According to Mckinsey research, leaders who focus on growth generate 80 percent more shareholder value than their peers over a ten-year period. When a leader makes a conscious, explicit choice to focus on revenue growth, it impacts the way they show up, creating a ripple effect across the entire organization.
Not only does this have a positive impact on shareholder value, but it also has a positive effect on the organization and its team members through influencing culture and ambition and creating a shared purpose. However, growth is not a given - according to research, a quarter of companies don’t grow at all and “between 2010 and 2019, only one in eight achieved more than 10 percent revenue growth annually” (McKinsey, 2022). Supporting leaders through leadership development is important in unlocking an organization's growth potential.
Why invest in leadership development?
Leadership development and growth have both a qualitative and a quantitative positive effect on a company. When leaders are focused on the growth of the business, as well as their personal transformation, shareholder value created grows, as we saw above. Revenues also increase — growth leaders are 2.4x more likely to outperform their peers and industry competitors in profits.
Leadership development improves employee engagement
In addition to this, employees love working for leaders who have a growth mindset. The leader’s mindset can improve employee satisfaction and retention because employees feel motivated and driven when they see someone with a clear vision steering the organization.
Focusing on growth, leaders often create ambitious goals and inspiring visions for the company and for themselves. This future-forward planning can unite the team and give the collective a unified North Star to follow. Employees will be directly impacted by their leader displaying a positive attitude and an open-minded outlook to change.
A leader’s development and growth mindset is the perfect embodiment of “leading by example.” What’s more inspiring than someone relentlessly executing their vision and inviting the team to join them in the process? Contrast that with a leader who is bogged down in the details, burnt out, and not able to unify and motivate the team in meetings. It is a totally different feeling that will radiate throughout the organization.
What leadership development looks like
Leadership development is a balance between exploring personal growth for the leader and enhancing the leader’s ability to mentor and lead the organization through any change, specifically, the change needed in order to achieve growth.
Leadership development entails working on qualities and skills that become a great leader, such as:
- Developing qualities of strong leaders, such as emotional intelligence
- Focusing on effective communication and the ability to have difficult conversations
- Optimizing work in a hybrid setting
- Leading with confidence through change and adapting existing strategies
