What Makes Leadership Development Programs Succeed?

A recent Harvard Business Review article, What Makes Leadership Development Programs Succeed? states that “Every year, global organizations spend more than $60 billion on leadership development programs.”

With such a significant expenditure, it’s easy to see why organizations would want to obtain a good return on their investment. The article’s three distinguished authors found that “…under the right circumstances, leadership development can have a substantial positive impact on employees and employers. Specifically, these initiatives can drive personal growth, a clearer sense of self, a greater meaning and purpose in life and at work, greater happiness, and reduced stress – ultimately enabling real transformation and a substantial boost in mental health and wellbeing. This in turn can foster improved engagement and effectiveness, empowering leaders to better support their teams and organizations.”

To help organizations build experiences that drive positive change, the article offered seven tips on how to accomplish this. For the full article complete with quotes, click here.

Here is our brief summary of each of the seven research-backed strategies…

Seven Ways to Realize the True Potential of Leadership Development

  1. Focus on whole-person growth: …Effective leadership development must work with and transform not just a leader’s performance of concrete job tasks, but their entire selves. A whole person approach to growth both improves organizational outcomes and adds greater value to the leader, personally and professionally. 
  2. Provide opportunities for self-reflection and meaning-making:  One of the main ways in which leadership development creates value for employees is by offering them the chance to take a pause from the daily grind and reorient their self, work, and life. This can in turn lead to a renewed sense of purpose at work and beyond. 
  3. Offer targeted programs to support leaders with acute or chronic stress: …Effective leadership development gave participants a new sense of focus and direction, which often improved happiness and reduced stress… Employers should prioritize leadership development when stress due to collective or personal challenges is particularly high, as these initiatives can help destress employees and bolster their psychological resources.
  4. Don’t underestimate short, intensive programs: One of the most interesting findings in the study was that shorter programs often yielded surprisingly large improvements. In some cases, we found that a two- or four-day intensive had the same or even greater impact than an equivalent four-week program, and some even led to increases in wellbeing on par with those observed after therapeutic mental health interventions.
  5. Acknowledge and address psychological barriers to growth: …Organizations must manage expectations about different programs’ specific learning outcomes and help participants choose programs that fit their personal learning goals. It’s also often worthwhile to spend time cultivating the mindset necessary for learning and development before launching into a new development program…
  6. Ensure that short-term growth leads to sustained, long-term impact: A large body of psychological research has shown that when a change in wellbeing is initiated by a one-time event, the boost often fades away over time. …The most effective programs build on these initial changes with reminders and other ongoing interventions designed to establish long-term habits and continued engagement.
  7. Embrace online learning: …Many organizations have begun exploring online leadership development options. These programs are generally lower-cost and more efficient, and they make it easier for educators to reach a larger audience. …Our initial results suggest that in many situations, development can happen just as effectively online as it can in person.

In conclusion, What Makes Leadership Development Programs Succeed? notes “The best leadership development programs lead to deep personal growth and boost the happiness, meaning, and vitality that people experience at work and in life... Without effective implementation, these programs often fail to pay off. But when done right, they can help both today’s leaders and the leaders of the future to grow, engage, and flourish.”

Want to Learn More?

Stay in the Loop
Sign up for our e-newsletter. Keep up to date on everything Pink including IT leadership, ITSM, Pink24, new courses, industry news, special offers, and educational articles/webinars, and more.

Like this article? Like

View Comments (1)

Comments