Leadership Development That Actually Works

If you want your organization to thrive, you need everyone to perform at the highest level possible.  You need leaders to be aligned with each other and those they lead. You need an environment that brings out the best in people, connects them more deeply to each other and demonstrates that you care for them and you see them as an important part of your organization’s future.

How do you begin to connect the dots? 

Your leaders must see their blindspots. They must understand the difference between how they show up and what is required for success at the highest levels. After discovering these gaps, you need to know that they are working on fixing these issues and that progress is being made.  

But how? How can you feel confident in having your leaders commit the time necessary to close these important gaps? With all the urgent work required of them, it often feels like a bit of a luxury to imagine stepping away from the day-to-day grind to work on individual leadership development.  

Especially when you recall those times when your team lost traction because leaders were out of the office for several days getting their brains filled to the brim with detailed concepts and carrying away 3” binders that would soon collect dust on the bookshelf.  With lots of content and new ideas, too many of our training and development experiences come up short on delivering lasting change.  

It doesn’t have to be this way. 

What if the development was centered around your leader’s individual specific issues, challenges and opportunities?  What if you had a program that involved a variety of shorter interactions spread out over a longer period of time? One that was light on content & theory but heavy on discussions of how the concepts apply to the real world challenges of those in the room? 

What if everyone agreed to take action on their specific elements and there was collective accountability for action with follow-through and tracking? This would be a world where our leadership development time would be a worthwhile investment instead of a risky gamble of our precious money and finite time resources.

With the right attention to planning, setup, and execution, you can create a program that works in this way. In fact, at ReZone Coaching, we have been working closely with The Leadership Circle™ and their Leadership System™ framework to create customized leadership development programs that help organizations build better leaders and make immediate progress that translates to bottom-line business results. While each program is unique, there are a handful of common elements that we incorporate every chance we can. 

If you are exploring creating your own version of a similar program, we recommend using these elements: 

1. Confidential Individual 360 Assessments

2. Focused discussions around the role of quality leadership and developing a genuine commitment for growing your own leadership

3. Private one-to-one Executive Coaching Sessions

4. Individual Laser-Focused Development Plans

5. Small Group Sessions that connect key leadership concepts to current challenges and opportunities. (topics like “Dealing With Change” or “Sustaining Energy, Focus & Commitment” provide fertile ground to explore topics our leaders are facing every day)

6. Strategic follow-up & follow through on individual commitments

7. An environment of complete confidentiality among participants

Putting together a program like this has so many benefits for individuals and the organization.  Here are a few of my favorites:

1. Increased awareness & growth for each participating leader

2. Deepened bonds and connections among participating leaders

3. The elevated mindset of the leaders fosters better mentorship for all employees 

4. Retention of the highest quality leaders

5. A tangible return on investment with improved efficiency and performance

This blog provides you insights for what to consider and how to get started on a Leadership Development Program that actually works. This all may seem like a large undertaking. If don’t want to go it alone, we’d love to help. Enlisting the help of an experienced leadership development resource like ReZone Coaching is the fastest way to get your program up and running. Contact our office to set up a brief phone call to begin the conversations.