In organizational development, leadership development is the strategic investment in, and utilization of, the human capital within the organization. The field of organizational development (OD) is concerned with the performance, development, and effectiveness of human organizations. ... Human capital is a way of defining and categorizing peoples skills and abilities as used in employment and otherwise contribute to the economy. ... An organization is a formal group of people with one or more shared goals. ...

Day (2001) distinguished between leader versus leadership development.

Leader development focuses on the development of the leader, such as the personal attributes desired in a leader, desired ways of behaving, ways of thinking or feeling.

In contrast, leadership development focuses on the development of leadership as a process. This will include the social influence process and the team dynamics between the leader and his/her team at the dyad level, the contextual factors surrounding the team such as the perception of the organizational climate and the social network linkages between the team and other groups in the organization.

Both forms of development may mutually influence each other, as exemplified in the concept of "Deep Change" in Quinn's 1996 book of the same title.

Typically, leader development has focused on 3 main areas - providing the opportunities for development, stimulating the ability to develop (including motivation, skills and knowledge for change), and providing a supportive context for change to occur (see McCauley, 2001).

Leadership development can build on the development of individuals (including followers) to become leaders. In addition, it also needs to focus on the interpersonal linkages between the individuals in the team.

In the belief that the most important resource that an organization possesses is the people that comprise the organization, some organizations address the development of these resources (even including the leadership). In common usage, leadership generally refers to: the position or office of an authority figure, such as a President [1] a position of office associated with technical skill or experience, as in a team leader or a chief engineer a group of influential people, such as a union leadership [2...

Leadership development can encompass any number of developmental processes including:

• talent identification and management
• individual development planning
• management development
• 360-degree feedback
• succession planning
• mentoring
• coaching

Talent identification and management consists of the ways by which an organization spots talent and develops it. ... Individual development planning (IDP) is the annual process, tied to business planning and the budget cycle, whereby the management in an organization establishes training goals and plans for the members of the organization. ... In organizational development (OD), the effectiveness of management is recognized as one of the determinants of organizational success. ... In human resources, 360-degree feedback is employee development feedback that comes from all around the employee. ... In Organizational development (OD), a critical task facing every organization is planning for succession in key roles, e. ... Some organizations have mentoring programs designed to promote employee development. ... A coach is a person who teaches and directs another person via encouragement and advice. ...

References

• Day, D. (2000). Leadership Development: A review in context. The Leadership Quarterly, 11, 581-614.
• McCauley, C. D. (2001). Leader training and development. In The nature of organizational leadership. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
• Quinn, R. E. (1996). Deep change: Discovering the leader within. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

External links

• Leadership training simulations (http://www.simulearn.net/leadershiptraining.html)
• Capability Development & Organisational Development Experts [1] (http://www.ott-consulting.co.uk)
• Carter McNamara's Free Online Library (http://www.managementhelp.org/)
• Institutions
  • LeadershipNow (http://www.leadershipnow.com)
  • The Center for Creative Leadership in Greensboro, North Carolina: (http://www.ccl.org/index.shtml)
  • Linkage, Inc. (http://www.linkageinc.com/)
  • The Corporate Leadership Council (http://www.corporateleadershipcouncil.com/)