The widespread notion surrounding leadership development programs is that they don’t drive true impact. This should be considered a major concern since developing a strong pipeline of scalable leaders is critical to driving business success. Leaders at and near the top of the house are instrumental in advancing key transformation initiatives, fostering a culture of psychological safety and belonging, inspiring others around a shared sense of purpose, and providing road maps and resources to ensure disciplined execution, capabilities that can be practiced and honed via strategic training programs.
According to a survey from the Pew Research Center, 20% of US workers say their bosses are fair/poor to work for. Anyone rarely sets out to be an ineffective leader, so why could this be? Often, unsatisfactory leadership boils down to those at the top lacking the crucial skills required to lead at scale.
The consequences of investing in high-potential development programs that don’t work can be far-reaching. Organizations face losing a competitive edge, experiencing stagnation in their leadership pipeline, reducing organizational performance levels, increasing recruitment costs and decreasing employee engagement and retention. To avoid these ramifications, we can look at the five most common reasons these programs fail and strategies for how to improve.
1. Lack of focus on key capabilities
Problem: The purpose of an executive development program is to create a meaningful competitive advantage for the organization. The capabilities required for leadership are largely consistent across industries, geographies, markets and time. Nevertheless, they aren’t the primary focus of most programs. Instead, programs often over-index on trending topics, the organization’s competency framework, the newest set of values, etc.
Solution: Each component of a high-impact development program should link directly to the core capabilities of enterprise leadership. A diligent and unwavering emphasis on the core capabilities ultimately accelerates a leader’s readiness to scale, strengthens the organization’s leadership pipeline and creates meaningful competitive advantage for the business.
2. Emphasis on content rather than behavior change
Problem: Organizations often think about development programs in terms of buying content rather than a stronger leadership pipeline. Yet, when it comes to shifting mindsets and behavior, content is of limited value. Many programs ignore this important reality and end up taking part in something that’s overly academic rather than more applied.
Solution: To develop enterprise leaders based on the core capabilities mentioned above, you want to buy two things: insights and behavior change. A high-impact development program is resolutely focused on helping leaders cultivate insight into the business and its impact on others and themselves. Just as importantly, a high-impact program gives leaders a tested road map for translating that insight into meaningful behavior change.
3. Failure to leverage a blended approach
Problem: The most common complaint we hear from emerging enterprise leaders about a previous coaching experience is, “All the coach did was ask me lots of questions without ever giving me any of the answers or offering advice.” This approach is the one taught and advocated for by many of the largest and best-known coaching certification providers. It has its place at certain levels in an organization but is an inferior fit for emerging and existing enterprise leaders, many of whom look to a coach to be more of an expert advisor.
Solution: To maximize ROI, executive development programs need to combine the best elements of group learning and one-on-one coaching. Leaders grow the most when leveraging a network to support a development journey that is highly tailored to individual needs. Emerging leaders will benefit most by working with coaches who know a lot of the answers and share them in a manner that feels exploratory, collaborative and not heavy-handed.
4. Lack of customization
Problem: Program sponsors often make the mistake of buying an off-the-shelf solution.
Solution: To optimize impact, executive development programs should be customized and embedded within the broader ecosystem within which the leader operates. Insights are more robust, and new behaviors are more easily acquired when leaders work through real business challenges that need to be addressed. Coaches are more effective when they’ve been sufficiently oriented to the business. Group sessions have more impact when leaders work jointly to navigate obstacles and capitalize on opportunities.
5. Absence of measurement
Problem: In most programs, the measurement component is either shortchanged or implemented with a lack of rigor. The most common form we see these measurements take is through “happy sheets,” which cannot evaluate progress against development goals.
Solution: To truly assess and maximize ROI, measurement is essential and needs to occur at different stages of an executive development program. On the front end, a robust and psychometrically sound assessment provides direction regarding an individual’s strengths and development opportunities. When used with larger cohorts, assessment data can serve as a critical input in succession planning and talent roundtable conversations. Aggregate assessment data helps illuminate trends and shared development opportunities across a cohort as well. As the program progresses, feedback on group learning sessions allows for improvements and subtle course corrections where needed. Bidirectional feedback helps optimize and enhance one-on-one coaching, allowing leaders to provide feedback on whether the coach is meeting their needs and expectations and coaches to give feedback on whether the leader is engaged, developmentally oriented, etc. At the conclusion of the program, outcome assessments should be used to demonstrate impact. The manager should evaluate the amount of progress made against development goals and whether a leader is better equipped for a role of greater scope and complexity. The size of successor pools — and whether they have grown larger — can also be used as a metric for program impact.
Opportunities to invest in high-potential leaders should not be overlooked. By harnessing these solutions, organizations can help their key talent develop the skills required to take on more complex, scalable roles and support their business in developing a strong leadership pipeline while ensuring their investments are not misplaced.
Opinions expressed by SmartBrief contributors are their own.
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