Leadership Development: Moving from Priority to Action

So, how does an organization overcome these and other challenges and move from making leadership development a priority to implementing an effective, successful program? The first step is to understand what leadership development actually is. Many organizations confuse leadership development with management training. Management training is operationally focused and should provide supervisors and managers with the skills required for managing people, projects and budgets. Leadership development cultivates current and emerging leaders and is tightly integrated with business strategy, succession planning and other talent management processes. Understanding and articulating the differences between these two types of programs will help you go beyond management training to true leadership development.

As with any major planning effort, it's important to know where you are now and where you're going. Understanding where your organization fits on the leadership development maturity model is important for two reasons. First, by knowing the types of activities and program characteristics at each maturity level, you can plan for future investments and program expansion. Second, the model provides a useful communication tool when discussing program evolution with senior executives.