Improving Leadership Development

Whether your 2022 business goals include increasing your revenue or sales and making your team more efficient, or delegating more responsibilities and opening up more time to grow your company, chances are your organization will be better equipped to achieve those goals with one crucial improvement: designing a more effective leadership strategy.

Companies that prioritize developing their leaders can see up to a 48% increase in profitability, 22% increase in productivity, and 17% increase in client engagement, and it’s no mystery why. Better leaders are more engaged and more effective and lead teams of more engaged and more effective employees.

But what exactly makes a better leader and how can you empower your leaders to perform at those high levels of performance?

Leaders Are Made—Not Born—And That Means You Have A Huge Advantage

Take the following into consideration:

1. According to a recent study by Gallup, only 10% of people have the natural talent to lead at a high level of performance.

2. 87% of the time the people in leadership positions don’t have these high levels of natural leadership talent.

3. Research conducted by our leadership experts through decades of experience shows that high-performing leaders have 5 key leadership traits in common—all of which can be learned.

4. The first 90 days of a manager or senior leader’s tenure define how he or she will perform as a leader; however even mid-career every leader, regardless of experience level, can improve his or her leadership capabilities with ongoing leadership training and coaching.

4 Steps To A Successful Leadership Development Strategy

Step 1: Determine The Leadership Qualities Your Company Needs

The first step of harnessing the power of your leaders to achieve company goals is to get a better idea of what leadership qualities your leaders need to have to help you achieve your company goals.

The best way to define these traits is to consider your long-term business goals. You probably already know which steps need to be taken to achieve these goals. What skills do your leaders need to have or be stronger in to help you acheve each step.

Step 4: Design & Implement Your Strategy

Once you’ve defined your leadership profile and the goals of your leadership development strategy, it’s time to design a system that supports these goals.

• Flipped learning – a learning acceleration strategy that uses self-learning prior to expert-led training and conversation.
• Individualized learning – curriculum that emphasizes personalizing tools and techniques to each participant to improve retention and application.
• Expanded timeline – teaching leadership skills over a 1-2 month period with support to ensure application and practice between modules.
• Virtual learning – maximize budget while bringing together a group of leaders regardless of location, time zone, or availability while integrating into a leader’s schedule instead of detracting from existing work.
• Professional coaching – perhaps the most significant feature you can look for in a leadership development program. Personalizes curriculum to the individual, directs actual application, troubleshoots learning challenges, and serves as an expert co-pilot to maximize learning.

About the Author

Pat Bosworth

Founder and CEO
Patrick effectively coaches leaders at all levels and across a number of industries with a pragmatic, consultative approach. Previously, he was vice president with Right Management and held other senior OD and development positions in manufacturing and the professional services Industries. He holds an M.S. in Industrial/Organizational Psychology from Lamar University.