Companies hire employees based on their talents – but those talents don’t always translate into good leadership skills.
Jeff Geffert from Dale Carnegie Training, a company that trains thousands of people each year through leadership classes, said the two main aspects of leadership that people need help with are lack of communication skills and “lousy people skills.”
Many times the employees have the right knowledge to do the job, but lack the training to be able to work with people, he said.
Training can be expensive and time-consuming, but companies find many times that leadership training for employees can reap big rewards. “Companies pay millions for equipment. Why wouldn’t they invest in their people?”
In Dale Carnegie classes, all participants must work on a project that will either fix, improve or create a process that benefits the company, Geffert said. In a recent class, employees at a medical institution developed a time-saving process that could potentially save the company tens of thousands of dollars each month, he said.
Maurie Llawrence, who heads leadership education and training efforts at Greenville-based Wyche PA, said leadership programs are an important part of the company culture.
“What’s most important is having a culture that promotes leadership development because it’s not a one-time check-box thing,” she said. “For us to retain and recruit the best attorneys, one big question is, ‘What types of programs do you have that will help me professionally?’”
Lawrence said the firm’s model has been to use internal tools, “but we use and believe in using well-established and well-recognized programs and conferences.”
Leadership Greenville, part of the Greenville Chamber of Commerce’s LEAD Programs, offers business leaders a chance to develop and get involved in the community.
Tami Miller, manager of LEAD programs, said sending employees through leadership training is one of the keys for attracting and retaining talent. Leadership Greenville has been in the community for 41 years and has graduated many community leaders and even former U.S. Sen. Jim DeMint, she noted.
Wil Brasington, chairman of LEAD and graduate of Leadership Greenville, said going through the program gave him access to training under experts, a broadened perspective of community issues and engaging with people from many different backgrounds.
“I came out of this program being friends with people I would have never crossed paths with,” Brasington said. Part of being a leader is the ability to work with people who think differently than you do, he said.
Some may fear that employees will leave the company for a competitor once they have received leadership training, but Lawrence said the potential for employees leaving the company doesn’t concern her.
“In our line of work, you want the best employees. You actually want your employees to be targeted by a whole bunch of other companies,” she said. “But if they’re invested in your culture and your culture is unique, then you’re not worried about the phone call.”
Staff writer Ashley Boncimino contributed to this article.
