While all leaders have common leadership challenges, there are aspects of leadership unique to each leader level. Making the transitions from leading self as an individual contributor to leading others to leading other leaders all require enhanced capabilities.
That's where leadership development programs come in. To deepen talent bench strength, you’ll need two things:
Developing leaders at all levels means approaching each leader level with respect to their current skills and the desired capabilities to ensure there are no gaps in development. Incorporating these key elements of leadership development programs for each level of leader can ensure development in targeted skills.
Here's your guide to customizing development by leader level, with leadership training ideas for your development program:
Emerging or high-potential leaders are just starting out on their leadership journey. Often, the first steps are to identify the emerging leaders, increase self-awareness, build relational skills, and focus on evidence-based leadership skills to prepare for the shift from managing self to managing others in the future. These early-level leaders are becoming acquainted to the organizational leadership style and common language as they grow and form their leadership plan.
Emerging leader development programs can include elements such as the following:
Seasoned leaders typically have different needs than emerging or senior-level leaders and developing middle managers has to take into special consideration their prior experience. These supervisor, manager, or director-level leaders need learning designed around deepening current skills, engaging and influencing others to amplify results, operating strategically, leading other leaders, and establishing teams.
Middle management development programs can include elements such as the following:
As leaders rise to enterprise-wide executive roles, the complexity of what success looks like increases as well. C-suite leaders are expected to strategically manage the business as a whole and/or specific business units, no longer just manage groups of leaders. These leaders are expected to act as forward-looking visionaries, driving action through others.
Senior leadership development programs can include elements such as the following:
Bersin by Deloitte found that on average the investment in development per level of leader varies from $8,204 for executives to $2,551 for first-level leaders.* These numbers reflect the increasing complexity of skills required as leaders move throughout our organizations.
Above all, the most critical part of development programs is, of course, reinforcement. Part of the impact that technology has on leadership development includes the personalization of leadership plans and development programs, allowing employees to choose from on-demand resources and activities geared toward leaders’ learning style, pace, interests, and goals.
Each level of leader will prefer different types of reinforcement, but technological options may help bridge the gap between the leader’s day-to-day actions and the skills and development gained in sessions. In-the-moment reinforcement allows for consistent, regular reminders about why achieving the desired skill or behavior change is important to them, how they can master the new knowledge or skills, and what to apply and when to apply it.
In order to develop leadership programs that lead to optimal results and a steady and ready pipeline of leaders it's critical to think about your audience and the program purpose from the start. Throughout 2019 we're exploring how designing and delivering programs is evolving, from measurement to reinforcement, and more.
*According to Bersin by Deloitte, 2014: Karen O’Leonard and Jennifer Krider, Leadership Development Investment Increases 14 Percent (Oakland, Calif.: Bersin by Deloitte, 2014).