Leadership development gives employees everything they need to build up their leadership skills, no matter what level of the organization they’re at. This can give organizations a steady supply of ready-made leaders when leadership positions open up and empower more employees to lead projects they contribute to without being in an official leadership role.
Let’s explore leadership development, how it fits with other HR strategies, and the impact it can have on your organization.
Key takeaways
In its Handbook of Leadership Development, the Center for Creative Leadership defines leader development as “the expansion of a person’s capacity to be effective in leadership roles and processes.”
Leadership development is the actual strategy an organization uses to build this capacity at scale, rather than on an ad-hoc, one-on-one basis. This practice isn’t limited to formal leadership or executive roles. It’s about building leadership skills throughout the organization.
At 15Five, we believe effective management is foundational to great leadership. When managers are supported, they drive the very outcomes that define organizational success: high engagement, strong retention, and aligned performance
The biggest difference between leadership and management is in the contrast between day-to-day operations and vision. Leadership is about finding, developing, and sharing the organization’s larger vision. It’s about driving alignment through inspiration. Conversely, management is about ensuring direct reports have what they need to complete their day-to-day tasks and giving them guidance when needed.
Building leadership skills throughout your organization goes beyond just sharing the right business books and setting up self-evaluations. Here are some essential components of every leadership development strategy:
Leadership is a multi-faceted discipline. Here are the skills your leadership development strategy should focus on:
While these are the most common leadership skills, they’re not necessarily relevant for all leaders. A department head or executive will need to demonstrate more strategic thinking than a team lead, while the latter will focus on developing adaptability and communication skills. That said, for leaders who want to eventually rise to the executive level, building all these skills early is crucial.
HR has become much more than just an administrative function. HR leaders are becoming important strategic partners, sitting at the table for some of the organization’s most important decisions and helping to guide overall strategy. That’s what strategic HR is in a nutshell; focusing on aligning HR efforts with the organization’s overall goals.
Strategic HR is crucial in leadership development for these reasons:
Leadership development increases leadership skills throughout your organization, which can have major impacts on its performance, its adaptability, and more. Here’s how.
Organizations thrive or die based on the decisions leaders make at every level. Not every decision can single-handedly change your organization’s trajectory, but its growth depends on consistently making better decisions. By developing strategic skills for every leader, you ensure the organization’s strategy is better reflected in the day-to-day of each department and each team.
For many employees, having an opportunity to work towards an eventual leadership position can make them feel more engaged with your mission and keep them with your organization longer. Few people are satisfied by staying in the same role for years at a time, and increases in pay alone won’t guarantee they’ll stay with you. You'll keep people aligned and engaged by systematically building up leadership skills throughout the organization.
Top talent doesn’t join an organization where they’ll stagnate in the same position. They want to find a place where they can grow and maximize their potential. With a robust leadership development program, you can show your dedication to helping every employee grow with you, especially if you have examples of this growth with current employees.
A leader’s departure can single-handedly stifle an organization’s growth, especially if you don’t have a clear plan for replacing them. Recruiting for executive roles can take months, making day-to-day operations needlessly challenging as you try and fill leadership gaps. By building up leaders within the organization, you can effectively plan ahead, whether you want to have an employee step up as an interim leader or fully promote them to the new role.
Leadership development leads to a company culture where every employee feels more involved in strategic decisions, which helps eliminate the divide between leadership and the rest of the workforce. By fostering leadership skills at every level, you’ll also give everyone the tools to better understand strategic decisions and carry them out.
No matter the size of your organization, you can build your own leadership development program in a few simple steps.
Where does your organization most need leadership? Are you finding that leadership skills are low across the board or only with specific departments? A needs assessment can help you identify any potential skill gaps among leadership and find teams where more leaders are needed.
What should your leadership development program accomplish once it’s in place? And how does it align with the organization’s overall strategy? Having clear goals before you begin—and ensuring they’re measurable with KPIs or similar metrics—will guide your efforts at every stage.
Emerging leaders, mid-level managers, and senior executives don’t all have the same needs. As part of your strategy, tailor your program to each of these levels. Senior executives might only need to focus on a few leadership skills, while emerging leaders may need more dedicated training across all aspects of leadership.
Not everyone learns the same way, and having a more holistic approach to learning can help all employees learn more effectively. Give your program a healthy mix of formal training, mentorship opportunities, regular coaching, peer learning, and on-the-job experiences.
How do you plan to track your leadership development program’s progress? And will you be gathering training content from multiple sources? Make promoting leadership throughout your organization easier with a dedicated tool like 15Five.
15Five is a performance management platform that’ll help you identify skill gaps throughout your leadership team, build your leadership development program, and even source training content to upskill employees. Book a demo to see what 15Five can do for your leaders.
Consistent improvement is just as important for your program as it is for the people participating in it. Rigorously evaluate your program’s performance, ask employees for feedback, and make changes as needed.
Pendo, a software experience management provider, grew from 200 to 1,000 employees and had to onboard 163 managers, all while striving to reduce employee turnover. With 15Five, the team at Pendo streamlined the onboarding process for all these managers, which included developing their leadership skills. Read their story.
Leadership development isn’t just about preparing for the next promotion. It’s about shaping the kind of culture and performance every employee contributes to. Strategic HR teams using 15Five empower leaders at every level to guide with clarity, coach with purpose, and drive results that matter.
Upskilling leaders at your organization? Check out our additional resources on leadership development and strategic HR:
Investing in leadership development doesn’t just turn managers into leaders, it makes your organization more resilient to change while ensuring everyone makes more strategic decisions. That leads to better performance across the board and more engaged teams.