“The single biggest way to impact an organization is to focus on leadership development. There is almost no limit to the potential of an organization that recruits good people, raises them up as leaders and continually develops them.”  — John Maxwell

I love that quote. It’s pithy, but also includes some hidden challenges. You can’t just snap your fingers and develop leadership in form and fashion to drive your organization.

The main thrust of the quote is this: “The single biggest way to impact an organization is to focus on leadership development.”

In talking about leadership, perhaps you should broaden your definition of who the leaders are in your organization. Perhaps there are more leaders than your organizational chart dictates.

If leadership development is the single biggest way to impact an organization, why do so few companies take the time to develop leaders? More importantly, within those organizations where leadership development is taking place, which leaders are being developed?

Maybe you should consider that everyone in your organization is a leader. 

Some lead things you want. Others lead things you don’t want. 

In fact, you might even change your focus and begin training everyone to become a leader. Hourly. Salaried. Everyone.

Let’s begin with a few facts about leadership development. I’ve analyzed the differences between companies that employ command and control versus those that emphasize servant leadership. I’ve come up with some interesting factoids:

The top 500 companies in the United States list leadership development among the top three imperatives for success.

Of the roughly 18.2 million companies in the U.S., 70 percent — 12.7 million — list leadership as a business imperative for both their short- and long-term success.

Of those 12.7 million companies, 66 percent — 8.3 million — list leadership development as the top imperative for success.

Of those 8.3 million companies, 30 percent — 2.5 million —  admit they miss the mark when it comes to leadership development.

Yet, “hate my job” and “hate my boss” consistently rank among the top reasons people cite when discussing job dissatisfaction in employee engagement surveys year after year.

Those 2.5 million companies believe leadership remains a top imperative for success, they need assistance in driving the correct leadership development and recognize what the correct leadership can do for their organization. 

That means there are only 2.5 million companies on the U.S. that realize the significance of the right leadership development.