I've always found it interesting how much time and money organizations invest in leadership development only to struggle to explain what's actually changed as a result.
We bring leaders together, introduce new concepts, have a few great conversations live, and then send everyone back to work. And, usually, that’s it. That's where the learning ends.
It's not necessarily because the content wasn't good, or because people didn't enjoy the experience. We can control these to a certain extent. But changing how we lead takes more than simply understanding a concept. We need opportunities to practice, reflect, learn from others, and figure out how to apply what we've learned when things get messy and challenging.
This is exactly where I think social learning can make a real difference. In this guide, you’ll see a couple of ideas about how I'd do it when designing a leadership program for people who already have (more than) enough on their plates.
Make sure you know which leadership challenge you want to address, who is dealing with it, and whether their managers will support them in trying something different. We'll get into this in step 1. You also need a way for participants to reconnect over time and a plan to notice what changes in their work.
One of the first things I like to ask when someone approaches me with a request for leadership training is: “What are we actually trying to solve?”
Not which competency we want to develop, or which course we want people to complete. What I want them to explore with me is what's happening in the business that we want to change?
For example, are managers struggling to delegate? Are teams working in silos? Are leaders avoiding difficult conversations? These are much more useful starting points because they give us something very real to work with.
I also like asking stakeholders what they would expect to see happening differently six months after the program. If we can't clearly describe that (and I say ‘we’ because I usually need to help them put their ideas into words), we're probably not ready to start designing the learning experience.
Try this: Ask your sponsor to describe one thing they would expect to see leaders doing differently. Then ask how they would notice. Their answers are a fantastic starting point to deliberate before the design and the evaluation.