We often hear that company presidents are taking on responsibilities that should actually be handled by their executives.
When this happens, it becomes difficult for the president to focus on developing medium- and long-term business strategies or increasing the brand value of the company and its products.
One of the keys to building a stable business is recognizing that developing strong executives is essential.
The more people a president can rely on as trusted right-hand and left-hand partners, the more stable the management of the company becomes. It also enables the company to take on new challenges.
In this article, let's look at what kind of system can help executives grow and develop their capabilities.
1. The Basic Approach to Executive Development
The basic framework for developing people can be divided into two areas:
“Raising the overall level” and “Developing selected high-potential people.”
Raising the overall level means improving the capabilities of the organization as a whole.
For example, this could involve improving the customer service skills of all store employees.
Developing selected high-potential people means focusing on developing the capabilities of people who have been selected for leadership roles.
For example, this could include improving the leadership skills of area managers, supervisors, or department-level executives.
In this article, I would like to focus on developing executives as part of this selected group and creating a system that helps energize and strengthen the entire organization.
When people think about executive development, the most common approach is often:
“Let's provide training.”
Of course, providing training is not wrong. However, when developing executives, it is useful to consider the 70:20:10 rule.
The 70:20:10 rule suggests that executives gain their learning from three main sources:
● 70% from work-related experiences
●20% from interactions with managers, senior colleagues, and peers, including their advice and the insights gained through those interactions
●10% from training and self-directed learning opportunities provided by the company
This concept is based on research conducted in the United States involving executives. It has since become a widely used framework in business.
According to this framework, executive development requires much more than training.
Opportunities to interact with others and, above all, opportunities to gain real-world experience are extremely important.
In other words, simply attending training is unlikely to be enough to develop effective executives.
I believe this is something you can probably recognize from your own experience as well.
2. What Kind of System Helps Executives Grow?
So, what kind of system should a company create to help its executives grow?
1) Provide Executive Development Training
In addition to acquiring the knowledge required of executives, participants should learn about their roles and responsibilities as executives,
the mindset they need to have, and how to develop an appropriate perspective and level of vision.
In off-the-job training (OFF-JT), it is important not to rely solely on one-way lectures from the instructor to the participants.
Instead, create opportunities for active interaction during the training, such as:
●Two-way discussions between the instructor and participants
●Discussions and exchanges of ideas among participants
●Opportunities for participants to learn from one another
These interactions can make the training much more meaningful and effective.
2) Have Regular Discussions with the Top Management
It is important for top management to communicate the company's management policies and direction directly to executives.
However, in actual business management, there is rarely only one correct answer when it comes to making decisions or developing action plans.
Creating opportunities to discuss with top management questions such as:
“What would be a better idea?”
and
“What would ultimately be the best idea under the circumstances?”
is extremely important for executive development.
For these discussions to be productive, two things are particularly important:
Top management needs to be willing to listen, and executives need to be able to communicate their opinions logically and clearly.
3) Give Executives Opportunities to Gain Executive-Level Experience
Let's go back to the 70:20:10 rule.
If 70% of learning comes from work-related experiences, then the most important growth opportunity for executives is to gain real experience through their work.
The important point here is to give them experience specifically as executives.
Even if someone gains extensive work experience that does not require them to act as an executive, it may simply make them busier without necessarily contributing to their growth as a leader.
So, what does “executive-level experience” actually mean?
For example, it includes situations where:
●Executive-level judgment and decision-making are required
●The entire company needs to be involved.
●Coordination across multiple departments is necessary
When assigning these responsibilities to executives, it is also important to clearly define the scope of their responsibilities and authority.
This allows them to make decisions and take action as if the business challenge were truly their own responsibility.
That is another important condition for effective executive development.
Does your company have a system in place that enables its executives to grow?
