www.harvardbusiness.org Open in urlscan Pro
141.193.213.20  Public Scan

Form analysis
1 forms found in the DOM

GET https://www.harvardbusiness.org/

<form action="https://www.harvardbusiness.org/" id="searchform" method="get" class="">
  <div>
    <input type="submit" value="" id="searchsubmit" class="button avia-font-entypo-fontello">
    <label for="s" class="wpa-screen-reader-text">Search</label><input type="text" id="s" name="s" value="" placeholder="Search">
  </div>
</form>

Text Content

Visit our COVID-19 and Diversity and Inclusion sites for the latest information
and resources on these topics.
Skip to Content
 * Contact Us
 * Blog

HBPubCorpLearn_wide_crimson
 * Who We Are
   * Overview
   * Our Experts
   * Locations
   * Leadership Team
   * News
   * Careers
   * Contact Us
 * What We Do
   * Overview
   * Blended Learning
     * The Discovery Process
     * Solution Examples
   * Digital Learning
     * Harvard Business Publishing Collection
     * Harvard ManageMentor
     * HBR Spark
     * Harvard ManageMentor Spark
     * Leadership Skill Camps
     * Learning Sprints
   * On-Campus Learning
 * Insights
   * All Insights
   * Leading The Way Blog
   * 2024 Global Leadership Development Study
   * Resiliency
   * Diversity
 * Client Stories
 * Search
 * Menu Menu


Blog

Leading the way

Ideas and insights from Harvard Business Publishing Corporate Learning




HOW TO CREATE A SUCCESSFUL LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM

February 23, 2024/in Uncategorized Featured on Homepage /
by Deanna Foster | February 23, 2024
Deanna Foster



 

IN BRIEF:

 * Leadership development initiatives are most effective when they focus on
   performance outcomes that support a key business priority, like revenue
   increase.
 * Leadership development program content and design should be tailored to
   different leadership levels for maximum relevance and engagement.
 * Data should be collected before, during, and after the program to measure
   progress and optimize for impact.







As organizations evolve in response to technological advancement, external
events, and generational paradigm shifts, it can feel like the only constant for
leaders is change. If so, there is no greater leadership asset than the drive to
keep learning. And there is much to learn. Today’s leaders have a broader scope
of priorities than ever before. They must manage volatility in the short term
while maintaining a vision for the long term. They must be silo-bridgers,
thoughtful innovators, and stewards of company culture. Companies that
prioritize continuous learning can realize extraordinary potential; those that
don’t will stagnate.

Learning at this scale doesn’t happen without a plan. It’s great to set
development goals for leaders during yearly evaluations, but without a solid
leadership development plan that directly connects to business outcomes, other
priorities and distractions will take over.

At Harvard Business Publishing Corporate Learning, we partner with companies to
create curated learning experiences for leaders at every level. Though each
partnership is unique, there is a proven process for designing and developing
impactful learning initiatives. This guide shows you how to use that process to
shape, implement, and optimize a leadership development program for your
organization.

 


PROCESS FOR DESIGNING AND DEVELOPING IMPACTFUL LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMS

 1. Alignment: What do you need?
 2. Goals: How will performance change?
 3. Assessment: Where are you now?
 4. Development: What kind of learning experiences will work for you?
 5. Executive Involvement: How can senior leaders support learners?
 6. Implementation: How will you integrate the learning experience?
 7. Feedback and Evaluation: How are learners performing?
 8. Measuring Impact: How effective was the program?
 9. What’s next?: Creating a culture of learning

 


ALIGNMENT: WHAT DO YOU NEED?

A generic leadership development program will yield generic results, so your
plan should be grounded in a firm understanding of your organization’s unique
values, challenges, and priorities. The process begins with alignment on one
foundational question: What is the business priority driving leadership
development? In the most general terms, most business priorities fall into a few
broad buckets: Companies want to increase profits, cut costs, and mitigate
risks.

Once you’ve established the key business priority, identify how employees can
support it. What do you want leaders (and by extension, their teams) to do
differently as a result of the program? Do leaders need to be more agile? More
innovative? More inclusive? These performance outcomes will shape the structure,
content, and measurement of the learning experience.

Concentrate on the most critical needs. It’s tempting to try to improve
everywhere, but learning experiences are most effective when they focus on a few
key outcomes. If your goal is to inspire leaders to innovate more, ask yourself:
What is preventing them? Skills gaps might include digital competency,
navigating complexity, cross-functional collaboration, or even talent
development. Identifying these gaps will ensure your learning objectives have
the greatest impact on the business’s most important priorities.

> The process begins with alignment on one foundational question: What is the
> business priority driving leadership development?

When we partnered with the global theater chain Cinépolis, their key business
priority was growth through innovation. Their primary performance outcome was
developing innovative leaders from the C-suite to the frontline. Cinépolis had
total alignment on what they wanted, so their leadership development program
could be highly focused. Their program used a cascade approach, beginning with
intensive training for senior leaders and extending all the way to individual
theater employees. The culminating exercise asked employees to propose one-page
solutions to identified problems, which resulted in innovative new projects that
increased revenue and customer satisfaction.







CHECKLIST FOR ALIGNMENT

 * Align on the key business priority
 * Choose a focused set of performance outcomes

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

 * Key Alignment Questions
 * Top 10 In-Demand Leadership Skills for the Future of Work

 


GOALS: HOW WILL PERFORMANCE CHANGE?

Now that you’ve identified your business priorities and performance outcomes,
you can set leadership development goals. Your program should deliver impact in
three areas: learner experience, on-the-job performance, and impact on the
business. Success indicators might include strong engagement in the program,
more confident decision-making, and improved retention, respectively.

Whether success indicators are qualitative or quantitative, each will need
corresponding metrics to measure at the beginning and the end of the program,
and each metric should have clear methods and sources for measurement. Success
indicators should be specific to your organization and the unique ways you
measure performance.

 


LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM GOALS EXAMPLE

Business
Priority Performance
Outcomes Success
Indicators Metrics Methods Increase revenue via expansion into new markets and
differentiated offerings Collaborate effectively across the organization to
deliver world-class innovations i. Increase in revenue i. Percentage increase in
revenue i. Financial statements ii. Robust pipeline of innovation projects ii.
Percentage increase in the number of new projects implemented or in development
ii. Product/project performance data iii. Increase in number of and
participation in cross-functional teams iii. Increase in engagement scores for
access to career opportunities iii. HR performance reports/engagement survey
results









CHECKLIST FOR GOALS

 * Set program goals, including success indicators and metrics

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

 * How to Define Impactful Leadership Development Goals
 * Learning Experiences That Get Results

 


ASSESSMENT: WHERE ARE YOU NOW?

With detailed goals in hand, leadership skills assessment can begin. Start with
an honest assessment of your business’s organizational systems and norms. Can
they support the changes you’re advocating for? If entrenched company culture or
processes will disincentivize leaders from applying new skills and approaches,
the investment in training will be wasted. If you expect leaders to evolve, the
broader organizational culture must welcome and support it.

The clarity you established in the previous phases will be helpful here. Ensure
that senior leaders understand the leadership behaviors you’re targeting and the
business priorities they serve. Encourage executives to raise awareness of why
certain leadership behaviors are needed and reinforce those behaviors by
highlighting success. Celebrating early wins by sharing success stories—the
“what,” “the why,” and most importantly, “the how”—will link those behaviors to
desirable outcomes and encourage other leaders to practice these new habits.

> If you expect leaders to evolve, the broader organizational culture must
> welcome and support it.

Now you’re ready to segment leaders by senior, mid-level, and frontline (or
whatever distinctions make sense for your organization) and assess their
baseline. You may already have a strong anecdotal sense of what each level
needs, but data will always surface fresh insights. You may be able to leverage
yearly evaluations or previous survey results, but you’ll probably want to do a
new survey to capture more targeted data that you can track through the end of
the program.

Make sure you’re hearing from individuals as well as supervisors. We’ve found
that employees clearly understand their own needs. In our survey, 85% of
respondents recognized the skills needed to improve their current performance.
It’s worth understanding what leaders want to learn, because employees are most
engaged when learning is linked to individual goals and aspirations, not just
company performance.

With data in hand, consider the gaps between the current state and the ideal
one. Where are the gaps most significant? This will help you prioritize who and
what to focus on.

If your business is at an inflection point, your program should target leaders
at all levels. The learning experiences will vary in content or method, but
they’ll all be driving towards organizational transformation. You’ll want to
decide if learning will be segmented, conducted in parallel with tailored
learning experience for each level, or cascaded, where leader-teachers train
their staff.

If you’re working towards a narrower goal, focus your effort on the learner
levels that will be most impactful. For example, in our work with Fortune 2000
global companies who want to innovate, a common goal is getting leaders to
foster group norms of innovation on their teams. To that end, we’ve found that
starting with mid-level leaders is most impactful.







CHECKLIST FOR ASSESSMENT

 * Assess organizational context
 * Consider the gaps between the current state and the ideal one
 * Identify target audiences

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

 * How to Assess Leadership Skills for a Leadership Development Program
 * Don’t Let Your Company’s Culture Stifle Leadership Development
 * How L&D Can Create More Effective Learner-Driven Experiences

 


DEVELOPMENT: WHAT KIND OF LEARNING EXPERIENCES WILL WORK FOR YOU?

Leadership development programs are a significant investment. Not only do they
cost time and money, but they also connect to individual emotions about
workplace performance and worth. Employees feel valued, engaged, and empowered
if the program is worthwhile. If it isn’t, it can be a powerful drag on morale.

Because the stakes are high, organizations often partner with learning experts
like Harvard Business Publishing Corporate Learning to guarantee that their
investment has value and impact. Through decades of research and continuous
focus on improvement, we’ve found that clarity, thoughtful design, and quality
content yield the most successful programs.

The right experience will consider what leaders at each level need and how much
time and focus they can devote. Self-guided programs are consistent and
low-maintenance; immersive group experiences allow for more nuance and depth.

 



 

Different leadership levels have distinct responsibilities, needs, and
expectations. The architecture of the learning experience should consider these
factors. Frontline leaders who are new to management may feel isolated and can
benefit from an experience that connects them with mentors and peers. Mid-level
leaders, managing both up and down, are highly leveraged and can benefit from
micro-learning and skill practice that is directly applicable to their work.
Executives benefit from depth and high-touch interactions with peers and experts
that provide an outside-in perspective.

Most enterprise leadership development programs leverage a combination of
experiences. Our partnership with Capital Group, designed to reinforce
leadership standards and priorities across locations, included a mix of
in-person and virtual learning with curated content, facilitated discussions,
executive sponsorship, and structured assignments that pushed participants to
apply learning on the job.

Content is another critical factor. There’s no shortage of leadership
development resources, and a coming wave of low-quality AI-generated content
will only exacerbate that. Resources should be vetted, relevant, and applicable
to learning goals. This is essential to building trust in the program.

With learning content, less is more: too many choices will overwhelm the
learner; too many priorities distract from the key goals. Keep the program
focused, even in the face of pressure from senior leaders to add new things to
the mix. Generally, what is highly relevant is much more important than what is
“interesting.” Make learner relevance your touchstone.







CHECKLIST FOR DEVELOPMENT

 * Define the learning experience
 * Tailor architecture for different leadership levels
 * Curate content

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

 * Strategies to Effectively Engage Learners Across the Enterprise
 * When Designing Employee Learning Programs, Less Is More

 


EXECUTIVE INVOLVEMENT: HOW CAN SENIOR LEADERS SUPPORT LEARNERS?

The behaviors that are reinforced and rewarded by senior leaders greatly
influence how employees act. If time and structure allow it, consider how you
can integrate senior leadership in your leadership development program, beyond
simply seeking buy-in.

Our learning solutions often include a “leader as teacher” element. Leaders
might share a personal story at the program’s kick-off, host a discussion,
participate on a panel, or sponsor an action learning project. Some of our
clients also use formal mentorship programs to reinforce learning. Whatever the
method, the payoff is significant: the presence of leaders as teachers
significantly increases relevance and engagement.

Even if leaders aren’t directly involved, they should be very aware of the
context of your learning initiative so they can identify teachable moments in
the day-to-day work. Regular updates from you will keep the program content
top-of-mind for them.

When American Express wanted to strengthen close to 16,000 mid-level leaders, we
co-created a virtual, blended cohort program customized for relevancy and
immediate application. Over 100 senior leaders acted as sponsors, sharing career
stories and contextualizing learnings to American Express’ business environment.
Frontline, mid-level, and upper-level leaders got to explore how important
topics like collaboration really worked at American Express. For sponsors, it
was a good opportunity to connect authentically with a large number of leaders
in a psychologically safe space to discuss topics they were passionate about,
which helped build these senior leaders’ personal brands in the company.







CHECKLIST FOR EXECUTIVE INVOLVEMENT

 * Determine how senior leaders will be integrated into the program

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

 * How to Turn Your Busy Leaders into the Teachers They Need to Be

 


IMPLEMENTATION: HOW WILL YOU INTEGRATE THE LEARNING EXPERIENCE?

Successful implementation requires clarity, ease, and support. Leaders’ time is
precious, so program delivery should be relatively seamless. Experiences can be
integrated into an existing environment to minimize learning curves and platform
fatigue or delivered on a separate, all-in-one platform. The right choice will
vary by organization, but the most critical factor is ease. It should be easy to
access lessons, content, schedules, cohort information, and progress indicators.
Make sure there’s a responsive support contact to provide platform training and
field questions.

Before you launch a leadership development program, make sure everyone
understands how the program aligns with your learning development strategy and
the organization’s broader business strategy. Drawing clear connections between
desired behaviors and business outcomes will encourage employees to prioritize
learning. If it’s one of multiple learning initiatives, help employees
understand the unique part this program plays.

> Drawing clear connections between desired behaviors and the ultimate business
> priority will encourage employees to prioritize learning.

Beyond serving company goals, leadership development has a lot of value for
individuals. Defining “What’s in it for me?” for employees is a powerful
motivator, especially at the beginning of the program. Share the scope of the
learning development plan with participants so they understand that it will be
relevant and practical, with clear outcomes that align with what leaders believe
will make them even more successful.







CHECKLIST FOR IMPLEMENTATION

 * Choose the right platform
 * Delegate a support contact for participants
 * Contextualize the program before launch

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

 * The Changing Face of Leadership Development

 


FEEDBACK AND EVALUATION: HOW ARE LEARNERS PERFORMING?

Leaders can read a thousand articles, but if they’re not putting learning into
practice, the effort is wasted. Managers and leadership development teams must
cultivate a safe space for application and experimentation. Digital simulations
and peer discussion groups can help, but it’s just as critical for senior
leaders to encourage and support applications of learning throughout the workday
and to provide regular feedback.

You shouldn’t wait until the end of your learning experience to find out if it
worked. Some digital platforms, including Harvard ManageMentor® and ManageMentor
Spark®, can provide real-time reporting in aggregate, in groups, or at the
individual level, including real-time polling on behaviors. With this data,
managers and learning partners can adjust lessons and content to address gaps
and areas of challenge. Over time, trends can be identified, helping
organizations deepen their understanding of organizational strengths and
weaknesses. This also provides useful information on how leaders learn best, to
guide future programming.







CHECKLIST FOR FEEDBACK AND EVALUATION

 * Create a plan for learning application and feedback
 * Collect data for analysis and optimization

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

 * Decisions, Decisions: How L&D Can Use Data to Gain Insight on Learning
 * How to Give Feedback—Especially When You’re Dreading it

 


MEASURING IMPACT: HOW EFFECTIVE WAS THE PROGRAM?

Once a leadership development program ends, you can analyze its business impact
and learner engagement and satisfaction. Depending on your program timeframe and
goals, it may be months before some quantitative business metrics like increased
revenue or retention are proven out, but others—like program engagement and
application of learning on the job—can be assessed immediately.

Engagement data might include participation by team and level; hits and return
visits for specific content; and social and sharing metrics. Application data
can be quantitative (number of learners who used new behaviors on the job) and
qualitative (self-reported ratings of success, confidence, and desire for more
practice).

An end-of-session satisfaction survey for participants provides feedback on many
points, including perceived value, program strengths and drawbacks, logistical
and platform feedback, success stories, and more. A survey aimed at supervisors
can determine if the program influenced behavior change. We typically recommend
conducting a follow-up survey two or three months after the learning experience
to assess the program’s impact on behavior.

> Change requires effort and risk—make sure participants know their efforts are
> appreciated.

Evaluating satisfaction, engagement, and impact data will provide valuable
information about the levers you can pull to improve future learning
experiences. But no matter what the outcome is, be sure to celebrate employees
for their commitment to learning. A third of employees don’t think their
companies provide enough recognition or reward for the learning they’re doing.
Change requires effort and risk—make sure participants know their efforts are
appreciated.







CHECKLIST FOR MEASURING IMAPCT

 * Measure outcomes against the baseline
 * Celebrate program success!

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

 * Measuring the Impact of Leadership Development

 


WHAT’S NEXT?: CREATING A CULTURE OF LEARNING

Analyzing your learning experiences will yield important information about the
structure, content, and concepts that work. You can bring that information into
the next learning initiative, which might tackle a new business priority or
scale the program for a different leadership level or geography.

Between formal learning experiences, learning and development teams can offer
self-guided options and resource libraries to help employees maintain a
continuous learning cadence. We’ve found that companies with strong learning
cultures share a few key strategies.

 


STRATEGIES THAT NURTURE A LEARNING CULTURE



Offer personalized and relevant resources Support autonomous learning with
convenient platforms Engage employees in social learning and knowledge-sharing
Collect, understand, and use data to ensure efforts are impactful

 

The leadership development journey is ongoing. Critical skill sets are rapidly
evolving, and there will always be new leaders entering the field who need to
learn the evergreen skills of management. Developing a culture of continuous
learning is one of the most forward-looking investments a company can make in an
era marked by uncertainty and disruptive shifts.







ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

 * Create a Culture of Learning: Five Critical Strategies
 * Six Ways to Scale Corporate Leadership Development Quickly for Strategic
   Advantage
 * Driving Learning Across the Organization at ABB

 


EXPLORE FURTHER

Ready to level up your leaders? Use our checklist to help your organization
develop a leadership development program that delivers results.



Download Now



 

If you have a question about leadership development programs, get in touch with
one of our learning design specialists.







ABOUT THE AUTHORS

Deanna Foster

 * Senior Director, Global Solutions at Harvard Business Publishing
 * Connect with Deanna on LinkedIn

Dr. Gregg Kober

 * Director, Global Solutions at Harvard Business Publishing
 * Connect with Dr. Gregg on LinkedIn





https://www.harvardbusiness.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/CRE4687_CL_Blog_Leadership-Development_social_1.png
630 1200 Deanna Foster
/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/HBPubCorpLearn_wide_crimson.svg Deanna
Foster2024-02-23 04:38:122024-08-29 07:19:26How to Create a Successful
Leadership Development Program




TRENDING POSTS

 * Good Leadership? It All Starts With Trust.
 * The Science Behind The Art Of Storytelling
 * How to Create a Successful Leadership Development Program
 * The Ladder of Inference: Building Self-Awareness to Be A Better
   Human-Centered Leader
 * What Makes Storytelling So Effective For Learning?


LET’S TALK

Change isn’t easy, but we can help. Together we’ll create informed and inspired
leaders ready to shape the future of your business.

Contact Us

© 2024 Harvard Business School Publishing. All rights reserved. Harvard Business
Publishing is an affiliate of Harvard Business School.


 * Privacy Policy
 * Copyright Information
 * Terms of Use
 * About Harvard Business Publishing
 * Accessibility
 * Digital Accessibility

 * Higher Education
 * Harvard Business Review
 * Harvard Business School

 * 
 * 
 * 
 * 

Scroll to top


We use cookies to understand how you use our site and to improve your
experience. By continuing to use our site, you accept our use of cookies and
revised Privacy Policy.

Accept


COOKIE AND PRIVACY SETTINGS





How we use cookies
Essential Website Cookies
Other external services
Privacy Policy
How we use cookies

We may request cookies to be set on your device. We use cookies to let us know
when you visit our websites, how you interact with us, to enrich your user
experience, and to customize your relationship with our website.

Click on the different category headings to find out more. You can also change
some of your preferences. Note that blocking some types of cookies may impact
your experience on our websites and the services we are able to offer.

Essential Website Cookies

These cookies are strictly necessary to provide you with services available
through our website and to use some of its features.

Because these cookies are strictly necessary to deliver the website, refusing
them will have impact how our site functions. You always can block or delete
cookies by changing your browser settings and force blocking all cookies on this
website. But this will always prompt you to accept/refuse cookies when
revisiting our site.

We fully respect if you want to refuse cookies but to avoid asking you again and
again kindly allow us to store a cookie for that. You are free to opt out any
time or opt in for other cookies to get a better experience. If you refuse
cookies we will remove all set cookies in our domain.

We provide you with a list of stored cookies on your computer in our domain so
you can check what we stored. Due to security reasons we are not able to show or
modify cookies from other domains. You can check these in your browser security
settings.

Check to enable permanent hiding of message bar and refuse all cookies if you do
not opt in. We need 2 cookies to store this setting. Otherwise you will be
prompted again when opening a new browser window or new a tab.
Click to enable/disable essential site cookies.
Other external services

We also use different external services like Google Webfonts, Google Maps, and
external Video providers. Since these providers may collect personal data like
your IP address we allow you to block them here. Please be aware that this might
heavily reduce the functionality and appearance of our site. Changes will take
effect once you reload the page.

Google Webfont Settings:

Click to enable/disable Google Webfonts.

Google Map Settings:

Click to enable/disable Google Maps.

Google reCaptcha Settings:

Click to enable/disable Google reCaptcha.

Vimeo and Youtube video embeds:

Click to enable/disable video embeds.
Privacy Policy

You can read about our cookies and privacy settings in detail on our Privacy
Policy Page.

Accept settingsHide notification only



previousnextslideshow





Search

 * Who We Are
   * Overview
   * Our Experts
   * Locations
   * Leadership Team
   * News
   * Careers
   * Contact Us
   * Back
 * What We Do
   * Overview
   * Blended Learning
     * The Discovery Process
     * Solution Examples
     * Back
   * Digital Learning
     * Harvard Business Publishing Collection
     * Harvard ManageMentor
     * HBR Spark
     * Harvard ManageMentor Spark
     * Leadership Skill Camps
     * Learning Sprints
     * Back
   * On-Campus Learning
   * Back
 * Insights
   * All Insights
   * Leading The Way Blog
   * 2024 Global Leadership Development Study
   * Resiliency
   * Diversity
   * Back
 * Client Stories