Leadership Development Strategies

 

What strategies work?

 

What strategies should organizations use to develop leadership? One of the best questions I have heard is leadership for what? Leadership of field staff, project teams, departments, large business units, or the whole organization? Different strategies need to be developed based on expectations of leaders, on skills required, based on opportunities. One strategy on leadership development simply will not work at multiple levels of an organization. Leadership development requires multiple strategies and needs to be linked strategically with the business strategy.
 

What are some examples of leadership strategies?

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• Rotating leaders through development positions every 3 years to broaden experience

• Funding 5 people to attend executive education programs every year to keep management knowledge current

• Hiring 20%of new management postions so that we bring in new ideas

• Reviewing succession planning and leadership development activities to ensure alignment with business strategy

• Providing all first line managers with a basic leadership course

• Requiring all managers to report on the development coaching of their direct reports

• Supporting 2 action learning teams per year

• Fostering a coaching culture by using peer coaching as well as one on one coaching to that employees are supported in their development needs

These kinds of strategies, and the resulting execution, need to be customized for each organization to ensure that the right leadership development is created. What is good for one is not always a "best practice" for another organization.

Do you need a little help with your leadership development strategy? First look to your business strategy, then align it to what you need your people to do as leaders. This will point you in the right direction to manage your talent effectively and ensure the leadership development activities you support will give you the outcomes you desire.