcomes. Help the team through active listening versus taking over. Help identify milestones, and be a champion for the team’s results.

Collaborate on Development Plans for Individual Employees

A good plan helps employees accomplish career and organizational goals.

Make sure you fully understand an employee’s skills, interests, and values—and the opportunities available for growth.

WHERE AND HOW LEADERS TEACH

To orient your leaders toward their role as teacher, leaders need to understand the many roles they can take on—and the value each brings to employees and the organization.

{ 6 } HOW TO TURN YOUR BUSY LEADERS INTO THE TEACHERS THEY NEED TO BE

Tips for Tapping the Inner Teacher in Your LeadersA crucial first step toward building a cadre of leaders who are also teachers—no matter what role they want to play—is making sure that they’re equipped to engage with their learners.

After all, engagement is essential to ensuring that knowl-edge is retained, applied, and cascaded throughout an organization. The question of how to engage learners may seem daunting to a leader who has never taught or coached.

Share the following tips to guide your organization’s leaders in their coaching and teaching efforts, and they’ll see how easy it can be to turn every interaction with their people into a learning and teaching event.

TELL STORIESA good story can drive home a message more effectively than just about any other means of communication, so the leader’s point of view should be the basis for a dynamic, compelling story to share with others. People especially appreciate hearing stories of how a leader struggled earlier in his or her career. “At the end of the day, words and ideas presented in a way that engages listeners’ emotions are what carry stories,” writes Peter Guber in his December 2007 Harvard Business Review article, “The Four Truths of the

Storyteller.” “It is this oral tradition that lies at the center of our ability to motivate, sell, inspire, engage, and lead.”

MAKE CONNECTIONSLeaders are in the unique position to fully grasp the rela-tionship between their team’s work and larger organiza-tional goals. By frequently highlighting this relationship to their team, employees can see greater meaning in their daily work. This feeling of connectedness is a powerful motivator. The more often a leader can relate the context to a person’s work, the better.

ASK QUESTIONS—AND LISTEN TO THE ANSWERSOne of the major advantages of informal learning is that it allows for and encourages open and honest two-way conversation in a way that is not possible in most formal learning environments. By asking questions of one another, learners and leaders can gain greater insight into the mate-rial. And learners “own” the material more when they can freely question what is being said. Even in formal learning situations, leaders who are teaching need to invite class participation, asking and eliciting questions and listening to what their learners have to say. As David Garvin, Amy Edmonson, and Francesca Gino wrote in their March 2008 Harvard Business Review article, “Is Yours a Learning Organization?”, “When leaders actively question and listen to employees—and thereby prompt dialogue and debate—people in the institution feel encouraged to learn. If leaders signal the importance of spending time on problem iden-tification, knowledge transfer, and reflective post-audits, these activities are likely to flourish.”

“Skilled managers have never been more critical to the success of firms than they are today. Not because employees can’t function without direction, but because managers play a vital role in talent management.”MONIQUE VALCOUR, “IF YOU’RE NOT HELPING PEOPLE DEVELOP, YOU’RE NOT MANAGEMENT MATERIAL,” HBR.ORG

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HELP THOSE YOU’RE COACHING, MENTORING, OR TEACHING LEARN FROM THEIR EXPERIENCESEncourage learners to reflect on what’s going right and what’s going wrong. Just as senior leaders should tell their stories, your learners will want to share their stories of success and failure as well. Make sure that they can do so in a nonjudgmental environment.

“ You only understand something really well if you teach it to someone else.” DR. MICHAEL KASCHKE, CEO, CARL ZEISS AG

PROVIDE ACCESSIBLE AND ONGOING LEARNING OPPORTUNITIESClassroom and other formal learning frameworks offer a clearly defined time and place for teaching and learning; however, they will not provide the same opportunity for learners to obtain job-specific knowledge at the moment of need—and for busy leaders to supply this information. As a result, the majority of successful leader-led develop-ment efforts occur outside the classroom in informal teachable moments.

A Stronger Organization through Leader-Led DevelopmentBy passing on their combined life, work, and development experiences to employees throughout the workday and through their participation in formal learning initiatives, leaders can deliver highly actionable and relevant learning. And with the ongoing opportunity to mentor others, lead-ers can hone their own leadership skills while reinforcing and broadening their existing knowledge.

The potential benefits to organizations that promote a cul-ture of learning and teaching by encouraging and reward-ing leader-led development are enormous. Organizations embracing this approach can realize significant business results: a more productive sales force, greater R&D innova-tion, more engaged employees, and talent better prepared for future leadership roles.

Once the objections about leader preparedness and cul-tural readiness are overcome, organizations need to pro-vide just enough structure to ensure consistency with the organization’s philosophy and goals as content is cascaded throughout the organization and just enough guidance to ensure that their leaders are ready to take on their exciting new role as teachers.

{ 8 } HOW TO TURN YOUR BUSY LEADERS INTO THE TEACHERS THEY NEED TO BE

ELLEN BAILEY is a senior learning solutions manager for Harvard

Business Publishing Corporate Learning, responsible for consulting

with clients and designing training solutions that address their

needs and goals.

ellen.bailey@harvardbusiness.org

DIANE BELCHER is director of continuous learning for Harvard

Business Publishing Corporate Learning. She is responsible for

the product strategy for the Harvard ManageMentor offering. Prior

to joining the Harvard Business Publishing team, Diane worked

for Fidelity Investments, where she held various roles in human

resources and led the customer experience strategy for the

Workplace Investing business.

diane.belcher@harvardbusiness.org

JEFF DeSMET is senior learning architect for Harvard Business

Publishing Corporate Learning. He serves as the group’s lead

strategist in the areas of learning architecture, adult learning

theory, and pedagogy of Harvard Business Publishing’s portfolio

of leadership development programs and continuous learning

environments.

jdesmet@harvardbusiness.org

JILL BAUMEISTER is director of global delivery for Harvard

Business Publishing Corporate Learning for the West and

Latin America. She oversees the teams who work with clients

in designing and implementing solutions that address their

leadership-development needs. Before joining Harvard Business

Publishing, Jill worked for Deloitte Consulting, focusing on

executive development and succession planning.

jill.baumeister@harvardbusiness.org

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