Diane Belcher, Author at Harvard Business Publishing

How to Develop Leadership Fitness in Your Organization

Diane Belcher — Wed, 24 Apr 2024 10:36:47 +0000

IN BRIEF: Research shows that the four dimensions of leadership fitness: Balance, Strength, Flexibility, and Endurance, can be cultivated over time. The learning cycle for leadership fitness development: Challenge Thinking, Develop Strategies, and Test Approaches, differs from traditional skill building. The importance of ongoing intentional development of leadership fitness at both individual and organizational levels, aiming for leaders to thrive in the dynamic landscape of modern leadership. In the previous post, we introduced you to the four dimensions of leadership fitness that were uncovered in our recent research—Balance, Strength, Flexibility and Endurance.[i] We referred to these dimensions as “capacities”—underlying qualities […]

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Leadership Fitness: Four Capacities Leaders Must Develop

Diane Belcher — Tue, 09 Apr 2024 12:08:42 +0000

IN BRIEF: The most significant barrier to human-centered leadership—and to effective leadership in general—is that leaders may lack certain underlying capacities required to operate in this new environment. We identified four capacities leaders must develop—what we call the four dimensions of Leadership Fitness: Balance, Strength, Flexibility, and Endurance. Each dimension has an aspect of seeing differently, making sense of what is happening all around, as well as leading differently, and taking purposeful action. Even those of us who don’t watch much (or any) college basketball have probably heard of Caitlin Clark. She recently broke the all-time NCAA basketball scoring record […]

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The Case for Leadership Character

Diane Belcher — Tue, 13 Feb 2024 12:30:00 +0000

IN BRIEF: Research shows that organizations with leaders who achieve high character scores have an average return on assets five times higher than those with low character scores. Leadership character extends beyond just ethics and includes traits like compassion, willingness to serve others, and forgiveness. Character plays a significant role in decision making and performance, and it’s important for leaders at all levels, not just those in senior roles. When we think of leaders who possess character, we typically envision ethical behaviors such as telling the truth, standing up for what’s right, and treating others fairly. The notion of “ethics” […]

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The Global Workforce is Shrinking. How Should L&D Respond?

Diane Belcher — Tue, 14 Nov 2023 13:39:50 +0000

IN BRIEF: The talent pool available to companies is shrinking due to factors like an aging workforce and declining birthrates, creating a need for stronger engagement and retention practices. Investing in leadership development is a strategic move that benefits both individual employees and the organization, leading to increased retention and higher employee engagement. Three best practices for effective leadership development include rethinking career development for the contemporary workforce, elevating the senior leader’s role in learning and development, and training leaders around critical skills that drive employee engagement and retention. It’s a demographically undeniable fact: the talent pool available to companies […]

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Frontline Leaders Are Hungry for Development. Can Organizations Deliver?

Diane Belcher — Fri, 31 Mar 2023 13:00:11 +0000

Frontline leaders crave development opportunities. That’s encouraging for those tasked with developing the capabilities of the people leaders who supervise an estimated 80% of the workforce.[i] The not-so-great news? There’s a gap between what frontline managers want from their leadership development experiences and what companies deliver. Today’s frontline leaders are highly motivated to grow and learn—about topics that reach far beyond what’s been traditionally served up to them. Companies that don’t respond to the interests of this vital segment of their workforce face an uphill battle in retention, employee engagement, and more. Here are the areas where these frontline […]

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Tough Times, Good Habits: Learning from a Crisis

Diane Belcher — Tue, 17 Mar 2020 20:44:08 +0000

As I was washing my hands this morning and singing my song of the day (“Tomorrow,” from the Broadway musical Annie was today’s choice), I started to think about how my habits have changed over recent weeks in response to the threat of COVID-19. I’ve always been a hand washer but I’ve certainly upped my game in terms of frequency and duration. I suspect that when this threat passes I will continue to wash my hands more often, but I’m guessing I’ll only make it through one verse of my favorite tune. The upside to any crisis is that we […]

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Understanding Your Learners to Future-Proof Your Workforce

Diane Belcher — Tue, 08 Oct 2019 13:00:58 +0000

It’s that time of year when many young people are applying to university. I have the privilege of crossing paths with many bright, eager individuals who are considering their future. Between my friend’s niece who is using a spreadsheet (complete with pivot tables) to analyze her choices and track her applications, and my neighbor who asked me to review her LinkedIn profile, the college application experience is very different from my own many years ago! These young people have different skills and different expectations as they enter the “real world.” It’s a great reminder that these students are the learners […]

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Getting Personal with Learning

Diane Belcher — Thu, 14 Mar 2019 04:01:02 +0000

You may have seen today’s announcement that Harvard Business Publishing Corporate Learning is partnering with Degreed, a leading technology provider whose skill-development platform connects learners to resources. And I’m excited that the next release of Harvard ManageMentor® Spark™ will leverage Degreed’s industry-leading learning platform to help organizations create the culture of continuous learning that is so essential in today’s fast-paced and complex world. What is the key to building this sort of culture? Providing the type of personalized, learner-driven experience that today’s learners are looking for. What today’s learners expect—and need Jobs are more demanding, time is more crunched, and there’s […]

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Finding The Time To Teach In Small Moments

Diane Belcher — Thu, 01 Mar 2018 14:18:07 +0000

Recently, I was in Atlanta, Georgia for a quick trip centered around a presentation at the Training 2018 conference. While these kinds of trips can often feel busy and frenetic, they can also provide quiet time—moments to stop and reflect that aren’t always part of our day-to-day. Between sitting on the plane, riding in Ubers and eating dinner at the hotel bar, I found myself with a bit of time to just pause and think. My presentation at the conference was about how to turn busy leaders into teachers to help engage employees and grow organizations. In my downtime, I found […]

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Helping Leaders Become Teachers Is Hard, But It’s Worth It

Diane Belcher — Wed, 08 Nov 2017 19:33:16 +0000

The value of leaders being teachers When your leaders play a teaching role, the upside is tremendous. Having leaders who are closely engaged in formal employee development brings much-needed context and direction to work. Providing such context and direction helps establish a consistent and clear message across the organization – especially important in times of great complexity. Leaders are uniquely positioned to present concepts within their company’s specific context, and to show employees how learning aligns with business strategy and goals. This context takes learning from abstract to practical, as leaders connect the dots for employees and help them see […]

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