Benefits of All-Leader Development Events

An Opportunity to Foster Growth and Resilience

One of the impacts we saw the pandemic have on leadership development was a huge shift in how our clients were re-envisioning their annual all-leader events. For a few years, those events were postponed, held virtually, or re-envisioned with different parameters to keep new safety and travel considerations in mind. In the last couple of years, we have seen these events come back – and leaders are saying they’re more important than ever before.

Here’s why:

The Reemergence of All-Leader Events

The return of all-leader events post-pandemic marks a significant milestone. After an extended period apart, these in-person gatherings offer a renewed sense of community and collaboration, prompting leaders from various levels to come together to share insights and learn from each other. 

It is clear that all-leader summits offer unique opportunities and advantages that cannot be replicated. These benefits not only enhance individual leadership skills but also strengthen organizational cohesion and drive innovation.

Four key benefits of all-leader summits include:

• Deliver Consistent Messaging: We’ve helped clients use their event as an opportunity to roll out strategic initiatives like leadership competencies or foundational development for all leaders at all levels. Similar to the value of a CEO or President keynote to communicate strategy and goals, having all leaders in one place at one time hearing the same message is incredibly important to set the stage for a foundational element of development strategy.
  
  
• Build Leader Resilience: Being a leader has always been a challenging job. You are often balancing your own job responsibilities with the needs of your direct reports and the larger needs of the business. Leaders appreciate recognition and gratitude for the work they do every day to further the mission of their organizations, and summits are an excellent opportunity to reconnect them to the mission and greater why behind their work.
  
  
• Strengthen Connections with Other Leaders: A little fun is always important, and building relationships with other leaders can help with not only resilience but also with building strong networks across the organization. Gallup’s research has correlated the impact of having a best friend at work with employee engagement as well as other outcomes, like a lower likelihood to leave the organization or a higher likelihood to recommend the organization to others. Leadership development institutes that leave space for informal connection and conversation are places where these relationships can blossom or grow.
  
  
• Learn from Cross-functional Collaboration: In the complex environments where we operate today, understanding the upstream and downstream impacts of your team is a key skill for leaders. Collaborating with other leaders to solve problems or understand their work more deeply can have a multitude of reciprocal benefits for the work of each team or department.

All-Leader Events In-Action

We have worked with several clients across industries such as healthcare, financial services, and aviation to design, develop, and facilitate their all-leader development conferences. These events have been instrumental in furthering their leadership development strategies. 

Healthcare Client: Our healthcare client hosts an annual leadership development institute for over 2,000 leaders. A recent event was used to gain feedback from leaders on essential leadership competencies and to roll out foundational development on psychological safety for all leaders. On an annual basis, the event serves as a cornerstone for ongoing leadership growth and fosters a culture of purpose. We’ve collaborated with them on reinforcement packages for leaders to take key concepts and activities back to their teams, as well as peer coaching circles for leaders to discuss challenges and opportunities with a supportive group of leaders in similar roles.

Financial Services Client: In the financial services sector, we have collaborated with a client to conduct an annual leadership summit for more than 300 leaders. This summit was pivotal in rolling out their leadership competencies model and is now used to reinforce the competencies each year. It has included targeted skills development on coaching, cross-functional collaboration opportunities through simulations that enhance critical thinking to manage complexity, and dedicated networking sessions. Additionally, the event features peer coaching circle groups that promote connections and support application after the event, ensuring sustained leadership development and organizational cohesion.

These examples illustrate how diverse industries can leverage all-leader development conferences to achieve their leadership goals, enhance collaboration, and drive strategic growth. If you’ve considered beginning or bringing back an in-person all-leader event, these types of events can further your organizational development strategy.

Elevate leadership effectiveness with FlashPoint's tailored development programs. Partner with us to enhance leadership capabilities, refine your team, and build tomorrow’s leaders today. Follow the link to explore how FlashPoint can help: