Leadership Development vs. A Leadership Model

Several years ago, I attended a quarterly leadership meeting where we compared two seemingly similar words. The words were “reaction” and “response.” The longer the discussion went on, the less similar the two words appeared to be. The discussion was led by one of the company’s owners and the point he was making became clear through his follow-up questions:

Which one takes more effort and time?

Which one is likely to create a stronger outcome?

Which one would be better for your own leadership? More reacting? Or, more responding?

An Alternative to Leadership Development

Which word do you think we chose?

It was unanimous. We all chose “response.” (And perhaps you did, too.)

I’d like to go through that same exercise right now with two different concepts. Let’s compare “leadership development” and “a leadership model.”

First, consider what they mean. Have you ever experienced leadership development? Have you attended a course or session designed to strengthen your leadership skills?

So many of us have, and they can be tremendously helpful and insightful.

What about a “leadership model?” What is a leadership model? Do you think you have experienced one?

Here’s how I define a leadership model: A leadership model exists when a business has carefully defined what it means to be a leader within their team. It is based on their unique purpose and values and supports their unique vision and needs. A leadership model must be taught to and regularly reinforced with every leader within that business and be able to adapt to the changing needs of that business.

Put more simply, a leadership model is a business’s unique way of leading people.

Respond With a Leadership Model

So, do you think you have experienced this? Have you worked somewhere that carefully defined and taught a unique “way” of leadership? If not, can you imagine what that might look like? How might leadership development and a leadership model be different?

Which one takes more effort and time?

Which one is likely to create a stronger outcome?

One of the biggest questions that every business must answer is, “Which one would be better for our leadership?”

Stop reacting to challenges with leadership training and start responding by building your leadership model.

Download Building Your Leadership Model from humanworks8 to learn more about the Leadership Model process.