Set your frontline leaders up for success

If you’ve ever searched up leadership training, you’ll know there’s an overwhelming number of options out there.  But when it comes to creating positive, sustained change, how can you tell what’s really going to deliver return on investment for your workplace?

Here’s five ways to set your frontline leadership training up for the best chance of success.

1. Establish return on investment baselines and agreed metrics for success well before the first icebreaker even gets planned. Metrics should be firmly linked to operational outcomes.  For instance, if a learner leads out a waste reduction initiative, how can you make sure it’s quantified in terms of a dollar value?  Track to metrics, communicate and celebrate the ROI.
2. Bring the whole workplace along with you. Leadership isn’t just with one person – and a great frontline leader won’t thrive in a culture where senior leaders aren’t walking the talk.  Use the workshops to bring in members of your senior leadership team to share stories and build relationship.
3. Make sure the everyday infrastructure supports positive frontline leadership changes. Systems and process form the scaffolding for how you want leaders to behave, for example: If you want your frontline leaders to prioritise recognition and feedback, your systems have to make that visible and valued – whether it’s a monthly one to one sit down, a shout out at daily team brief, or clearly communicated via KPIs.  Lay the groundwork at systems level to support and guide your leaders.
4. Can your front line leaders tell you openly what the barriers to performance might be? Tell you about their own mistakes without fear of blame? Think about how you can role-model a culture of psychological safety – it’s a critical success factor of high performing teams (McKinsey, 2023)
5. (Co)design leadership learning that transfers directly into day to day work – how can learners apply what they are learning?  Why does it matter to them?  How can they draw connections from the workshop to the real world of work? These factors make the learning engaging, enjoyable and worth it – for everyone involved.

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 Read about our leadership course at Print NZ