What Emerging Leaders Want
Photo by Icons8 Team on Unsplash
One of my favorite things about Vocare Leadership is our Leadership Foundations development effort. It is a nine-month cohort approach built on a solid biblical foundation emphasizing character and competency. We meet one day a month for six hours to have rich, open-ended discussions around the core elements of leadership. Each participant has a once-a-month coaching appointment with me focused on leadership self-awareness. There is a healthy amount of reading and reflection during the in-between times. Each participant completes and presents a leader map designed to promote vulnerability and learning about how God is shaping them as a leader. There is a stretch project designed to practically move the participant ahead on a particular aspect of their personal leadership or a leadership strategy they want to employ.
Over the past three years of facilitating Leadership Foundations, I have noticed some clear desires and needs among emerging leaders. These may not strike you as new topics of learning, but are you honoring and promoting what you know to be true?
Cohort learning is desirable and can be powerful.
Leader development happens best in time, over time, and in community. "In time" means developing leaders within the context of their ongoing work. "Over time" implies that leader development is a process and takes time. "In community" is a nod to the fact that we are relational beings and need exposure to others in the same season of leadership life where dialogue, reflection, and processing can occur.
However, cohort learning also requires focused learning. Important and relevant topics with core content form and frame the discussion. The ability to dialogue—asking questions and offering answers—contributes to the discussion. Practical application and learning happen at the intersection. More and more emerging leaders are expressing a desire for cohort learning that provides a communal approach to development.
Emerging leaders truly desire mentorship and practical leadership development.
Emerging leaders certainly desire to learn from older, more experienced leaders. Mentorship is a relational process where a more experienced person (the mentor) intentionally invests in the growth and development of a less experienced person (the mentee), offering wisdom, encouragement, feedback, and support. It's not just about transferring knowledge—it's about guiding transformation. At its core, mentorship is relational (built on trust and authenticity), intentional (focused on growth and development), formational (shaping character, not just adding knowledge), and mutual (both mentor and mentee grow from the experience).
Every HR study I see right now strongly suggests that emerging leaders want two things to be present in their workplace culture: to be developed and to have an opportunity to rise. The first one often creates a pathway for the second one. Growth is a natural and normal human desire. Emerging leaders want to learn principles and tools that will benefit them now and in the future.
Emerging leaders want exposure and training in quality practical tools that can be contextualized.
Another aspect of tool training I have noticed is that emerging leaders desire practical tools that give them the freedom to contextualize to their needs and purposes. Part of this revolves around ownership, and the other part revolves around the reality that they know their immediate context better than many of their bosses. In the past, tool training took on a "one size fits all" strategy. But today's context requires a more principled approach with freedom to adapt.
A good space and atmosphere can greatly accentuate safety, community, and focused learning.
On-site training hinders freedom of expression and thinking. Work is ever present. Off-site development helps eliminate distractions and increases the sense of focus. I prefer off-site spaces that are still close and easily accessed. I don't want the driving journey to hinder the developmental journey.
Where you conduct your training matters. The right space and atmosphere can also build a sense of stability and safety. If done well (not extravagantly), it can enhance community and learning. I am finding that emerging leaders feel cared for and invested in if development is done thoughtfully and with the right environment in mind.
What are you learning?
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