How to Create a Leadership Development Program

It is time to make your company’s leadership development program a priority. As many Baby Boomers who are holding leadership roles make their move toward retirement, there is going to be a noticeable skills gap. That is, if there aren’t measures taken to fill those voids before they occur.

Whether you have a leadership development program in place already or are looking to institute one, there are three key factors you need to address with your program. These program components are beneficial to filling skills gaps, but also they are things that rising employees are looking for in your company anyway. By implementing a program that includes these three parts, you are accommodating the desires of your employees as well as building a stronger workforce.

1. COACHING
You should be providing participants in your leadership development program with coaches and materials that can help them improve their skills. This coaching should be one-on-one and customized in order to best help your participating employees. A focused attention on reaching goals, improving skills, and addressing problems is one factor that can make your leadership development program actually prepare employees for leadership in the future.

2. MENTORING

In addition to one-on-one coaching attention, participants in your program should have a mentor. Mentoring programs have been proven to lead to higher job satisfaction, better job retention, and even increased profits. Mentorship gives future leaders people to look up to and help aid their growth, and it also allows current leaders to shape the future and pay it forward. However, in addition to building positive and productive relationships, mentorship may actually be more important in filling skills gaps than coaching of specific skills. Mentors may pass down skills and knowledge that can not be taught through skill development modules; they expose their mentees to their way of thinking and their insider tips at a personal development level.

3. ROTATIONAL PROGRAMS
Rotational programs should be included in any leadership development program. By exposing employees to different departments, they can learn about the ins-and-outs of the company. They do this by 1) seeing the departments do their jobs, 2) seeing how leaders and managers of each department work, 3) how teams in each department function, and 4) gaining perspective of how each department works with the others.

Check out our free infographic download to understand how these three factors can affect your company and help you create a better leadership development program.

Meredith Brandt