Building Leadership Development Programmes

Most leadership development runs on rails. Courses are organized with standard content usually delivered by companies set up expressly for that purpose. Most leadership programmes fail if you judge them on whether they achieve lasting impact and lasting behaviour change. Often leadership programmes are well delivered, enjoyed and well structured. However, the changes are rarely embedded after the programme ends, most of what has been covered is soon forgotten and most of the processes ignored. It is one of the best kept secrets in learning and development that probably the most expensive programme that you deliver is also the least effective. This book is designed to show how leadership development needs to be a much more sophisticated process than simply running a course. It will challenge the widely accepted notion that leadership development cannot be measured to offer models in how to design leadership development programmes that are in line with organizational needs and that deliver lasting and measurable impact. This will involve learning from others who have been there and delivered, looking at a range of models from almost zero cost options to high end investment that actually works. The book will be structured around detailed case studies from around the world that offer unique insights into the process of building effective leadership development. Part one will help the reader to think through what it is that they are actually trying to achieve, offering processes to work through to establish what is necessary for their organization and to help them to take a longer view than looking for quick fixes. Part two will focus on case studies including Crotonville Leadership Centre who have been working with GE, McKinsey, the Red Cross and interviews with world authorities on leadership and talent development. Part three will offer processes to help readers transfer the learning from the book to their own situation. It will enable them to identify the right measures to ensure impact, and to adopt the right methodologies, including looking at leadership coaching, mentoring, social learning and action learning, blowing apart the idea that you always need expensive training courses.