Leadership Development Programmes

Leadership Development Programmes – The Importance Of Profiling

All good leadership development programmes start with a profiling process where different existing skills as well as weaknesses can be identified in an individual or in a group setting. It is difficult to effectively provide leadership training if the current skills and limitations of an individual are unknown.

There are two important areas of focus for assessments through leadership development programmes. The first aspect of profiling should focus on the internal processes involved with leadership. This internal focus relates to how an individual sees him or herself and is process of getting to know and understanding one’s self.

The second sphere of profiling involves and external look at an individual. This external focus relates to how other people view and perceive the individual and how these perceptions differ or correlate to their own self image. Both the inner and outer profiling is intent on revealing hidden weaknesses and strengths that the individual may not be aware of.

Once these two phases have been completed the leadership development programmes can be applied in three ways. Number one is self-mastery or the process of being aware of your own strengths and weaknesses and how to improve or build onto these existing skills.

The second phase deals with how an individual relates to others in forming and developing quality relationships. This involves how a person communicates and whether the message they want to send is being received and understood by other people with whom they interact with on a daily basis.

And lastly professional leadership values and skills are addressed. While some may say that this is the most important part of leadership development programmes focusing on this phase of the training without having a good basis in the intra and inter personal levels may minimise the effectiveness of the overall leadership training.