What Is a Leadership Development Program and Why Do You Need It?

The idea of developing the leaders in one’s workforce is essential for the growth and resilience of the entire organization. Your business is constantly growing and changing, as is your larger business landscape and market. So your workforce likewise needs to continue developing in order to help the business navigate that change, especially as the pace of that change increases.

Leadership development is how organizations develop their existing talent into the leaders the business needs now and in the future. Organizations need to develop leaders with the qualities and skills necessary to lead people, manage change, find new opportunities, and execute strategy no matter how the business landscape evolves.

The way to do this is with leadership development programs. But what is a leadership development program and how do you choose the right one for you? In this article, we’ll explore the various leadership development programs examples, their benefits, and key elements to look for in order to identify the right program for your organization.

Every year, global organizations spend more than $60 billion on leadership development programs to transform their leaders in a meaningful way. These leadership development programs can have a substantial positive impact on both employees and their employers. They can drive personal growth, clearer sense of purpose in both life and work, greater happiness, and reduced stress, resulting in a substantial boost in mental health and wellbeing that creates real transformation.

This in turn improves engagement and effectiveness in the workplace, empowering leaders to better support their teams and organizations. It also ensures that the organization always has capable people ready to take the helm with succession planning.

Let’s dive deeper into the leadership development program benefits and talk about how each one can positively impact your employees and organization as a whole.

Effective leadership development programs give participants a new sense of focus and direction, which often improves happiness and reduces stress. These benefits will prove valuable across everyone in the organization, but it can be especially powerful for any participants who are starting with a higher baseline level of stress. So it’s helpful to identify your leaders and high-potential employees who would benefit greatly from this stress reduction and more positive, purposeful mindset.

Beyond improving the work environment and morale of your existing leaders, leadership development programs can also help you attract and retain high-caliber talent that you are looking to hire from outside or develop from within. A leadership development program shows an organization’s commitment to helping its employees not only grow their skills, but also find new roles within the company to exercise these skills with a long-term influence. Knowing that an organization actively invests in its future leaders will make it a much more appealing target for candidates, creating benefits both on the hiring and retention sides of the equation.

A less stressed, more motivated leadership team allows the entire workforce to adapt more rapidly and readily to evolving organizational goals and challenges, which is especially valuable given today’s constantly changing business landscape. This is an essential leadership skill to cultivate in your employees. Change is always inevitable, and effective leadership development programs can prepare your leadership with the skills to navigate new territory and weather any storm, ensuring smooth sailing for your business through the changing tides.

With a more engaged and responsive workforce, it’s easy to see how leadership development programs can also impact an organization’s ability to drive business strategy and reach its goals. All effective leadership development programs involve developing strategic execution skills, teaching senior employees to transform high-level goals into measurable action while mobilizing their teams to do the same, even in the face of dynamic challenges and evolving business objectives.

All of the above factors contribute to the additional benefit of an improved business bottom line. When an organization can attract and retain top talent, that helps save on major costs from hiring, training, and turnover. Enabling that talent to work with less stress and more motivation also improves the productivity and efficiency of the entire organization. Then, as that talent responds quickly to execute strategy in the face of dynamic challenges, the organization will be able to reach its business goals more rapidly and profitably.

The collective result of all of these benefits is a more profitable and sustainable business, powered by a resilient workforce that is ready to adapt to whatever challenges and changes the organization may face. The key is to establish a culture of learning and commitment to growth following the completion of the leadership development program, to prolong the impact of the program’s benefits and ensure long-term success.

Here at Careerminds, our leadership development programs are designed to maximize all of these benefits for your employees and organization as a whole. We empower your leaders to harness their strengths, align their career aspirations with their values, and develop the resilience necessary to thrive in a fast-paced business environment.

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Of course, different leadership development programs deliver different results, and not every program will be able to meet your organizational needs. So it’s important to understand the different types of leadership development programs out there and how to evaluate them in order to identify which program will deliver concrete results and drive the positive change you are looking for. Let’s explore the most common leadership development program examples.

Companies traditionally utilize leadership development programs to invest in high-potential employees and equip them to take on senior positions in the organization, including individual contributors who can grow into leadership roles in the near future. This is one of the most common types of leadership development programs geared towards new and up-and-coming leaders, focused on developing core management skills and key leadership competencies.

This type of leadership development program focuses on identifying and developing the specific skills and behaviors that people managers and middle managers need to lead others and drive frontline execution. This means developing both self-awareness and an awareness of others, and cultivating stronger empathy, communication, and negotiation skills in order to motivate and mobilize their teams towards success.

Leadership development programs designed for senior executives often focus more on enhancing existing leadership and management skills in order to achieve organizational goals when the stakes are higher. This includes an emphasis on innovative thinking, strategic execution, and the ability to adapt and lead during times of change and uncertainty.

In some cases, condensed leadership development programs that only last a few days to a week can yield surprisingly large improvements. These shorter, more intensive programs are great for organizations who might have less time and financial resources available, but are still looking to achieve powerful results in the professional growth and mental wellbeing of their leadership.

Let’s break down the typical leadership development program outline of what elements are commonly included across all of these types of programs, so you know what to look out for in your own search.

Every effective leadership development program offers leadership coaching at its core. Leadership development is a personal journey and requires a personalized approach that coaching can provide. This could include one-on-one and group coaching. But whatever the format, effective leadership coaching needs to be flexible to meet participants where they are and provide the support needed for the specific challenges they face.

It’s also important that leadership coaches teach more than just specific, tactical leadership skills. A good coach also cultivates broader capabilities–such as self-awareness, resilience, empathy, communication, negotiation, and relationship-building–that leaders need to adapt to dynamic challenges and evolving business objectives. Effective leadership coaches must work with and transform not only the leader’s performance of concrete job tasks, but their whole selves. The goal is both personal and professional growth, each which reinforces the other. This approach both adds personal value to the individual leader and improves outcomes for their whole organization.

In addition to coaching, another effective element of leadership development programs is a solid mentorship program. This means some version of formalized mentorship with access to current top management to give participants a clearer perspective into the day-to-day of the company’s leadership and the ability to explore the specific roles they’re hoping to grow into.

This can also include peer mentorship groups, which allow participants to compare notes, encourage accountability, and support one another through the program.

Any good, modern leadership development program should also provide online access to learning materials and resources, especially as remote work increasingly becomes the norm. This allows participants to engage with and benefit from the program regardless of their location and schedule. Besides improved accessibility, this also allows programs to be executed with lower costs and greater efficiency.

However, some still have concerns about whether online programs can be as effective as in-person ones. While advances today have shown how development can happen just as effectively online as it can in person, we at Careerminds believe that the ideal program utilizes a blended approach of online and in-person resources that is both high-tech and high-touch.

Setting clear, measurable goals is an essential part of any employee development plan, especially for leaders and top-potential talent. This means setting smart goals and milestones within the leadership development program to help keep participants on track and enable senior management to measure the success of the program.

These should also incorporate a participant’s individual goals for personal and professional growth, as well as organizational goals that address current and future business needs. This will ensure that your chosen leadership development program focuses on skills and traits that will best prepare both the individual employee and your larger organization for the road ahead.

So what is a leadership development program and when do you need one? Well, in today’s evolving business landscape, it’s more important than ever for organizations to develop the skills and abilities of their leaders to adapt and pivot with changing business needs.

Leadership development programs enable organizations to do just that by improving employee mental health and mindset, attracting and retaining top talent, increasing their responsiveness to change and strategic execution, and improving the bottom line, setting up the business for long-term success.

This could come in a variety of different types of leadership development programs tailored to specific groups like new leaders, mid-level people managers, or senior executives. But regardless of which of these leadership development program examples you choose, they should all include some key elements such as personalized and holistic coaching, formal mentorship, accessible online learning, and smart goal setting.

As you shop around for the right leadership development program for your organization, be sure to carefully examine their reviews and results, including the reported learning and growth of each program’s participants, to fully evaluate how amply they provide these elements and achieve these benefits for their clients. The right leadership development program can foster deep professional and personal growth for your employees, significantly improving performance and retention for your entire organization.

Ready to find the right leadership development program for your organization? Click below to speak to one of our experts and learn how our Careerminds programs can help you unlock the full potential of your leadership.

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Rebecca Ahn

Rebecca is a writer, editor, and business consultant with over 10 years of experience launching, managing, and coaching small to midsize companies on their business, marketing, and HR operations. She is a passionate people advocate who believes in building strong people, teams, and companies with empowering culture, content, and communication that facilitates meaningful results at every level and touchpoint. In her spare time, Rebecca is an avid traveler and nomad who also enjoys writing about travel safety and savvy. Learn more on her LinkedIn page.