Resolving the trilemma of leadership development
The value of development centres
4 minute read
There’s been a recurring theme in conversations with our clients recently.
They have a group of managers and leaders who they’d like to develop. They have an organisation trying to grow with a recognisable set of standards, values and ways of working. And they have people whose time is already overcommitted to the day job.
Three forces, often pulling in different directions:
The individual. Everyone has a different starting point; different roles, teams, functions or environments, with their own unique mix of experience, strengths, development areas, and motivation.
Strategic relevance. The business needs to build capability that drives strategic value. This requires clarity over the goals of the organisation, and the values, behaviours and standards that are required to achieve them. Development that feels disconnected from strategy is likely to get deprioritised.
Time. People are stretched. Pulling them away from their day-to-day work is both costly and a source of additional pressure.
How development centres can help
A development centre targets specific competencies through a series of scenarios and experiences that often involve practise, observation and feedback. These competencies are selected to align to the organisational goals, but for participants, the experience is a deeply personal one.
Participants work through a series of scenarios, either individually or in groups. Dedicated coaches observe, challenge and support them through the centre. By the end, participants have personal and specific action plans they have created and can take forward. At the same time, the organisation gains a perspective on the collective (and anonymised) strengths and development areas of the group, informing targeted development.
Why this matters now
Three forces were highlighted earlier, but there is a fourth we’re yet to mention: cost.
Where organisations want a more personalised, time-efficient learning experience, the cost of development centres has often been prohibitive.
Used well, AI tools can now create design efficiencies that make development centres cost-effective and scalable. This is achieved by accelerating the design phase; creating realistic, high-quality and bespoke materials at pace.
If we consider the alternative for a moment: large scale leadership programmes with multiple modules, touchpoints and a demand on time that, for some organisations, is not viable. They have their place, and for those that have the capacity in the system, they can drive real value – but where time, strategy, personalisation and cost are acting as a barrier, development centres could be an emerging solution.
A closer look…
The organisation: A private equity business
The challenge: The organisation has been going through a period of high growth, with management capability now limiting sustained performance.
The brief: Our client wanted to develop a group of managers, against a shared set of organisational standards, in a way that is deeply personalised and time efficient.
Our solution: A one-day development centre explored personal values, performance conversations with actors, peer learning, and a strategic simulation. This was followed up with coaching sessions to help each manager translate what they had learned into their work and action plans.
The impact so far: 100% of participants felt the design reflected the real challenges they face at work, with 94% reporting it was a valuable use of time, offering insight into their strengths and development areas and creating an action plan that they are committed to.
Development centres are an increasingly efficient way to develop management and leadership capability, giving individuals and organisations what they most value.
Interested in development centres for your managers and leaders?
Discover how Spinnaker can design bespoke, time-efficient and personalised development centres for your organisation.
