Richard Lim, Psy.D. and Mirasol Delmar, Psy.D.
The following interview was conducted by Dr. William Bergquist with Dr. Richard Lim and Dr. Mirasol Delmar, two experts in the field of leadership development who provide their consulting and training services in the Asian countries of Singapore and Indonesia. The following topics were the focus of this interview: (1) what are the key challenges that leaders face where a leadership development program can make a difference, (2) who do you think should be involved in a leadership development program (and how might it differ, if at all, from a management development program), (3) what role (if any) should be played by various assessment tools (both style inventories like IPI and 360 assessments) in leadership development programs, and (4) what is the role played by coaching in helping to make a leadership development program something that has sustained results
Here are some of the key points made by Drs. Lim and Delmar:
(1) Leaders are faced with the multifaceted challenge of VUCA (volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity)
(2) Leadership should ultimately be found at all levels of an organization, with critical decisions being made by teams rather than isolated individuals.
(3) Leadership development is focused on the future and the use of new cuttin-eged practices; whereas management development tends to focus on established and proven practices. Both modes of development are important.
(4) We are likely to see a greater emphasis in the near future on leadership styles and strategies that are coach-like. Coach-based leadership development programs are those most likely to be directly relevant to the challenges of VUCA and to the expansion of these programs to all members of an organization.
(5) The unique challenges of providing leadership development programs in Asia center on both the collective perspective found in most Asian cultures interwoven with the traditional emphasis on hierarchy and centralized control.