Talent leaders: 5 q’s if you’re thinking about leadership development for your company

Talent leaders,

Last week?I wrote to you about the challenge of implementing leadership development if it’s something your company has never done before. Whether you’re a big or small organization, nonprofit or corporate, this situation can be daunting!

This week, as promised, I’m sharing five questions that can help you organize your thoughts and strategize in advance of implementing a successful leadership development program.

If you’re a leader thinking about implementing leadership development at your company, here are five important questions to ask yourself:

1. What are the specific challenges and pain points you’re trying to solve for your teams?

It’s important to think beyond 1) knowing leadership development is important and 2) wanting to teach people at your company “how to be leaders.” There’s nothing specific or actionable there. What pain points will a leadership development program help you solve for?

If you don’t know, or you’d like to canvas your organization to get a broader sense of challenges and pain points, a leadership development consultant (like me!) can often conduct a needs assessment. This can be hugely useful in providing direction for a future program.

2. Where do you see your company in 3 to 5 years?

When you are thinking about investing in your leaders, you’re by default thinking about the future of your company. What does that future look like? What particular challenges should your leaders be equipped to take on? What goals should they aspire to achieve?

Any leadership development program you implement should be aligned with your aspirational future for the company—period!

3. Is everyone on board?

Leadership development is an investment of time, money, and resources, so if there’s anyone at your company who doesn’t seem enthusiastic about the prospect of it, it’s a good time to take a gut check. Because frankly, in my mind, that’s a big red flag.

Of course, sometimes people are wary or cautious (especially if they’re already overextended at work), and that’s fine. Change is hard! But if someone is really not playing nice in the sandbox about your ideas for investing in your people, and they continue to be resistant to the idea…to me, that means they’re potentially not aligned with the future of the company.

4. Are you pursuing leadership development purely for development, not evaluation?

Here’s the thing: effective leadership development can’t be for evaluative purposes. So as a leader, it’s important for you to go in with that mindset right off the bat.

Not only that, once a program is in place, it’s important for you to stress that fact to employees. It’s for development, NOT evaluation. Say it once, twice, three times.

Because the fact is, when a program is brand new to a company, people will freak out a little. They won’t understand the purpose unless you are explicit about it and you repeat yourself.

And by the way: if someone offers you a leadership development program that is evaluative, my advice is to walk away. It’s unethical and it’s not something I would ever do, nor would I ever recommend it to companies or clients. That kind of program doesn’t serve anyone.

5. Are YOU ready to enthusiastically support a leadership development program?

Leadership development programs thrive when they are supported from the highest ranks of the organization. Yes, as the CEO or executive director, that means you!

For instance, JetBlue had a foundational leadership course that anyone promoted or hired into a people management position took. It ran about once a month, and the CEO did a two hour module every single time. That investment of his time showed every leader at the company how much he valued their development, to the point he was willing to move his very busy schedule around.

When you’re a leader, your small gestures count, just so long as it’s something substantive, not cursory. Your actions show your rising leaders that this investment in them is something meaningful.

Talent leaders, what else is on your mind as you contemplate leadership development programs? I’d love to hear from you!