Leading People

👏🏽Leading People Unit 13 – Leadership Development & Succession Planning

Leadership development and succession planning are crucial for organizational success. These practices involve identifying high-potential employees, providing targeted training, and creating a pipeline of future leaders. By focusing on key leadership concepts and implementing effective development models, companies can nurture talent and ensure smooth transitions. Effective leadership programs incorporate various strategies, including mentoring, coaching, and formal training. Measuring leadership effectiveness and staying attuned to future trends help organizations continuously improve their development efforts. By investing in leadership development, companies can build a strong foundation for long-term success and adaptability.

Key Leadership Concepts

  • Leadership involves influencing, motivating, and guiding others towards achieving common goals
  • Effective leaders possess a combination of traits, skills, and behaviors that enable them to inspire and direct their teams
  • Transformational leadership focuses on inspiring and empowering followers to achieve extraordinary results through shared vision and values
    • Transformational leaders act as role models, provide individualized consideration, and stimulate intellectual growth
  • Situational leadership emphasizes adapting leadership styles based on the readiness and maturity levels of followers (directing, coaching, supporting, delegating)
  • Emotional intelligence plays a crucial role in leadership effectiveness by enabling leaders to understand and manage their own emotions and those of others
  • Servant leadership prioritizes the growth and well-being of followers, placing their needs above the leader's self-interests
  • Authentic leadership emphasizes self-awareness, transparency, and consistency between a leader's values and actions

Leadership Development Models

  • The 70-20-10 model suggests that leadership development occurs through a combination of on-the-job experiences (70%), coaching and mentoring (20%), and formal training (10%)
  • Lombardo and Eichinger's Leadership Architect model identifies 67 competencies across four domains (strategic skills, operating skills, courage, and energy and drive)
  • Korn Ferry's Leadership Architect model organizes leadership competencies into four dimensions (thought, results, people, and self)
  • The Center for Creative Leadership's Assessment, Challenge, and Support (ACS) model emphasizes the importance of providing leaders with assessment, challenging assignments, and support throughout their development
  • Drotter's Leadership Pipeline model outlines six leadership passages that individuals must navigate as they progress from individual contributor to enterprise leader
    • Each passage requires mastering new skills, time applications, and work values
  • The Authentic Leadership Development (ALD) model focuses on developing self-awareness, internalized moral perspective, balanced processing, and relational transparency

Identifying High-Potential Employees

  • High-potential employees demonstrate a combination of strong performance, learning agility, and leadership potential
  • Performance appraisals and 360-degree feedback can provide insights into an employee's current performance and areas for improvement
  • Assessment centers use simulations, role-plays, and other exercises to evaluate an individual's leadership potential and development needs
  • Talent review meetings bring together managers to discuss and calibrate assessments of employees' performance and potential
  • The 9-box grid is a tool for categorizing employees based on their performance and potential, helping organizations prioritize development efforts
  • Psychometric assessments, such as personality inventories and cognitive ability tests, can provide additional data points for evaluating leadership potential
  • Observing employees' behavior and contributions in stretch assignments and cross-functional projects can reveal their leadership capabilities

Succession Planning Strategies

  • Succession planning involves identifying and developing internal talent to fill critical leadership roles in the future
  • Creating talent pools of high-potential employees for key positions ensures a pipeline of ready successors
  • Conducting regular talent reviews helps monitor the development progress of potential successors and identify any gaps in the leadership pipeline
  • Implementing job rotations and cross-functional assignments exposes high-potential employees to diverse experiences and broadens their skillsets
  • Providing targeted development opportunities, such as executive education programs and leadership coaching, accelerates the growth of potential successors
  • Establishing clear career paths and development plans for high-potential employees increases engagement and retention
  • Regularly assessing the organization's future leadership needs ensures that succession plans remain aligned with strategic objectives

Leadership Training Programs

  • Formal leadership training programs provide structured learning experiences to develop specific leadership competencies
  • Classroom-based training offers a focused environment for acquiring knowledge and practicing skills through lectures, discussions, and simulations
  • Action learning projects enable participants to apply their learning to real business challenges, fostering collaboration and problem-solving skills
  • Executive education programs, often delivered by business schools, provide immersive learning experiences for senior leaders
  • Online learning platforms offer flexible access to leadership development content, allowing for self-paced learning and global reach
  • Blended learning approaches combine face-to-face and online learning elements to maximize the benefits of both formats
  • Customized leadership training programs tailor content and delivery to an organization's specific needs and culture

Mentoring and Coaching

  • Mentoring involves a more experienced leader providing guidance, advice, and support to a less experienced mentee
    • Mentors share their knowledge, offer career advice, and serve as role models
  • Coaching focuses on helping individuals identify and achieve specific development goals through questioning, feedback, and accountability
    • Coaches help leaders gain self-awareness, set goals, and develop action plans
  • Reverse mentoring pairs senior leaders with younger employees to share insights on emerging trends and technologies
  • Group mentoring brings together multiple mentees with one or more mentors to foster peer learning and support
  • Coaching circles involve a small group of individuals who coach each other, providing diverse perspectives and accountability
  • Virtual mentoring and coaching use technology to connect mentors and mentees across different locations
  • Establishing clear expectations, goals, and boundaries is essential for effective mentoring and coaching relationships

Measuring Leadership Effectiveness

  • Kirkpatrick's four-level evaluation model assesses the impact of leadership development programs on reaction, learning, behavior, and results
  • 360-degree feedback surveys gather input from an individual's managers, peers, direct reports, and self-assessment to provide a comprehensive view of leadership effectiveness
  • Employee engagement surveys measure the extent to which leaders create a positive work environment and inspire their teams
  • Performance metrics, such as team productivity, customer satisfaction, and financial results, can indicate the impact of leadership on business outcomes
  • Retention and promotion rates of high-potential employees reflect the effectiveness of leadership development efforts in engaging and developing talent
  • Qualitative feedback from stakeholders, such as interviews and focus groups, provides rich insights into leadership effectiveness and development needs
  • Longitudinal studies track the long-term impact of leadership development initiatives on individual and organizational performance
  • Personalized learning experiences, powered by artificial intelligence and machine learning, will adapt content and delivery to individual needs and preferences
  • Micro-learning approaches will offer bite-sized, on-demand learning modules that fit into leaders' busy schedules
  • Gamification will engage learners through interactive challenges, rewards, and leaderboards, making leadership development more engaging and memorable
  • Virtual and augmented reality simulations will provide immersive, realistic practice opportunities for leadership skills
  • Social learning platforms will facilitate peer-to-peer knowledge sharing, collaboration, and support among leaders across the organization
  • Increased emphasis on developing inclusive leadership skills to lead diverse teams effectively and foster a culture of belonging
  • Greater focus on developing leaders' resilience, adaptability, and change management skills to navigate an increasingly complex and uncertain business environment


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© 2024 Fiveable Inc. All rights reserved.
AP® and SAT® are trademarks registered by the College Board, which is not affiliated with, and does not endorse this website.