Great leadership never goes out of style. One of my favourite memes recently has to be the 'when you order on Temu' images. In case you don’t know, Temu is an online fast fashion and a just-about-anything-you-can-imagine retailer based in China.

They’ve made waves with their ridiculously well-priced items. But, many shoppers have been fooled by their descriptions and pricing. And what they thought they bought, actually turned out to be way, WAY wrong. The wrong size, the wrong shape or colour. Just wrong. This has made for a hilarious bout of memes on popular social media sites like TikTok and Instagram.

What has this got to do with leadership development? Well, in the world of leadership development, the right fit matters as much as it does in your favourite pair of jeans (Temu or not)!

In this blog post, we’ll explore a range of leadership development frameworks, offer tips on finding the right fit for you and your organisation, and share why going custom made for leadership might be the best way.

So, grab your metaphorical measuring tape; we’ll help you to shape your leadership approach to fit your organisation's needs like a glove – not a Temu one!

What exactly is a leadership development framework?

No good clothing item is made without a pattern, a plan! In the same way, a leadership development framework is a plan that shows you what skills and behaviours are needed to be a good leader in an organisation. It defines the ‘what’ of your leadership development strategy and speaks to what your approach is.

Why does it matter?

Well, according to a report by Deloitte, 80% of people said that 21st-century leadership has new requirements that are important, or very important, for their organisation’s success and only 30% think they are good at developing leaders to handle new challenges. So, we agree: it’s needed for a successful business, but we’re not necessarily good at it. Or even knowing what ‘it’ is.

Having a leadership development framework and tying this in with a leadership development plan in your organisation acts like a guide to help craft leadership development skills and support leaders at every level of the organisation. But the thing is, going out there on the internet to find an already developed leadership framework, is much like buying clothing straight off the rack.

Why buying off the rack can sometimes be hit or miss

The thing with fast fashion and buying off the rack is, it’s the same stuff that’s available to everyone else but just in different sizes. Don’t get me wrong, I love a good Kmart or Shein find, it’s affordable and does the trick, and fits my budget. Plus it beats having nothing to wear. But as soon as I walk around the corner, there might be four other people wearing the same outfit as me.

And while fast fashion may be more affordable, there are also sustainability and longevity issues with these garments. They tend to only last or look good for a short while.

It’s also very rare that my affordable find really expresses my individual style. It’s more an expression of the styles that are popular right now, and heavens, right now crop tops are back in fashion. What I’m trying to say is, a crop top is a great fit for someone who wants to show off their abs or perhaps a teen, in my opinion, but it’s not really my personal style and doesn’t show me off best. Does the leadership framework you’re considering show off your leadership abs? Or is your leadership framework more of a fast-fashion piece that will last short term and make little to no behavioural impact on your leaders?

‘Ready-to-wear’ leadership development frameworks

Think about leadership frameworks in the same way: there’s a bunch of stuff out there that you can Google and tweak the words to apply to your organisation. A whole bunch of models and frameworks at your disposal. But does it really reflect your organisation’s leadership approach the best? Isn’t this the same as going to a fast-fashion retailer and buying inexpensive clothes that look great on the model but then not so much on you? Or buying a swimsuit when you really need a coat?

Let’s park that idea for now, and say you were shopping from existing frameworks and ideas. There is some great leadership content and thoughts out there, developed by great people who’ve devoted their lives to the research and methodology behind those frameworks.

Let’s explore some of the different types of leadership development models and frameworks you could tap into for leadership.

The Transformational Leadership Framework

This leadership development framework and approach is about encouraging and motivating team members to come up with new ideas and make changes that will help your organisation succeed in the future. It focuses on leaders setting a good example, especially at executive level, building a strong organisational culture and helping employees feel responsible and independent at work.

The four elements of transformational leadership, conceptualised by leadership scholar Bernard M. Bass, showcase the importance of leading by example, fostering motivation through vision, connecting individually with team members, and promoting intellectual stimulation for innovation and growth.

Is this a good fit for your leaders and organisation?

Steve Jobs is probably one of the most well-known, transformational leaders. Even though his leadership style may have been controversial – we’re just focusing on the leadership framework and whether it’s fit for purpose in this forum. Think about Jobs’s organisation at the time, Apple. Apple was known for its innovation, mostly because Jobs encouraged employees and used transformational leadership to let everyone be creative. People who worked for him said he always pushed them to think beyond what they had done before. He encouraged them to come up with products people didn't even know they needed and to pursue these ideas with full effort.

Using transformational leadership was fit for Apple's way of working. But is it fit for your organisational context? Will it help your leaders to thrive in what they are doing for your people and your organisation and your customers every day?

The Servant Leadership Approach

Servant leadership focuses on the wellbeing of the people being served. This leadership development framework and approach, developed by Robert Greenleaf, challenges the traditional ‘Hero’ leadership style where leaders have all the control. Check out this quick clip from a recent Inspire Connect session where we talked about the Era of the Hero leader vs Servant leadership.

Instead, servant leadership promotes working together and supporting each other. It also encourages developing leadership skills in others. Kind of like a personal stylist who focuses on making their clients look and feel their best.

Greenleaf put forward 10 principles of servant leadership: listening; empathy; healing; awareness; persuasion; conceptualisation; foresight; stewardship; commitment to the growth of people and building community.

Using servant leadership was fitting for these organisations way of working. But is it fit for your organisational context? Will it help your leaders to thrive in what they are doing for your people and your organisation and your customers every day?

The Authentic Leadership Model

Authentic leadership is a style where leaders have high integrity, take responsibility for their actions, and make decisions based on principles, not just short-term success. They follow their values in their daily actions, which helps them earn the trust of employees, peers and shareholders. This creates a friendly work environment and improves team performance.

Ever heard of a classic wardrobe staple that never goes out of style? I think you can never go wrong with authenticity; it will always be in style and fitting.

Authentic leadership is about the ability to create the space for people to have comfort and confidence to show up as themselves and know they’ll be supported in that.

But what if someone is authentically a jerk? And being authentic means they can just be and say anything to others? We think there needs to be caution when this model is haphazardly thrown around in businesses. How we frame up authenticity matters.

According to HBS online, authentic leaders aim to build meaningful relationships with their team while working toward goals related to the organisation's mission and purpose, not just its profits. 
But, does authentic leadership hold benefit for your organisation? Is it right for your organisational context? Only you can answer that question.

The Situational Leadership® Model

Like dressing for the occasion, you wouldn’t want to wear your winter coat out on a hot summer's day.

How it works

The Situational Leadership® methodology is based on the relationship between leaders and followers and provides a framework to analyse each situation based on the Performance Readiness® Level that a follower exhibits in performing a specific task, function or objective. Then, based on the leader’s diagnosis, the necessary amounts of relationship behaviour and task behaviour are applied and communicated to the follower in order to support their needs and advance development.

See https://situational.com/situational-leadership/ for more about this methodology.

Hey good looking!

We need to have a look in the mirror every now and then. In leadership, it’s important to see how we are shaping up, to reflect on whether our leadership practices, habits and style are serving our people well. This is where feedback comes into play.

Our thoughts on the 360-degree feedback system

Ever step into a fitting room in a clothing store and encounter one of those mirrors that shows you all the angles? Suddenly you can see your new jeans from every angle, and maybe some angles are more flattering than others, or maybe you’re surprised, and they look much better than you thought!

Unlike a typical leadership assessment, a 360-degree leadership assessment is a tool to evaluate and enhance leadership performance from all angles. It works by gathering comprehensive feedback and insights from multiple perspectives including peers, superiors, team members and a self-assessment. It’s intent is to help you gain a holistic understanding of leadership development strengths, areas for improvement and growth opportunities.

What are some of the common challenges of 360-degree feedback?

Sometimes giving and receiving feedback can be hit or miss in organisations using a tool like this. People are often apprehensive about getting feedback because they’re scared of negative results. And it’s true, feedback can be biased or wrong because of personal relationships, or lack of them. This highlights the importance of guiding people on how to give feedback and make it clear, since too much feedback or not specific-enough feedback can be confusing and hard to use. It needs to be helpful and match your organisation’s leadership development goals.

There could also be legal issues, like keeping feedback private, making sure it’s fair and not discriminatory, documenting everything to avoid legal problems, and being careful with negative feedback to avoid defamation.

Giving leadership feedback the right way

We’ve been having more conversations with our clients about the spaces their leaders create to enable open feedback with their people. We encourage our clients to approach feedback using connection and relationships as a base and to create authentic times and spaces where feedback can be given.

If you are leaning towards using the 360-tool for feedback, here are a few tips to get the most out of what it can give.

• Keep it anonymous. This helps people give and receive honest and objective responses.

• Make it clear and communicate the process and its benefits to all participants.

• Help people to give and receive feedback effectively. (We can help you with that 😉.)

• Set SMART objectives for the feedback process.

• Make it meaningful by including and combining feedback results with a personal or leadership development plan.

• Don’t just leave it there. Follow up on feedback to monitor progress and change, make it part of your organisation’s leadership development programme.

When you order leadership development off ‘Temu’

Which one is the right fit for your organisation?

There are many more amazing and well-thought-out leadership development frameworks and models out there to choose from. Too many to mention here. And chances are, some of them may be a good fit for your leaders. But chances are also, some of it won’t fit the context of your organisation really well. You may well end up being a “Temu-meme”. Ouch!

A designer piece

If you want to get the best fit in the clothing world – you go with custom made. You’d go to a designer, who comes up with a unique clothing piece that expresses your individuality – that looks like no other piece out there. But most importantly, that’s fit for purpose. Do you need a runway piece? Do you need active wear? Do you need a scuba suit? The context really matters.

Next steps are where a tailor looks at your style, your body shape, your exact measurements, and helps tweak a clothing piece to fit you exactly.

If purpose built and custom made is what you are into – let us help you weave and craft a showstopping leadership look. Get in touch.

Tips for choosing the most fit-for-purpose framework for your organisation.

Have a go at answering these questions for yourself and/or your organisation to help you make a starter for 10.

1. What are my/our organisation’s leadership strengths? What style of leadership does this suit? How does this build the organisational culture we want?
2. Do we currently follow a leadership development framework or a leadership development model? Is it working for us?
3. What is your leadership development strategy and how does this line up with your organisation’s strategic objectives and values? Does it build the culture you want to grow?
4. What are the leadership development areas we need to grow? Why?
5. How are we measuring whether our leaders are living and breathing our leadership development skills, values and capabilities?
6. Are our leaders guided by an individualised, robust and intentional leadership development plan? Check out this leadership development plan example for inspiration.
7. Do we offer leadership development training courses or other learning that hits the mark?
8. Do we have leadership development training or learning about the attitudes, behaviours and skills we want our leaders to have?
9. What does the future of leadership look like in our organisation? Will our chosen leadership development model guide us there?
10. How are we growing our up-and-coming leaders through a leadership development programme?
11. Do we need to engage leadership development experts to help us achieve these goals? (We can help you with that 😉.)

Wrap-up

There really is no one-size-fits-all when it comes to leadership development frameworks. The key is to find what fits best for your organisation and its unique needs. And, chances are, custom made is the best way to support your leaders.

Remember, like a perfectly tailored outfit, the right leadership style should enhance your team’s strengths and address its challenges. By understanding and applying different leadership development models, you can craft a leadership development strategy that not only boosts performance but also fosters growth and innovation.

So, take these insights and start crafting your leadership approach. After all, great leaders aren’t born, they’re shaped by the right guidance and support, creating opportunities and implementing those tools and frameworks appropriately.

Here’s to fitting leadership into your organisational fabric and creating a culture where everyone thrives!

Want some help to get the right fit?

We can help you! Check out our Leadership Development work and get in touch today.