How can you effectively deliver leadership training to remote employees?

Besides classical surveys, if their organization does not provided support for 360 feedback, I use the questionnaire featured in John Maxwell book "5 Levels of Leadership" and ask them to at least complete the questionnaire from their perspective and from the perspective of each of their team members.

Effective leadership training for remote employees requires a blend of technology, engagement strategies, and flexibility. Utilize video conferencing platforms to foster real-time discussions. Implement self-paced online modules or books for flexibility, allowing employees to learn at their own pace. Encourage participation through virtual breakout groups, polls, and Q&A sessions to maintain engagement. Provide access to resources and materials through an online portal for easy reference. Incorporate real-life scenarios relevant to remote work challenges to make the training practical and applicable. Foster a culture of continuous learning by offering regular check-ins, feedback sessions, and opportunities for further skill development.

Define Leadership Competency required by organization for particular layers of employees_ leadership behavior for frontline staff, frontline management, middle management, senior management and top executive directors. Then conduct assessment to define leadership gaps of employees.

Start with psychometric assessments such as Emotional Intelligence EQi 2.0 and Hogan Leadership Survey. Between these assessment results and targeted confidential coaching, each leader will have a solid understanding of who they are, what they value, what motivates them, how they react, how they build relationships, and how they show up as a leader. This allows for each person to absorb and apply the leadership training in a way that is meaningful to them.

One thing I found in leadership training is focus on goal of vision and mission of organization and gap in leader to achieve goal but with empathy and focus objectives. This remind me of a character in book " Yes Minister" where the character agree to minister but modulate brain of minister towards best solution under circumstance which is often different from minister's but the character puts it in a manner that minister agree to it Another example is a political king maker in Indian politics who not only reverse the trend of mass but psychologically move the mass towards the interest of his client party in policies. In both cases the leader is cognitively developed to be flexible and logically moved towards the interest of party

Engagement is essential in the development of employees. It's too easy for them to focus on emails and other things during training. Asynchronous options, combined with synchronous options, are ways to keep employees engaged. When remote employees attend live virtual sessions, you want to use their time wisely because it is so easy to get distracted. You also have to know the audience you're dealing with. Are they the group that will enjoy gamification, various learning apps, or podcasts? Would they benefit from micro-learning? Finally, the most critical part is having a way for the employees to discuss their learnings and leadership challenges as colleagues. There is a wealth of experience among any employee group; leverage it!

Platform is indeed important. If the software is hard to use, undependable, or problematic with some browsers you dramatically lower your chances of getting employees to sit through the training. No one has patience with a poorly-designed interface.

The modality of learning shall be well prepared and designed to engage learner experiences. the platform must be capable for blended approach that is the combination virtual tough-based session for orientation and giving the learning instruction, pre-learning assignment, pre-learning test, videos input for learning, reflection sheet, post-learning test, and action plan (a 100-day implementation plan) with monitoring tool.

In my experience, I've found a smart combination of self-led reading, course playlists, online group workshops, group discussions, journaling, peer coaching, and case studies are very effective in delivering leadership development programs.

One thing I found in training of leaders is your orations makes all the difference. Your leader may not be in a state of mind to agree with you at the first instance but your orations makes the difference and change in state of mind to achieve goal. This is a mode of optimization of empathy with emotion and than trying to move the organization goal and small objectives in path of mission . It is a wonderful and enjoyable task for a mentor to make a person adapt inspite of negative about it in the beginning and soon realization of benefit by your orations.

People learn best by trying to apply skills and through feedback. Anything you design should be through those two main principles, simulating real life as much as possible and ways to get feedback on how they're doing. Group projects are also a way to develop and practice communication skills and deliver real life results.

Using case studies, even concise ones, and creating breakout rooms helps break the ice and make sure that everyone can contribute —participants in leadership training like to share examples and challenges. In a bigger group, some may hesitate to participate. When I create smaller groups (max 5 participants), there is a new synergy; more introverted leaders feel more comfortable talking. I ask them to designate a representative for the group who presents the group's ideas when we get back to the larger group. I try to create case studies that represent their reality to trigger discussions and reflections and help them share best leadership practices. It empowers managers to share their struggles and solutions with other managers.

In my experience and throughout the pandemic, leaders we supported desired the most to be seen and heard. I’m not sure that much of that need has changed. I think blending in customizable learning modalities has assisted with engaging leaders. However, I think allowing the space for a simple question to be asked while modeling what deep inquiry and mindful listening considers has helped to richly support virtual learning. In most cases, we are now back in our offices or within our home offices where they may be less distractions. We cannot forget about the reality that the pandemic shifted our lives in a way that really transformed the ways in which learning was transferred. In this learning age, we must be equipped to listen differently.

The best way to engage any employee - remote or local - is to understand their needs and their career aspirations. If leadership training isn't focused on where the employee is heading in their career, that training will be unsuccessful because it will not meet that employee where he/she is living right now. Thus, an organization must find a match between it's needs and the vision employees have for themselves. but, didn't the organization address this when they were hired? Yes, but over time employees change just as much as the organization changes.

In many cases for leadership in a remote setting, a mix of asynchronous and synchronous learning is needed with an assignment or comeback of a sort in order to engage with the leader. Not just a lesson to learn, but a skill or tool to utilize, notate their results, and share that back with the learning so they themselves can see real world progress.

Every leadership program must start with a clear business need, aligned with strategic priorities, and organizational values. Equity, diversity, accessibility, and inclusion principles must be integrated into the leadership program design, curriculum, case studies, facilitation, and in communications. One of the biggest challenges I've seen is handling disparate expectations from stakeholders. Be specific about the core skills you need as an organization and then be laser focused on building that into the program. Invite different executives to drop in on the sessions and say a few inspiring words that reinforce the organization's strategic priorities, values, and aspirations.

The quality and content of any training reflects on the organization. Glitchy software or irrelevant materials will create serious problems for participants. Why? Because that bad feeling about the training gets repeated to others in the organization. Others who may very well be taking that same course in the future. Thus, that one bad experience spreads quickly, just like a negative customer experience does. So, treat your employees as internal customers when designing training systems.

During the pandemic, we ran an online leadership program. We aligned the overarching principle to the business objectives. Then, created the key message that highlights the benefits for learners. Next, we tailored it for attendees who might be alone or with others at home. We focused on three things: CONTEXT. How the framework applies not just within the workplace but also in interactions with anyone. SUPPORT GROUP. Online peer groups are created so learning continues after the zoom session. LEADERSHIP INVOLVEMENT. Engage superiors as early as participant selection helping them create plans to provide support. The program should appeal not only to the learner but also to their leader and other influencers.

This point shall be carried out since the earlier stage to define the leadership competency required deferent level of employees.

Organizations should also guide the managers supervising the employees involved in the leadership training. Too often, employees go through this training and need support from their managers on how to leverage what they've learned outside of the training environment. It's also important that those supervisors are encouraged to give the employees stretch assignments and coach them through the leadership program. Non-supervisory coaches are essential, but supervisors as coaches are equally important. These people will promote them, sponsor them for other opportunities, and directly impact the employees' experience after the training concludes.

1. Measure direct learning output -Pre-learning competency assessment -Direct feedback from learners and supervisors -Post-learning competency assessment 2. Measure outcome of leadership development - Analysis progress of productivity - Run employee engagement survey

Beautifully put, Tynisha....it's what I've ALWAYS recommended.....I wish more organisations would appreciate how important it is to include ALL managers!

I use high-impact evaluation methodology. It asseses how the learner plans to apply their new knowledge in their jobs, what they think might be barriers, how confident they are that they can be successful, what they found to be the most useful and least useful content in the curriculum. The action planning at the end of each day, ongoing reflective journaling, and regular one-on-one coaching are excellent ways for participants to quickly align the learning, thinking and being. We've found this to be resoundingly successful in retaining knowledge, building accountability, and boosting confidence.

Through facilitating cross-functional teams focusing on various organisational assignments & projects. Some projects could be around Calendarised Sports Events while some could be around organisational Foundation Day and Festival celebrations.

Alongside making sure that your tech works and that all of the Leaders you're working with feel confident enough to participate as if they were in the room with you, THE most important thing you can do as a remote leadership trainer is to maximise the amount of time the Leaders get to share, speak and explore. Resist the urge to screen-share constantly and bombard them with detailed powerpoint slides! Pick interactive exercises instead. Build rapport through creating moments to go beyond the "Leader" title, and have the group share human experiences in a psychologically safe setting. The trust that this creates lays an incredible foundation for the leadership development training to make a real impact!

So important to include self assessment and self reflection. We should really be thinking more about how to help leaders get better at getting better. Most of the remote training I deliver lands well during the course or masterclasses. BUT Leaders need support beyond the development sessions to prioritise their growth and work on themselves. Its hard for leaders to create space and moments that matter to their growth as they are caught up in the day to day.

Although seldom direct objectives of a leadership programme, the development of networks and the breaking down of SILOs is still an important benefit of leadership development activities. So where participants are remote, programmes should foster opportunities for meaningful connection via: group projects, frequent breakout rooms, virtual coffees, peer group mentoring, dedicated channels eg in Teams, opportunities to share stories and activities whereby participants learn about one another personally as well as professionally.

Getting employees involved in a special project or assignment during and after training is critical to their success. It shows the employees that the company is invested in their success.