Leadership skill gap is emerging as one of the topmost challenges for organizations. Most organizations across the world are spending a hefty amount of money on leadership programs for experienced professionals at a swift pace. The primary aim is to groom the next-in-command or top performers for the leadership positions. Statistics indicate that 84% of the organizations predict a shortfall of leaders in the next 5 years. However, only 5% have fully implemented development at all levels.

Why is Leadership Training Gaining Prominence?

There are two sets of people for whom leadership training is important in the organizations – those who have to lead and those who want to lead. The first set comprises Gen X and to some extent, baby boomers who are entrusted with managing the millennial workforce. The second set includes the millennials themselves.

The workplace expectations of millennials are very different. A PwC report titled ‘Millennials at Work: Reshaping the Workplace’ states that this generation will form 50% of the total global workforce. Apart from tech-savvy offices and work-life balance, career progression is their top priority. One of their other main concerns is working with older generations and value mentors as the latter’s mindsets, personal drive and lack of understanding of technology do not match. These gaps between both generations can be addressed only through well-designed leadership development training.

Millennials also place leadership as one of the most valued skills when choosing an employer. This is also highlighted in a Millennial Leadership Survey according to which:

• 91% of millennials aspire to be a leader.
• 43% of millennials are motivated to be a leader to empower others.
• 83% of millennials prefer fewer layers of management.
• 55% of millennials said they aren’t satisfied with the leadership development opportunities offered by their company.

The survey also revealed that 68% of millennials prefer online training. Now, while Gen X and baby boomers may be comfortable with both classroom and online learning modules, the preference of millennials is clearly in the favour of an executive leadership program.

Also Read: 10 Benefits of Leadership Courses

What are the Advantages of Online Leadership Training?

On-the-Go Training: Online training can be accessed anywhere, anytime from any internet-connected device. This perfectly suits millennials who love everything that is technology. They can accommodate their training schedules flexibly in between their work and life demands.

Customized to Personal Learning Styles: Every individual has his or her own learning style – some prefer to go slow and others like to skim through quickly, some prefer theory and others like to work with illustrations and video tutorials. Since online learning courses offer a host of mediums and different paces of learning, they can be personalized to suit own preferences.

Improved Pedagogy: Most e-learning training programmes are designed on the lines of interactive and gamification formats. Research indicates that such formats give learners an opportunity to experiment with the real-world applications, retain the learning faster and longer, and engage more productively.

Consumes Less Employee Time: In the traditional classroom training format, especially the ones that happen in the off-site locations, employees have to dedicate several work hours. This results in a loss of productivity. However, in the case of online programmes, employees neither have to travel nor allocated fixed working hours. They can take the training at their convenience from anywhere. A study has reported that e-learning requires 40-60% less time than the conventional setting.

Easy to Update: In today’s world, everything literally changes in the blink of an eye! If your today’s and future leaders don’t stay abreast of the latest developments in the market, your organization can lag behind the competitors. Online courses ensure every new trend or concept can be easily integrated into real-time.

As far as benefits to organizations are concerned, online training is the most cost-effective option. There are significant savings on the cost of infrastructure, study materials, trainers and commutation. It is also an eco-friendly alternative!

The first step to developing an online leadership development training programme is to identify your organization’s leadership needs and which leadership skills you are looking to develop in your employees. For instance, a vice president of marketing may need to learn how to motivate his sales team. Whereas, a sales manager aspiring to become a marketing head would prefer comprehensive leadership training.

Depending on your leadership needs, your organization can develop a number of online leadership development training. A few of the popular courses are:

• Leadership styles and tendencies
• Leadership attributes
• Motivational leadership
• Steps to effective leadership development
• How to lead a multi-generational workforce
• Grooming future leaders
• Leadership and strategic management

Online leadership development training can enable both amateur and seasoned leaders to hone their skills. By conducting such programmes, you are giving an opportunity to your employees to climb the corporate ladder.

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