Five Signs Your Team Needs Leadership Development (and How to Fix It)
If you cannot answer “Absolutely!” to these 5 questions, your business is in trouble and your Management Team needs help now!
Is your employee turnover better than the benchmark for similar companies in your region or industry?
Does your team make fewer ‘unforced errors’ compared to your competitors? Unforced errors include preventable issues like safety incidents, quality issues, design rework, and service failures - each of which represents lost time, cost, and credibility.
Are work standards clearly defined, visible, and consistently enforced?
In a manufacturing environment, for example:
Is housekeeping consistently tidy?
Are safety protocols followed without exception?
Are records (like inventory or maintenance logs) accurate and current?
Are critical processes completed with a consistent rhythm?
Can front-line employees clearly articulate team goals, current performance, and how their work contributes? Are there visual performance metrics in the workplace that reinforce awareness and drive action?
Do team members demonstrate empowerment to step up and make decisions rather than mark-time awaiting direction from management?
Pro tip: An answer of “I don’t know” to any of these questions is worse than “no.” It reveals blind spots at the leadership level - and that’s dangerous.
A Huge Opportunity!
Now that you have asked and realized that your answers are less positive than you would like, we need to recognize that this is a huge opportunity to improve the business results!
The questions above reveal the symptoms of poor leadership skills at multiple levels in your organization – and the good news is that leadership skills can be improved – with a tremendous ROI!
Metrics and data do not lie. Let the observations and the data speak!
Your turnover is high likely because the environment is toxic – disrespectful, gossipy, and generally negative.
The unforced errors are high, and the work standards are poorly adhered to, because your leaders at each level do not understand their role in establishing workplace culture.
Employees cannot accurately relay the goals and priorities because there hasn’t been an effective effort at cascading and communicating your strategic objectives and current performance in a meaningful and memorable way.
Lastly, and perhaps most tellingly, employees do not feel empowered because there is a low level of organizational trust since leaders are not being consistent in words and actions to reinforce what the priorities are and how decisions should be made.
The bottom line is that these are symptoms of a leadership problem and leadership skills can be taught. You need a comprehensive approach to leadership alignment and skills development.
Where to Begin
Like any opportunity, it is best to fully define the situation and the opportunity. Gathering data, evaluating competencies for each leader in relation to their job description, and defining the various leadership gaps certainly has merit – but if your answers were strongly negative above, you already have enough information to get started.
Time is of the essence. You need to demonstrate a penchant for action rather than studying the issue to death and losing 6 months or a year in the process. Get started! You can fine tune as you go.
Strategic Goals and Priorities Alignment
Before you develop people, develop clarity.
Have you clearly defined the purpose, values, strategic goals, and priorities of your business?
Are those goals cascaded through the organization in a way that’s relevant, visible, and actionable for every level?
Employees must see how their work matters - and how it moves the needle. That means daily metrics, scoreboards, and timely feedback loops.
A big part of leadership training and development is to ensure leadership alignment to the objectives and to the organization’s values and purpose. If the leadership team isn’t in complete alignment, they cannot effectively and efficiently drive optimal results.
Goals and priorities must be fully aligned across all organizational levels as part of the leadership training and development process.
Leadership Skills Known and Deployed
Once the goals and priorities are aligned, effectively communicated, and measured, we need to ensure that our leaders at every level are trained in basic leadership skills and not only understand their role but also deploy the skills they have learned to be effective in their role.
How often have we seen employees promoted from an individual contributor to a management role and given no training? It happens all the time. The skills that made someone a strong individual contributor will not be the same skills that they will need to be a strong manager. They need to understand that their role has fundamentally shifted from that of a doer to that of a facilitator of doers. These skills can be taught, and the program must be designed to ensure skills are learned and roles are understood.
How often have we seen very experienced people-leaders, perhaps a seasoned Supervisor, who clearly should ‘know’ a skill, but who doesn’t demonstrate the skill? Your training and development program must address these individuals too! Knowing a skill does nothing for the team unless it is consistently deployed! Tenure and rank do not equate to leadership skill competency.
Let’s also remember that the skills needed at each organizational leadership role are not identical. We need to ensure that training efforts reinforce the skills most needed by each group of leaders – and yet are all tied back to the organization’s purpose, values, strategic objectives, and priorities.
Training vs Development
Less than 44% of managers worldwide report receiving formal management training. Those who do receive leadership training are 50% less likely to be disengaged according to Gallop’s 2025 Study. One-time training can have an ongoing impact for about 9 months, however, to have truly sustainable results that can build month after month at an accelerating pace, training is not enough.
The most effective programs combine:
Coaching – targeted, ongoing guidance tied to real challenges
Experiential learning – applying skills on the job in a structured way
Peer learning – sharing insights across departments or roles
Training – formal workshops for learning skills appropriate to each level
Leadership Alignment – a cadence of activities to continually reinforce alignment of the organization’s purpose, values, strategic objectives, and priorities.
Eventually, internal leaders can take over the coaching role—but not overnight. If you want results faster, bring in skilled coaches to help spark momentum.
Conclusion
If you cannot answer “Absolutely!” to each question in the introduction, then you need to implement a comprehensive approach to leadership alignment, training, and development.
Start by aligning your leadership team to your purpose, values, and top priorities.
Ensure every leader has the right skillset for their level.
Build development programs - not just training - to create a self-sustaining leadership pipeline.
Leadership alignment and development aren’t just about fixing problems.
They’re about unlocking the full potential of your workforce - and your business.
Ready to become a better people leader?
Take a free and quick leadership assessment to measure your demonstrated leadership skills. Uncover insights for you to lead your team to improved performance, address challenges, and ultimately grow in your career!
