Have you ever wondered why qualified, skilled and knowledgeable leaders fail to reach their ultimate goal? The answers could vary, but one thing is certain: high performance demands more than proper training, it demands continuous development.
As simple as it might seem, many people cannot distinguish the difference between training and development and use the terms interchangeably as if they were synonyms, when in reality they clearly are not.
The renowned leadership coach Mike Myatt has summed up the main differences between training and development, and I could not agree more with the following:
- Training focuses on technique and content, development focuses on people.
- Training focuses on the present while development focuses on the future.
- Training focuses mainly on problems but development focuses on solutions.
- Training focuses on the known, development explores the unknown.
- Training is finite but development is infinite.
I personally like the last point the best as it explains development perfectly. Apart from acknowledging that development is infinite, I think we need to emphasise that training mostly takes place in a classroom while development is long-term learning that extends far beyond the classroom and continues long after the PowerPoint presentation is finished.
To illustrate this, let’s liken running a business in today’s fast-moving economy amid incessant competition to fighting in a war. The only way to survive is for your employees to act as soldiers on the battlefield, not afraid of any unforeseen challenges or opponents.
While it is true that training your employees or even your leaders is like training soldiers and commanders, it is obvious that there is no training that can fully equip your people and get them ready for the battlefield. All you can do in a training session is provide knowledge and skills limited to the classroom, when what they really need is hands-on experience. Most of all, they need capability not competence — in other words, they need to know how and be able to apply knowledge into practice.
Now that we have established clearly that training and development are two different concepts, would you still consider using training to further the growth of your organisation and your people? Do you still think that training alone will take your organisation to where you wish it to be?
Apart from failing to distinguish between training and development, most companies that fail to reach their destination blame the shortcoming on a lack of leaders. What they fail to understand is that in reality their organisation might be lacking of leadership, not leaders themselves.
You may ask: what is the difference between the two terms? Is it mere semantics? I’d say no. There are several conceptual and operational differences. According to influential research by the leadership scholar David Day, the core difference is that in developing a leader, the focus is on human capital, while leadership development involves social capital.
The orientation toward human capital, Prof Day explains, emphasises the development of individual capabilities, e.g. self-awareness, self-regulation or self-motivation, which are the foundation of intrapersonal capability. On the other hand, an orientation toward social capital underlines the development of “reciprocal obligations and commitments” built on a foundation of mutual trust and respect.
The definitions above might be a bit academic or abstract for some, but I think they do the job well in helping us understand the fine distinction between the two terms.
However, in the most common and basic interpretation, I’d say that when we talk about a leader, it implies merely the title or position, whereas leadership refers to the characteristics or traits displayed by people to show that they can lead. In this sense, leadership can be added to organisations to improve overall performance, e.g. by recruiting more capable leaders.
So, let’s think back and ask yourself if your organisation is in need of leaders or leadership. Once you’ve answered that question, you can find the right path toward filling the gaps.
However, it is essential to remember that despite the differences, it is imperative that organisations view both concepts as reciprocal rather mutually exclusive. You must plan to develop both accordingly so that the organisation can benefit from both leaders and leadership.
Now you should have a better understanding about the differences between developing and training as well as leadership and leaders. Yet, you may still be asking why the leaders within your organisations cannot achieve their targets. The answers could be many and the list could go on forever. However, the most common problem is that the business landscape is changing rapidly.
To be able to compete in the future, organisations need to be flexible and adaptive to constant change. I’ll delve into this topic further and propose several solutions in the next article.
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Arinya Talerngsri is Group Managing Director at APMGroup, Thailand’s leading Organisational and People Development Consultancy. For more information, e-mail arinya_t@apm.co.th or visit www.apm.co.th