The strength and success of a company are closely tied to the strength and success of its leaders. Leaders are one of the key factors that can contribute to business growth in all areas within a company.
However, leaders don’t simply emerge ready to take over. Although some of your employees might show promise, leadership development isn’t an easy process. Therefore it is vital that businesses invest time and resources into grooming successful leaders.
Why do you need a leadership development program?
Leadership development programs can offer employees clear pathways to management roles and provide them with an opportunity to learn and develop skills that will help them grow in their careers. As your employees grow and develop so will your company.
Rapid globalization, the rise of remote work, and an overall change in leadership practices are a few more compelling reasons to equip your employees with a broad set of skills to shape successful leaders.
To get the most out of a leadership development program it is crucial that you follow this ultimate guide to organizing a top-notch leadership development program that will help you groom your company’s leaders of the future.
Tailor it to your needs
Different organizations require different types of leaders. Analyze your company’s current or potential leadership gaps and define priorities.
Also, make sure your leadership development program is aligned with your company’s strategic goals. Depending on your business objectives, you want to make sure you have the right leaders in positions that can achieve those objectives.
Think long and hard about the values which are crucial to your organization. Do you need decisive leaders? Or are fairness and integrity at the top of your list?
The better aligned to your needs the program is, the more benefits it will bring to your business.
Identify talent
Identifying potential leaders isn’t the easiest task. They can be anywhere in your company and they don’t necessarily have to be the top performers. A common mistake companies make when implementing leadership development programs is to focus only on the high-achievers. Excellent work results are not directly related to someone’s leadership potential.
The program you implement should be devised so that it allows your employees to show off and improve all of the relevant skills. It should work as a fine comb that will help you identify talent. Through the process, your employees should get the confidence and skill set they need to lead the way.
Some potential leaders may never become real leaders. Some employees don’t aspire to leadership roles or might be unable to make the transition at that specific time. But, the skills they acquire will boost their performance either way.
Target all levels of leadership
One of the most common mistakes companies make is to focus mainly on emerging, low-level leaders when organizing their leadership training. Avoid this pitfall by implementing a program that targets leadership development at all levels.
Regardless of the experience your mid-level leaders or senior executives might have, in a changing business climate, management should be equipped with a broad skill set that enables them to adapt their leadership style to new circumstances and requirements.
Include opportunities for hands-on experience
We all learn by doing. It is crucial that your program provides employees with plenty of opportunities to practice what they learn. Only by having the chance to apply what they’ve learnt will they realize why specific skills are useful in real-life situations.
You can implement a job rotation where different employees would get the chance to be leaders for a day or give them the lead on a major project. Senior managers can be very helpful as they can supervise, mentor, and give feedback.
Enhance executive engagement
A company’s executives are the pillars of its success, so these executives must take an active part in the leadership development program.
The engagement of top executives will make the program highly regarded among employees. Their experience will bring fresh ideas and perspectives and much-needed coaching to the younger colleagues. Executive engagement can steer your leadership program towards the company’s strategic goals and the most vital business issues.
Incorporate different learning systems
Employees of different backgrounds, different learning styles, and different goals will be part of the program, so devise a program that incorporates various learning methods.
Your leadership development program should be a mix of lectures, video materials, workshops, and experiential learning. Also, smaller groups work better than large ones, and you should even consider one-on-one training depending on the company’s and employees’ needs.
The technology at our disposal can help in making a leadership development program less formal and more self-directed. Apps such as Slack or Microsoft Teams can be an excellent social learning tool and will make your program less formal and therefore more appealing to employees.
Measure the program’s success
As with any type of training, you need to establish clear success parameters before you get started. Without these, you won’t be able to assess the effectiveness of your leadership training and adjust it along the way or in future endeavors.
The parameters should be easily measurable, so stick to numbers and evaluation forms. Take into account the number of employees who took part in the program and the number of them who were promoted after successfully completing the program.
These indicators will paint a clear picture of the effectiveness of your leadership development program and serve as excellent future pointers.
Choose wisely
When it comes to choosing a leadership development program, the number of options out there can be overwhelming.
Results are what matters, so make sure the leadership development program you choose dots all the i’s and crosses all the t’s from this guide.
Why Jambar Leadership Development
Tailoring a program to your organizational goals and integrating it seamlessly into the daily workflow is the main focus of Jambar’s leadership training programs.
The various programs are designed to be easily adjustable in order to achieve optimal and visible results. Jambar’s leadership training programs offer ad-hoc training, progression series, or annual training, either face-to-face or virtual, which can be customized depending on the company’s needs.
Upon carefully identifying the training topic and desired outcome, you will have a personalized leadership training program that will include a variety of learning systems, an abundance of practical knowledge, and immediate application during training as well as in real-life situations.
The programs are aimed at different levels of leadership, they can accommodate different learning styles and can improve the way your employees think and act as leaders. Jambar’s leadership training programs groom successful leaders ready to face modern challenges.
