6 Steps To Implement A Leadership Development Program

Leaders are made, not born. Perhaps you understand this and want to invest in a leadership development program. While this intention is a great first step, there are plenty of leadership development programs out there, and you need to consider a few factors to make an informed decision and implement one effectively.

Jennifer Paster Detmer, MBA, ACC, CPCC, founder of Livthentic Coaching & Consulting, an organization that works with leaders and organizations trying to reconnect with their spark, says that some programs target specific skills, such as executive presence or communication, but if you want to empower leaders to be agile and flexible, you’ll also need to develop the human-centric side of leadership. Wondering what that means? Understanding the different types of motivation and how to activate them in your team or using emotional intelligence to lead are two examples of human-centric pillars of effective leadership.

Skill-based training sessions can be run quite effectively in groups and often be achieved in shorter time frames, according to Paster Detmer. But the human-centric pieces require a more personal touch and longer-term commitment to be impactful as part of a leadership development program.

Here’s everything you need to know about implementing leadership development programs that actually work.

1. Assess your needs

Dr. Helen Krug von Nidda, Ed.D, leadership expert and former HR professional, says that starting with an assessment of your needs is crucial.

Too often, organizations launch programs without knowing and understanding the why behind the decision. Get crystal clear on your way through a simple tried-and-tested activity — the seven Whys,” she says.

Start with the problem you are trying to solve and keep asking why you are trying to solve it. Asking seven times is usually the sweet spot that allows you to reach deeper insights into what you want to achieve. “Next, ask your employees. What do they feel they need? These insights will become the compass of the program,” she adds.

2. Get buy-in

You may be enthusiastic about your leadership development program. But your team needs to be too. “Too often, people don’t want to join leadership programs because they don’t see the value or don’t understand what it means for them,” according to von Nidda.

“Learn from your greatest asset – your people. What is top of mind and what does success look like for them? They need to know what is in it for them and understand the value-added before they consider paying attention.”

3. Define success

Defining success is also important. Will you look at changes in behavior? Growth within your team? Sales results? “All of these can be measured with post-program surveys and data tracking, an essential part of any leadership program,” adds von Nidda.

Your metrics should touch upon the leaders being developed but also their teams for best results, recommends Paster Detmer. And you’ll also want to track how people got to those results and what parts of the program worked best.

“In my experience, initial results will show more improvements in terms of people enjoying their work, people actively making changes to better the [leadership development] process, and over time, you’ll also see a major improvement in results such as cycle time for teams and increased revenue,” she says.

“The metrics should be based on the organization’s culture and business drivers. For example, if you are an organization that thrives on innovation, one of your metrics might actually look at how much risk people take by looking at the number of failures and then looking at the cycle time to learn from those failures and develop something that works.”

4. Focus on real-world applications

Furthermore, a solid leadership development program should focus on how leaders interact with their work, organizational culture and team in concrete ways. “A fatal mistake many leadership programs make is focusing on the leader outside of the context of their daily responsibilities and life,” says Paster Detmer.

“A strong leadership development program will help build skills and abilities and give opportunities to implement them in the real world, with real feedback and opportunities to make changes. Pulling the leader’s team into the development is crucial.”

5. Build on leaders’ unique strengths

According to Paster Detmer, you’ll also want to avoid aiming to create a single “avatar” of what a leader should look like in your company.
“If you create a bench of leaders that are all exactly alike, not only will your organization be less effective, but you will also be less likely to see and harness the unique talents of your employees. If an organization wants a diverse, safe, and effective culture, it needs to make room for differences at the top too.”

6. Cultivate inclusivity

Inclusivity is indeed key. “Leaders who see differences and know how to embrace them will get the best results. The best leaders will seek out team members that have different motivations and drivers. A good leadership development program needs to help leaders see differences and know-how to explore, accept, and grow those differences in their team members,” adds Paster Detmer.