In this recessionary period, many business leaders across the world are turning to a variety of solutions to help them build a solid set of leadership to help them (and their business) weather the recession as well as possible.

Leadership isn't just a simple case of charisma + confidence + likeability. It's a complicate web of factors and past events that create a unique culture in every single organization. Leadership won't just help protect the jobs of senior managers  but also employees as well. This is because better led companies are more successful, and thus have a higher chance of surviving the recession.

Now that we've concluded that good leadership will certainly benefit companies in the long run - let’s look at the different solutions available to senior managers to choose from.

There are public leadership classes and larger seminars, smaller leadership training courses, or one on-one leadership coaching. As a simple rule - the methods become more expensive as the service becomes more personal. Each type of leadership development comes with benefits and drawbacks, so let’s look at each one in turn.

Leadership Seminars and large leadership classes.

Good leadership seminars carry a cost of between £70 and £500 to attend, and this can be far higher if the class comes as part of a larger conference. The motivational speakers are usually publicly acclaimed, but their speeches won't be targeted at your industry, never mind your individual company, and thus despite the high ticket price - a lot of work needs to be put in afterwards when the senior manager needs to convert what they've heard into a practical strategy to implement in their organization. Many managers will find it hard to allocate enough time to this activity, and hence the benefit of the seminar will be all but wasted.

Leadership Training Courses

Leadership training courses generally cost between £800-£2000 for a course that will last several days. The manager will clearly be 'out of action' for an extended period during this time, and such, there is the added cost of having to find a temporary replacement just as if they had gone on holiday.

These courses deal with fewer individuals, and there is two-way communication between the students and teacher in such a way that the inherent value of the course is far greater. Not only are ideas and facts more likely to spark imagination when they can be discussed and debated, but some personalized advice can also be gleaned from these discussions.

Leadership Coaches

Leadership coaches charge around £100 per hour and travel to your office and thus creates a small problem for HR than the other two options. Leadership coaches I would describe as being a cross between a leadership speaker and a consultant, because of the way they will analyze the specific issues at the company, and tailor leadership skills and solutions to deal with them directly.

This means leadership coaches oversee some of the implementation, which ensures a higher success rate, but they can also provide critique on the manager’s behavior and current initiatives, and this feedback is valuable.

In conclusion, these different solutions vary in cost and value to the company. For a proactive manager - a seminar could perhaps be all that is necessary. But for large companies where marginal increases in performance equate to very vast sums of money - it's worth spending the extra money to hire a leadership coach/consultant who will maximize the benefit of leadership to the company.

But of course, you must always bear in mind, that the coach cannot run the company themselves - and thus if the CEO is skeptical and unwilling to comply with the coaches recommendations - the benefits may be limited.