The Necessity of Leadership Programs

Building a leadership development program?

The global leadership training and development market is poised to grow by $18.5 billion in the next five years, accelerating at a CAGR of 9.51% during this forecast period. These programs are a combination of training and coaching opportunities and are designed to prepare employees to thrive in leadership roles.??

Organizations often focus on external resources (recruitment agencies, professional networks) to find their next C-suite member. However, research suggests that developing existing talent is more beneficial for a company. According to Joblist, 71% of employees believe that promoting leaders from within an organization is a better option and more than half would prefer to be managed by an internally promoted resource.??

While there is a clear preference for internal promotions over external hires, if a leadership development program is not designed to meet certain parameters, it will never achieve the desired outcome. Here are three things to keep in mind while choosing or building a leadership development program.??

Alignment with business strategy?

A successful leadership development program is one that is designed to support core business objectives such as risk mitigation, retaining talent, meeting financial goals or devising new strategies. These objectives can be identified by examining company-wide goals and assessing the capabilities that employees need to execute those. Its also important to measure the effectiveness of the program via a success framework that includes clear objectives, performance metrics, before-and-after surveys and data collection strategies.??

Focus on leadership trends?

Leadership development programs need to match the latest trends and should remain flexible and agile to adequately prepare employees for the future. Some of the latest trends in leadership development include a focus on inclusivity, perseverance, adaptability and building strong relationships with teams. Constant change is the norm and employees look to their leaders to provide direction, guidance and support. In such a scenario, the successful leaders will be the ones who can swiftly adapt and adjust by staying in sync with contemporary trends.??

Customizing programs to suit individuals?

Leadership skills are complex and include both universally relevant skills — collaboration, persuasion, emotional intelligence and cognitive agility — and skills that vary depending on the individual’s role in an organization. In other words, there can never be a one-size-fits-all when it comes to leadership development programs. These programs need to be customizable. Learners should be able to choose what they want to learn based on their aspirations and goals that they hope to achieve in the future.??

Other factors?

Apart from these three considerations, organizations should also focus on things like the program modality (online, offline or blended), evaluation (performance metrics and data analysis) and inclusivity (promoting the worthy, not the popular), when choosing a leadership development program.??

If you’re a business owner or an L&D leader looking for an effective leadership development program or are unsure of how to choose the perfect one for your organization, speak to an expert now!?