How to Choose a Leadership Development Program

Did you know that House of the Mouse aka Disney sells a leadership development program? Neither did I until I had Googled leadership development programs and big data suddenly decided to fill my social feeds with everyone and their mother offering leadership training.

Not all leadership development programs (LDP) are created equal. While many are high quality taught by people with real life experience, others are overly productized, mass marketed and not grounded in reality.

How do you know what to look for when hiring a company? I’ll start first by defining what an LDP is, why you need one and some of the primary benefits. After that I will list out 6 key characteristics of a quality LDP.

What is a LDP and why does your organization need one?

A leadership development program (LDP) is a structured program that teaches managers in an organization how to provide purpose, direction and motivation to their teams to accomplish a set of tasks or objectives. People aren’t born leaders, just like they aren’t born engineers. It requires training and practice. LDPs work best when they target to ALL entry and mid level managers. They are the ones leading the teams executing the C-Suite’s strategy and goals and the quality of their interactions with their teams is key to employee retention.

BENEFITS

Retain Top Talent and Save $

The cost savings from implementing an LDP are significant. Managers who receive quality leadership development training will help you retain top employees.

Some rough numbers: assume it costs $10,000 for to put one manager in an LDP. The cost to replace one aerospace engineer is $104,000. If that manager retains just 1 aerospace engineer they’ve saved you $94,000! The cost for the LDP for one manager is approximately 10% of the cost to replace 1 engineer.

If you need to replace one engineering manager the cost is $330,740. It’s significantly less money to pay for an LDP for that manager than it is to hire a new one.

Make Money

Managers who have completed a quality LDP make you money. They understand how to build and lead a team to deliver results. They are creative, improve efficiency and mitigate risks for your organization. They think strategically and make good decisions.

I’ve established what an LDP is, why you need it and the benefit. So how do you know which one to choose? Read on for key characteristics of a high quality LDP.

6 Key Characteristics of a High Quality LDP

1.      Fun and engaging- otherwise what’s the point?

Training should be fun and engaging

Remember the best teacher you had in high school or college? Their class was interesting, fun and you learned a lot. That is what a good leadership development program should be like. On top of that, life is too short to be in boring training.

2.      Blends academics with lived experiences

Knowledge + Experience

Your leadership development program courses should be taught by someone who has had formal leadership training AND been a leader in an organization; not just read books about it, been handed a set of slides or paid a bunch of money to be a certified trainer.

I’ve read articles and participated in leadership training where I could tell what they were saying was so far removed from reality it wasn’t useful.

3.      Provides a leadership toolkit

High performing teams have the tools they need to succeed

Your LDP should have practical application to your managers’ work, otherwise you’re wasting your money. The LDP should include physical or digital document templates that can be used in a manager’s job. Examples of these include personal success plans, need to know criteria, planning documents, and leadership philosophy templates.

4.      Establishes a leadership baseline

From the moon...

A leadership baseline is the minimum that a leader in your organization should do.

This should include things like understand the values and vision of the organization, have x number of meetings with their team members annually, and empowering team member to do their jobs.

A good LDP will teach this leadership baseline to entry and mid level managers.

5.      Builds upon the baseline

To Mars

Leadership is not a one and done class but is cultivated through continuing education and experience. A good LDP will include regular classes given by members of the organization and others outside of it to continue to enforce and build upon the baseline.

Examples: Lunch and learns, coaching from your managers, a company mentorship program

6. Tailored to your needs

One size doesn't fit all.

While the principles of leadership (don’t be a jerk, take care of people, and get stuff done) don’t change, any LDP you select should provide you with options to tailor the offering to address the nuances of your organization.