Creating a quality leadership development program that achieves the results your organization needs can seem like a daunting task. After delivering our own cohort-based leadership development program dozens of times, we’ve learned what works, and we’re breaking down how to build your own in eight easy steps.
The effectiveness of your leaders impacts every aspect of your organization, from employee engagement and productivity, to retention and satisfaction, to your business's financial results:
The Center for Creative Leadership (CCL) found that leadership accounts for 70% of the variance in employee engagement.
A study by Harvard Business Review revealed that leadership quality is the single most important factor in employee productivity.
The Society for Human Resource Management found that leadership style and behavior are key drivers of employee satisfaction and retention.
Organizations that prioritize leadership development are 4.2x more likely to outperform their peers (CCL).
59% of Millennials say learning and growing are extremely important when applying for a job.
63% of employees believe company training is a way to bond with their team.
A Gallup study found that teams with managers who receive strengths-based development showed 8.9% greater profitability.
8 Steps To Developing A Leadership Program
When done well, leadership development programs can create a lasting positive impact on the organization. So, how do you design one? Let’s dive in...
#1 - Define The Focus
Each organization has its own idea of what management and leadership look like, with different definitions and expectations from one company to the next. Sometimes, this happens even within an organization.
We worked with a company that didn’t have consistent management experience across the team. Some managers spent a lot of time with their direct reports, giving them a lot of development and feedback. Others didn’t have that experience, and it created feelings of inequity. Bringing the team to the same level and communicating what was expected of everyone was essential.
ASK YOURSELF:
- What are the traits of a great leader?
- How does a great leader interact with others?
- What are the traits you never want to repeat?
- Are there pockets within the organization where leadership might look different? Why?
- How would your leaders rate themselves on these traits or behaviors?
Ideally, the senior team sits down and creates a vision for what leadership looks like in their organization. Perhaps your leaders are servant leaders, or perhaps your leaders also contribute. When you define what leadership looks like in your company, aligned with your talent management strategy, and clarify expectations, you’ll begin to see what areas your leadership development program needs to focus on.
And leadership may not look the same across your organization. Look at the challenges or needs of leaders at the level you’re providing this training. Because emerging leaders may need something different from middle managers or executive teams. Examine the values or traits you’d like your leaders to have or display.
For example, let’s say your organization decides there are five things every manager should do...
THAT MIGHT LOOK LIKE:
Set Clear Expectations:
Communicate goals, objectives, and expectations clearly to the team. Define roles, responsibilities, and performance standards and establish clear guidelines for workflow, deadlines, and deliverables to guide team members.
Provide Support And Guidance:
Offer coaching and guidance to team members to help them succeed. Provide resources, tools, and training to employees so they can perform their roles effectively. Be available to answer questions, address concerns, and provide feedback to support employee development.
Foster Communication And Collaboration:
Encourage open communication, feedback, and dialogue within the team. Facilitate collaboration, teamwork, and knowledge sharing among the team and across functions. Create a culture of trust, respect, and inclusivity that promotes communication and collaboration.
Develop And Empower Employees:
Identify development opportunities and career paths for team members to enhance their skills and capabilities. Delegate tasks, responsibilities, and decision-making authority to empower employees and promote autonomy. Provide opportunities for growth, learning, and advancement to foster employee engagement and retention.
Monitor Performance And Provide Feedback:
Regularly review and assess individual and team performance against goals and objectives. Provide constructive feedback, recognition, and coaching to help employees improve and excel in their roles. Address performance issues promptly, offer support, and create action plans for improvement when needed.
ARE YOU SETTING YOUR LEADERS UP FOR SUCCESS OR OVERWHELM?
When creating your own list of what’s expected from your leaders, remember also to consider how they should do these things, how they’ll be assessed on them, and how much time it should take them. Laying it all out like this will also allow you to see if your expectations are realistic.
Also, consider conducting a needs analysis to identify gaps between current leadership capabilities and the desired leadership skills you’ve identified. This involves understanding organizational goals, current challenges, and the specific skills and attitudes leaders need to develop to succeed.
#2 - Choose A Model
Next, you’ll need to decide what model to use for your program.
You could consider a self-paced online course. You could look into an external leadership development program at a place like The Center for Creative Leadership where participants learn in a cohort of leaders from different organizations and industries.
Or, you could consider a cohort-based program specifically designed to meet your organization's needs.
We believe the last option to be the best. When your leaders have the opportunity to learn in a group of their peers, they can build relationships, create a network of support, and work through the real issues they’re facing within the company.
#3 - Set Goals
It’s important to clarify your objectives for this program.
- What will the learning outcomes be?
- What will the expectations be for participants?
- Who gets to participate?
We suggest aligning your objectives with organizational goals and tailoring them to the specific needs of participants. Consider whether you’ll use a “push” approach (nominating participants) or a pull approach (allowing participants to apply). Ensure the selection process is fair and aligned with company values to enhance engagement and diversity.
Don’t forget to consider what happens when you hire a new leader externally or someone gets promoted from within. Will they have the chance to complete the entire program? Will you also create some kind of refresher course that introduces them to the expectations of leaders at your company?
We recommend giving new employees 90 days to settle into your organization before providing management training. This allows you to get to know their strengths and weaknesses, assess their knowledge, and give them time to learn the culture and understand the opportunities and challenges of their new role.
With 90 days under their belts, you’ll be able to set more personalized goals for their leadership training.
#4 - Assess The Baseline
To determine whether your leadership development program is effective, you need to begin with a baseline understanding of where your leaders are at right now. This will let you see the program's impact and measure your ROI.
You could use a combination of self-assessments, employee surveys, and 360 assessments to get a picture of the current state of your leadership. This is also a great time for leaders to create individual learning plans and set goals for what they would personally like to achieve during the program.
#5 - Decide On Key Topics
Now, you’ll want to decide which topics to include in your leadership development program.
HERE'S WHAT WE RECOMMEND:
Leadership Styles:
We love to include a discussion on leadership styles and allow participants to see what their personal preferences are, but also to understand that different styles can be very useful in different situations. And that they can be much more flexible, adaptive, and effective if they understand how to adopt different styles and when to do so. It also gives them a chance to see how their peers lead.
Communication Styles:
When you understand the different styles of communication and what they look like, you can customize how you speak and present information to give you the best chance of being heard and understood.
Processing Styles:
Understanding the different processing styles can give leaders insight into team dynamics. By recognizing their own and others' preferences, leaders can create an environment that leverages team strengths.
Conflict Styles:
When you are able to recognize how others respond to conflict you’re better equipped to manage the situation, help find common ground, and work towards a solution. This also allows leaders to be more aware of how they respond during conflict and how they might respond differently.
Emotional Intelligence:
Emotional intelligence means that you can recognize, understand, manage, and effectively express your emotions. It requires self-awareness and self-regulation. It’s also about being able to perceive, interpret, and respond to the feelings of others. So, it requires social awareness and relationship management. These skills are essential for leaders in so many ways.
According to a report by the World Economic Forum, emotional intelligence is ranked among the top 10 skills required for success in the workplace by 2025.
Coaching:
Many managers don’t understand how to have coaching conversations with their team members. But this is a great style to build rapport and trust, problem-solve, provide encouragement, and accountability. The Center for Creative Leadership (CCL) found that coaching is associated with higher levels of employee engagement, job satisfaction, performance, retention, and productivity.
Feedback:
Giving and receiving feedback can be delicate, no matter what side of the table you’re on. Harvard Business Review found that only 41% of managers feel confident in their ability to give feedback effectively. Gallup found that only 26% of employees strongly agree that the feedback they receive helps them do better at work. Yet, when done well, feedback can fuel growth and professional development. Because this is such a common issue, we recommend including it in your leadership development program.
Strength And Weakness:
We always recommend assessing strengths and weaknesses. The self-awareness from this exercise allows leaders to see where there may be gaps and how they might compensate for them. It also allows them to lean into their strengths and how they might capitalize on them to be more effective.
Strategic Thinking:
Many managers are more comfortable with tactics, with the “doing” than with the ability to step back, see the bigger picture, and strategize. Yet, moving from tactics to operations to strategy is essential for their role. Giving them space to explore what this looks like and practice it helps them lead more effectively.
Mindset:
When leaders learn how to adopt a growth mindset, they become more resilient and adaptable, setting them up for success in a fast-paced, constantly changing work environment. It also means they’re modeling a growth mindset for their teams.
Decide which topics you’ll include in your leadership development program. Are there other topics we didn’t mention that would be important for your organization?
#6 - Deliver The Program
Next, you’ll need to decide how you want to deliver the leadership development program. Remember to create an experience that caters to different learning styles so that everyone can feel engaged and ready to interact with the material.
Many leadership development programs are conducted over the span of a week. However, this delivery style can feel like they’re being given an overwhelming amount of information to learn, integrate, and implement all at once.
We recommend a full day of learning where you focus on one or two skills and then give leaders time to implement those skills in their everyday work life before they come back and learn the next two. This slower pace gives leaders time to practice and see the benefits of the changes they’re making, which motivates them to keep learning.
As for delivery on the day of training, many leadership development programs are prescriptive. They tell you what you should do and sometimes leave very little room for anything that falls short of the ideal.
We believe an experiential approach where people really get to talk through the situations they’re dealing with and try to apply them in real time, is much more effective. We suggest introducing a topic, allowing participants to interact with it, have some sort of discussion, apply it, and then reflect on it.
We also love the idea of designing action-learning projects or real-world assignments that allow leaders to apply new skills and knowledge in their work environment.
According to SHRM, 85% of employees at companies with more than 50 employees have no formal training.
You’ll also want to consider whether the facilitator should be an internal leader or an external expert. Each has pros and cons, but outsourcing may be beneficial if internal resources are lacking. Whoever you choose should have deep knowledge of leadership theory and excellent communication, interpersonal, and organizational skills. They should have the ability to effectively manage group dynamics, coach through challenging moments and have an understanding of adult learning principles. Effective facilitators can connect with and encourage active participation with attendees.
#7 - Add Coaching Elements
One of the elements that makes our leadership development program so successful is the addition of one-on-one coaching.
With a coach, participants can also work towards their own specific leadership goals that they identified in their individual learning plans. It allows for some customization of the program if you have a leader struggling in a specific area. It also allows us to see what’s happening in the culture and some of the issues that might be going on in the background because of the trust and confidentiality that happens inside one-on-one coaching sessions.
Other ways to achieve similar results would be to create a mentor or buddy for leaders going through the leadership development program.
#8 - Measure The Effectiveness
Now that your team has had the opportunity to learn new skills, practice new behaviors, and witness the changes in their teams, it’s time to reassess. Look at the assessments and business metrics you chose to measure in step four and gather new data. What changes are you seeing? How is it impacting the organization as a whole? What growth has been experienced by individual leaders?
Don’t forget to keep checking in with these metrics and assessments on a regular basis to measure the long-term success and impact of your leadership development program.
We have a limited number of leadership development programs that we run each year. If you’d like us to design and deliver a program that gets you the results you need, please contact us.
