Companies need competent and effective leaders, but is it an undeniable fact that they must come from the outside? Not necessarily. Most executives would agree that ideally new leaders would come from within a company itself to create a sustainable flow of talent that can lead the organization into the future.   

While it’s clear that companies need a steady stream of competent leaders, many organizations overlook the importance of implementing formal leadership and executive training programs that provide employees with defined pathways into managerial roles. Creating an in-house leadership training program offers promising employees the opportunity to develop the skills they need to move up within the organization and grow their careers.

The payoff of such programs can be multifaceted: leaders who know the culture inside and out, higher employee morale, better retention, and greater team productivity.

If you believe your organization would benefit from creating its own in-house leadership training program, here are some recognized best practices for launching and building such a program.

  1. Define your company’s leadership needs.

Companies have different needs for leaders based on their business model, growth ambitions and global footprint. Another factor to consider is timeline. How urgent is the need for new leadership? Some organizations have existing leaders who are a few years off from retirement while others face an imminent need.

A good beginning exercise is to think about any specific leadership challenges your company has or may soon face. Specifically, what leadership attributes and characteristics does your company need in light of these? Embrace these attributes when defining the content and objectives of your proposed leadership training program.  

  1. Align leadership development training goals to top-level business goals.A quote that says, "Leadership is a complex skill to hone, so the programs offered should be customizable and not one-size-fits-all."

Are your leadership development program’s goals aligned with your vision of what your business should become? Reviewing your strategic priorities and determining what skills your leaders need to accomplish them is central to the sustainable success of the training program.

Also, consider how your new program will align with your organizational culture. Elements of the program should support the company’s values and beliefs about how people are treated and various situations are dealt with.  

  1. Cast a wide net to identify potential leaders. 

Potential leaders may be anywhere in your company and identifying them isn’t always easy. A common mistake made by the managers of some leadership training programs is to recruit only from among their company’s top-performing employees. It’s fairly well-established that top individual contributors don’t always make the best leaders.

Therefore, it’s important to keep an open mind about leadership potential within the training prospect pool. Consider inviting promising employees throughout the company to engage in the training program on an exploratory level. Create a fair system for determining training program eligibility that’s based on transparent and inclusive steps for applying.

By seeking to polish your organization’s “diamonds in the rough,” you afford your employees the training and confidence they need to climb into leadership positions and achieve their full potential. And just the fact that you’ve established an accessible leadership training program can mean a significant boost to overall employee morale because everyone now sees a potential pathway for their own career growth and success. 

  1. Install reliable mechanisms for measuring results. 

To justify the costs and efforts behind your leadership training program, determine how you’ll measure your program’s success and impact. Some measurement options include:

  • The number of participants who complete the program successfully,
  • The number of participants who’ve gone on to become effective managers,
  • Feedback from participants
  • Measuring the growth or decline of business activity and bottom-line results of departments under the leadership of program graduates.

In addition, as part of your evaluation, assess whether employees developed leadership skills that will help them be more effective at their current jobs and not simply qualify them for future possible promotions. 

  1. Create a “learning journey” that satisfies your company’s leadership requirements.

A three women working together in a office. Learning takes many forms, but there are two keys to ensuring your program’s “learning journey” is appropriate to your business needs. First, ensure you’re teaching skills directly related to your company’s leadership core competencies. If you haven’t established leadership core competencies, then this would be a perfect opportunity to do so.

The second key is to think about the delivery methods to meet your learners’ needs. A recent survey by Development Dimensions International asked business leaders to name the types of development training they most wanted. The two most desired learning experiences were instructor-led training (56% indicated this) and professional coaching (54%). These were followed by formal mentoring (40%), peer coaching (31%), digital remote learning (25%), and internal coaching (24%).  

Evaluate what kind of a learning journey would be most effective at your company: classroom or on-line, one-on-one or in groups, internal trainers or trainer/coaches brought in from outside the company? Each of these methods have their unique pros and cons. Think them through carefully when planning your training program.   

  1. Design a roll-out plan and consider whether you should  run a pilot program first. 

A haphazard launch can put your training program behind the proverbial eight-ball from the very start. To avoid such problems, make a checklist of the primary elements your program will contain and determine how and when you will implement them.  Such elements might include: time and date decisions, locations and logistics, selected technologies to be deployed, the choice of learning management system, enrollment procedures, attendance tallying, evaluation methods, learner progress tracking, printed and digital materials deployment, geographic and multicultural considerations, and recognition protocols.  

Many of these issues can be tested and fine-tuned by running a short-term pilot training program. Pilots are easier than ever now with many more companies running virtual sessions, and they can help you test your training with regional support team members and geographically dispersed partners. It’s also a good idea to confirm various policies in advance. For example: Is attendance to your leadership training program voluntary or mandatory? What topics should constitute the first batch of offerings? 

Give yourself plenty of time to design and roll out your leadership training program.  There are a lot of important elements to consider aside from the obvious of who to hire to actually teach the courses. A full year is not an excessive time frame when it comes to doing this essential planning work.

  1. Brand your program to inspire and connect with learners.

Brand your program with a name or acronym that’s memorable and thought provoking.  Training program names like STEP, LEAD, LEAP, PIVOT, and STRIVE have an aspirational quality that’s worth emulating when naming your program. Think of words or titles that connect with your learners, and don’t be afraid to be creative when brainstorming naming ideas. Remember, you want to inspire your learners to picture themselves as highly effective leaders who are critical to the company’s future.

  1. Tailor programs to the individual. A quote that says, "Creating an in-house leadership training program offers promising employees the opportunity to develop the skills they need to move up within the organization and grow their careers."

Leadership is a complex skill to hone, so the programs offered should be customizable and not one-size-fits-all. Of course, there are leadership skills that apply to all: empathy, clear communication, building trust, influencing others, and fostering collaboration. But training programs should encompass a range of other capabilities that vary depending on the learner’s projected role in the organization. More specific skill sets include executive leadership, stakeholder relations, and communicating cross-culturally. Participants should be able to select the program content that’s most relevant to their current position, as well as positions they hope to hold in the future.  

  1. Integrate coaching into your training program. 

Leadership and executive coaching has become a nearly $3 billion industry in the U.S., and for good reason; it produces impactful results that make leadership better and improves business results. With this in mind, consider pairing your training classes with follow-up coaching using internal or external coaches. 

In Closing 

To enact lasting change, the best leadership development programs encourage learners to fundamentally shift their mindsets to adopt recognized leadership behaviors. With a clearer understanding of what it truly takes to be a leader, your program enrollees will become better equipped to handle the everyday responsibilities and challenges that come with upper management and executive roles. 

By following the aforementioned best practices, you’ll be on the way to creating a leadership training program that’s on-target with your leadership development goals to craft the next wave of talent from within.  

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If you’re looking for an external resource to provide certain classes for leaders such as leader-as-coach, leading with emotional intelligence, navigating difficult conversations or succeeding in a new role, we would be happy to talk with you. You can start the conversation by sending us a message via our Contact Form 

Delegating identifies and grooms new leaders. One of the best ways for a company to grow is to grow from within. Cultivating the next wave of leadership from among the existing ranks encourages people to grow and achieve their personal goals. Whether you’re challenged in the area of delegation or simply want ideas for ways to do it better, here is our guide serving up nine Delegation Best Practices you can put to use right away.

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