Build a Foundation for Leadership Development

Ultimate Guide to Leadership Development

Set Up Your Leadership Programs for Success

Imagine building a house without a blueprint or solid foundation. There’s a pretty good chance you won’t get the house you were hoping for. And without a solid foundation, cracks and other issues will quickly start to appear. The same applies to building a foundation for leadership development.

It can be tempting to jump right into building content and resources for your leadership programs. But having a solid foundation for leadership development helps you maximize the impact and sustainability of your leadership development initiatives.

In this section, we’ll explore several key foundational elements to help you build a successful leadership development program.

First, we’ll guide you through connecting your program to your organization’s key business priorities. Then we’ll help you build a framework that links those strategic priorities to the behaviors your leaders need to demonstrate. Finally, we’ll walk you through the elements of instructional design and facilitation to help you deliver a successful program.

These foundational elements are key to helping you shape a clear and intentional leadership culture. With a strong foundation for leadership development, you create a common leadership language across your company. Every leader, regardless of level, will know what’s expected of them and what they can expect from each other. And that’s how you can begin to create clear and measurable change.


Identify Your Business Drivers

This section shows you how to link your development activities and tools to the critical strategic and cultural priorities of your business.


Build Your Leadership Competency Framework

Competencies are at the heart of an effective leadership development strategy. They define the needs of leaders at different levels aligned to your business priorities. This section shows you how to build an effective and relevant competency framework.


Adopt Leader-First Instructional Design Principles

This section introduces a set of design principles that meet the needs of the modern learner. It also provides tips to maximize the instructional quality and impact of your programs.


Invest in Great Leadership Facilitators

Facilitators continue to play a critical role in leadership development. This section shares tips and best practices for identifying and developing great leadership facilitators.