Developing Leaders in 2025 2-minute read Written by Shawn Bakker, Psychologist Effective leaders are learners. Effective leadership development requires engaging leaders in learning experiences that stretch and improve their capabilities. Here are three things that organizations can do to improve their leadership development programs. 1. Develop More Leaders A rising tide lifts all boats. This is also true of leadership development. Researchers from Zenger Folkman1 found that organizations who engaged a significant portion of their leadership group in development benefited from a contagious effect that improved the leadership practiced by all leaders. They were able to shift their leadership culture. Too often our leadership development efforts are limited to senior executives and high potentials. While this is important, it shouldn’t come at the cost of where most leadership occurs in an organization, at the front line. To drive increases in leadership effectiveness, OD professionals should consider how to include more leaders, even if this results in a program that is less formal and exclusive. 2. Provide More Feedback Leaders typically operate in a feedback deficient environment. People rarely provide them with it, and many leaders do not seek it out. However, without information about how they are performing, the impact they have on others, and areas that need improvement, leaders can be left lacking in self-awareness. Organizations need to build feedback systems into their leadership development programs to address this issue. Feedback can be provided in many ways – multi-rater tools such as the Psychometrics 360 assessment, the Work Personality Index Leadership Potential Report, after-action-reviews following the completion of a project with a focus on the leaders’ actions, and one-on-one meetings with superiors are just some examples. Initially, feedback can feel uncomfortable to the receiver and the deliverer. This discomfort often prevents giving feedback from becoming an established part of leadership development. BUT – we should see this discomfort as a feature of feedback, rather than a problem. Effective learning comes from being pushed outside one’s comfort zone. 3. Identify More Learning Experiences Most leadership learning comes from on-the-job experiences and challenges. Research from the Center for Creative Leadership2 estimates that 70% of all learning comes from challenging assignments that require leaders to engage in some of the following: Facing unfamiliar or broader responsibilities Creating change Influencing across organizational boundaries Working with diverse sets of people The great news is that you don’t need to build out leadership development opportunities; they already exist in your organization. What is required of development professionals is to find these opportunities and match them to the leaders who need them. References: Proven Leadership Development Lessons – ZENGER FOLKMAN Develop Strong Leaders With On-the-Job Learning | CCL
