Liderazgo, ¿se nace o se hace?

Transcribo algunas conclusiones del estudio Second Annual "America's Workforce" Study Reveals U.S. Managers Are the Country's Most Undertrained, Unappreciated Employee que encontré en este artículo de Forbes:

- Businesses frequently don’t value the front-line management role – 38% of respondents believe their company “doesn’t value the impact” of lower level management.

- Investment in front-line managers is a low priority – To the question, “In the last year my company has prioritized…” 57% answered “reducing expenses,” 52% answered “improving customer service” and 48% answered “technology upgrades.” Only 28% answered “investing in managers.”

- Businesses fail to take a long-term approach – 43% of respondents say their management training programs are often designed to “plug holes” and deal with short-term problems rather than with “long-term objectives that may be more strategic” in nature.

- Manager training efforts are choppy, not sustained – While the vast majority of respondents feel that sustained and consistent training is key to success, 82% “don’t strongly believe their company has been successful at manager development sustainment.”

- Leadership is skeptical of the benefits of training – 69% feel their leadership doesn’t see “an extremely strong link between effective manager training and business performance.”

- Success is hard to measure – 57% say it’s difficult to measure “the success of their current manager training programs.” Which of course helps explain the widespread lack of senior-level enthusiasm for investing in the function – and the need for HR and training organizations to emphasize tangible program measurement.

¿Cómo andaremos por nuestros pagos?

Leer esto me lleva a pensar en esa pregunta que muchos nos hemos hecho alguna vez: ¿los líderes nacen o se hacen?

Freddy Kofman en Metamanagement decía que había un poco de ambos. Dice que hay cualidades modificables (software) e inmodificables (hardware) y que esto, a su vez, varía de individuo a individuo. Dicho esto, por lo que parece difícil contestar la pregunta, no?

Sin embargo, también menciona a la plasticidad como la capacidad de cambiar y dice que es una meta-habilidad. Tal vez aquellos que tengan buena plasticidad sean aquellos que aún no habiendo nacido con aptitudes de liderazgo, puedan cambiar y llegar a ser buenos líderes.

Seguimos pensando..