Tag Archive for: leadership development

Why Your Best Leaders Aren’t Always in the Leadership Pipeline

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And How to Find Them

If you think your next great leader is already sitting in your official pipeline, you might want to think again. Many of the best leaders aren’t the ones raising their hands—they’re the ones quietly holding everything together while others take the credit.

As a matter of fact, your next great leader is probably stuck under a bad boss—or already thinking about leaving.

The Hidden Truth: Visibility ≠ Leadership

Most companies assume that leadership potential follows a predictable path: Identify high-performers, put them in training programs, promote them, and watch them thrive. Except, reality says otherwise. The people who look like leaders—charismatic, confident, outspoken—aren’t always the ones making the biggest impact.

Meanwhile, the true leaders—those who influence, motivate, and solve real problems—are often overlooked because they don’t fit the traditional mold.  They are often focused on getting things done rather than looking good doing it.

The Fix: Find the Real Leaders Before They Leave

To build a strong leadership bench, stop confusing visibility with impact. Just because someone speaks up in meetings doesn’t mean they’re leading.  I once worked with a client who had an entire Director group go to their boss’ boss to discuss their manager’s toxic leadership. This group of high performers was ready to quit. Their boss’ boss, an SVP, was stunned to hear this.  He couldn’t reconcile the behavior he saw in the executive team’s interactions with this high potential leader with what this team was sharing. This leader was visible. Their impact was toxic.

 Instead, start identifying:

  • Trusted Advisors – Who do people go to when they need help? They may or may not be the most experienced person on the team. They may actually be the newest person on the team. Look for people providing different types of help. Sometimes its knowledge or skills that comes from experience. Other times, it’s the ability to bring a different perspective. In some situations, it’s the advice on how to handle a conflict or difficult customer situations.
  • Crisis Stabilizers – Who holds the team together when things go sideways? Who is the person who always seems to be part of the solution rather than the problem? We had this person on a highly visible transformation at a hospital. He was not the person leading the executive briefings or saying the most in the meetings. However, when we had serious challenges, we turned to him for his measured, calm reasoning.
  • System Thinkers – Who’s already improving processes and solving problems without being asked? There are always people who look at how things are done and asks ‘why?’ while also increasing efficiency and effectiveness, not just for themselves, but for the entire team.

By shifting focus from the obvious candidates to the real influencers, companies can build a stronger, more resilient leadership pipeline.

From Plateau to Peak: How to Elevate Talent Through Coaching

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Great Leaders Aren’t Born, They’re Coached

Leadership performance gaps are costly, affecting everything from team morale to organizational outcomes. Effective coaching can bridge these gaps, creating leaders who are not only skilled but also attuned to the nuances of impactful management. Achieving lasting improvement, however, goes beyond simple check-ins or basic feedback. High-quality coaching requires a strategic approach that deeply engages leaders in their growth journey.

Start with a Comprehensive Skills and Needs Assessment

An accurate assessment is the foundation for successful coaching. It goes beyond typical feedback, requiring tools that can pinpoint specific areas for growth, from strategic thinking to interpersonal skills. By using methods like 360-degree feedback, leaders gain insights that reveal blind spots they may not otherwise recognize, while also uncovering strengths they can leverage more fully.

Why it matters: For a skills assessment to be effective, it must be carefully tailored, incorporating insights from diverse perspectives. This approach yields a comprehensive picture of each leader’s performance, allowing for a targeted focus on high-impact areas. When conducted thoroughly, these assessments form a clear roadmap for where to begin the coaching journey.

Set Clear, Measurable Goals for Coaching

The value of coaching is magnified when goals are aligned with organizational priorities and structured to be measurable. Short-term goals create momentum, while long-term objectives ensure ongoing development. Both types of goals are crucial for translating a leader’s growth into tangible results within the organization.

Why it matters: Establishing detailed metrics, like behavior-based KPIs, can transform coaching from a conversation into a results-driven initiative. Metrics serve as guideposts, helping leaders focus their efforts on specific behaviors that directly influence their team and business outcomes. Setting these types of goals requires not only an understanding of performance but also a keen awareness of each leader’s unique strengths and challenges, enabling a structured path forward.

Regularly Evaluate Progress and Adapt the Coaching Plan

Leadership coaching is a dynamic process that benefits from regular evaluations. These check-ins provide insight into how well leaders are progressing and allow for real-time adjustments to the coaching plan. By incorporating periodic feedback from the leader’s team, organizations can uncover new insights into how the leader’s development impacts their team.

Why it matters: Data-driven tools, such as behavioral analytics, offer a way to objectively track performance. These tools can reveal growth in areas that are typically hard to measure, like decision-making speed and conflict resolution skills. This continuous feedback loop enables leaders to adapt, maintaining a steady focus on growth even as they tackle the day-to-day challenges of leadership.

The bottom line: Closing the leadership performance gap is part of a strategic talent development process that requires a structured, intentional approach. By starting with a robust assessment, setting concrete goals, and regularly evaluating progress, organizations can elevate their leadership teams to new levels of effectiveness. With the right coaching foundation, leaders don’t just bridge performance gaps—they build the skills that position their teams and organizations for long-term success.

Handling Performance Reviews Like a Leader

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So Your Performance Reviews Drive Connection and Growth

Performance reviews are an opportunity to build genuine connection, inspire growth, and align your team’s goals with the organization’s vision. When done well, reviews aren’t just a scorecard—they’re an essential leadership tool for fostering relationships, setting performance standards, and fueling each team member’s potential. Here’s how leaders can approach performance reviews with authenticity, depth, and a focus on continuous growth.

Make It a Conversation, Not a Monologue

A performance review should feel collaborative, not one-sided. By fostering an open dialogue, leaders can create a space where employees feel comfortable sharing their perspective on their achievements, challenges, and goals. When leaders actively listen and engage, they demonstrate respect for their team’s insights, building a sense of connection that enhances trust and performance.

Example: Start by asking open-ended questions, such as, “What accomplishments this year are you proudest of?” or “Where would you like more support?” These questions help frame the review as a mutual discussion, paving the way for meaningful insights that can guide growth.

Focus on Specific Behaviors and Achievements

General feedback like “be more proactive” often leaves employees unclear on how to improve. Instead, offer concrete examples that spotlight both strengths and areas for growth. Specificity builds credibility and helps employees understand exactly what they’re doing well and where they can improve. When employees see that their contributions are noticed, they feel motivated to sustain and elevate their performance.

Example: Instead of saying, “You did well on projects,” say, “Your detailed planning on the Q3 initiative significantly improved our team’s efficiency.” Pointing out how their actions contributed to team success reinforces the value of their contributions and keeps their growth on track.

Set Growth-Oriented Goals Together

Performance reviews are not just about evaluating past performance; they’re a platform for setting future goals. Collaboratively setting growth-oriented goals gives employees a sense of ownership over their progress and keeps them motivated to advance their skills. This approach aligns each person’s development with the team’s and organization’s long-term goals, creating a unified path toward growth and success.

Example: Co-create goals that stretch the employee’s skills, such as, “Over the next quarter, lead a cross-functional project to build team collaboration skills.” Collaborating on goals ensures they’re aligned with both organizational objectives and the employee’s personal aspirations.

Key Takeaway: Prioritize Connection as the Foundation of Effective Feedback

Performance reviews should be more than transactional check-ins; they’re powerful moments to reinforce connection. By making these conversations a priority, leaders can use performance reviews to drive individual growth and elevate team performance. The more genuine the connection, the more likely employees are to embrace feedback, act on it, and commit to shared goals. This shift from “review” to “connection” transforms performance reviews into catalysts for growth and team cohesion.

program for leaders

Mentorship vs. Sponsorship: How to Choose the Right Approach for Your Team

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Advice is Nice, But Access is Better

If you’re lumping mentorship and sponsorship together, you’re missing the point. Sure, both are about developing talent, but they serve very different purposes—and the truth is, your leaders need both. Here’s the difference: a mentor offers advice, while a sponsor puts their reputation on the line to open doors for you. In short, mentorship teaches you how to swim; sponsorship throws you into the deep end and says, “I’ll vouch for you.” So, which does your team need?

Understanding when to use mentorship versus sponsorship—or when to use both—is critical to empowering the next generation of leaders in your organization. Let’s break it down.

Mentorship: When Guidance is Key

Mentorship is the ideal approach when a leader’s focus is on personal growth and development. It’s about offering advice, sharing experiences, and helping someone navigate new challenges. Mentorship is a long-term relationship that’s designed to foster personal and professional growth. Mentors do not need to come from the individual’s direct reporting line or even be in the same part of the company.  The best mentors are often those leaders with different experiences and perspectives.  For example, a CFO could be a great mentor for an operations leader.

When to use it:

  • When Developing New Skills or Navigating a Career Transition
    Senior leaders may use mentorship when a high-potential employee needs to develop specific skills, such as leadership, communication, or technical expertise. This is especially helpful when the employee is transitioning to a new role or department and needs guidance to succeed. A mentor provides insights based on their own experiences and helps navigate challenges the mentee may not have faced before.

Example: A rising manager moving into a more strategic role might need a mentor to guide them effectively making decisions and how to think more long-term.

  • When Fostering Long-Term Personal Development
    Mentorship is also useful when focusing on long-term growth. It’s less about immediate results and more about helping the mentee build confidence, emotional intelligence, and resilience. Leaders might employ mentorship when the goal is to cultivate deeper self-awareness and soft skills, which are essential for success over the long run.

Example: A senior leader mentors a team lead who shows potential but lacks confidence. Over time, the mentor helps the mentee recognize their successes and develop and effective leadership style.

Sponsorship: When You Need to Push Them Forward

Sponsorship is more action-oriented than mentorship and focuses on promoting someone’s career advancement by actively creating opportunities for them. Sponsors advocate for their protégés, ensuring they get high-profile assignments, promotions, or visibility with decision-makers.  Offering to sponsor up and coming talent should be expected of all leaders.

When to use it:

  • When Promoting High-Potential Talent
    Senior leaders use sponsorship when they recognize an individual who is ready for the next level but needs visibility or access to decision-makers. Sponsors will advocate for their protégé in critical meetings, recommend them for high-stakes projects, and push them toward promotions.

Example: A senior executive nominates a rising star for a company-wide leadership development program that includes work on an important business project.  This type of sponsorship ensures they get the visibility they need with top management to be considered for an executive role.

  • When Opening Doors to New Opportunities
    Sponsorship is crucial when someone needs that final push into a leadership role. This is particularly important when diverse or underrepresented talent needs a boost to overcome systemic barriers. Sponsors advocate on their behalf, using their influence to create career-defining opportunities.

Example: A senior leader advocates for a highly capable woman of color to take on a high-profile project that will position her as a candidate for a VP role, directly leveraging their influence to ensure she’s given the opportunity.

Sponsorship shouldn’t start just in time for someone to join the highest ranks in the organization.  Sponsorship is important for early career talent, as well.  Too often talent misses opportunities because they don’t realize the importance of sponsorship.  Part of developing talent is to help them understand that career development often goes beyond having the right skills and capabilities. It’s also important to network and develop relationships this allow them to engage with potential sponsors throughout their careers.

Creating the Right Mix: When Both Mentorship and Sponsorship are Needed

Some situations call for both mentorship and sponsorship, as leaders often need development in multiple areas at once. Here’s where a mix of both approaches can be especially powerful:

When to use both:

  • When Preparing an Emerging Leader for a Bigger Role
    A senior leader may first mentor an emerging leader to develop the necessary skills for a higher position, and then transition into a sponsorship role by advocating for their promotion once they’re ready. This combination ensures the individual is both prepared and promoted.

Example: A director mentors a high-potential manager on strategy and leadership for several months. Once the manager demonstrates readiness, the director shifts into a sponsorship role, recommending them for a director position in an upcoming reorganization.

  • When Supporting Underrepresented Talent in Leadership
    For underrepresented groups in leadership, combining mentorship and sponsorship is particularly powerful. Mentorship offers the necessary development, while sponsorship helps break through barriers and biases by creating opportunities for advancement.

Example: A senior executive mentors a high-potential LGBTQ+ manager, helping them navigate the complexities of leadership. Later, the executive sponsors the manager for a C-suite opportunity, using their influence to overcome potential biases in the selection process.

Conclusion: Choose the Right Approach for the Right Moment

The key takeaway is that both mentorship and sponsorship play critical roles in leadership development, but they are not interchangeable. Mentorship is about growth, guidance, and long-term development, while sponsorship is about advocacy and career advancement. The most successful organizations know when to use each—or when to combine both approaches—to empower their future leaders and drive organizational success.

Scaling Your Organization with Leadership Development Programs

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Because Leadership Growth Leads to Business Growth

Here’s the truth: your organization can only scale as fast as your leaders can grow. Sure, you can invest in new hires, advanced systems, and outside expertise, but if you’re not developing your internal talent, you’re essentially trying to fill a leaky bucket. Leadership development isn’t just a “nice-to-have”—it’s the foundation for sustainable growth. You can’t expect your company to expand if your leaders are stuck in the same old mindset, using the same old tools.  Here are three ways to leverage leadership development to grow your business.

1. Make Leadership Development a Non-Negotiable

Leadership development isn’t something you throw in when you have “extra budget” (because, let’s be real, there’s no such thing). Make it a core part of your strategy, with concrete goals tied to your growth objectives. If leaders aren’t growing, neither is your business. This needs to be a priority, not a side project.

Move the Needle: Embed leadership development metrics directly into your performance review process for all leaders, making their growth a key indicator of their success. Tie promotions and incentives not just to results but to how actively they are developing their own leadership abilities and the abilities of those they mentor.

2. Invest in Custom Programs That Fit Your Strategy and Culture

Off-the-shelf leadership development programs can provide value.  But for greater value and effectiveness finding programs that are customized to fit your specific business strategy, culture, and leadership needs will deliver much greater impact. Partner with training providers who have a track record of tailoring their programs to reflect your organization’s unique challenges and goals. Your leadership development program should resonate deeply with your internal dynamics, giving leaders the skills they need in the context of your company’s long-term vision.

Move the Needle: Co-create a leadership development program in collaboration with external experts, but with significant input from your internal leaders. This will ensure that the program is not only aligned with the company’s strategy but also incorporates real-life challenges your leaders face, creating a more immersive and impactful learning experience.

3. Track Leadership Growth Like You Track Revenue

You wouldn’t ignore your quarterly sales reports, right? So why ignore leadership development progress? Establish KPIs for leadership growth—mentoring, team performance, decision-making impact—and track them as rigorously as you would any financial metric. Scaling leaders is no different than scaling profits; you need the data to make it happen.

Move the Needle: Implement a leadership dashboard that visualizes key metrics like team engagement scores, internal promotions, leader-driven innovation, and feedback from direct reports. Make this dashboard part of your executive team’s quarterly review so leadership growth is tracked as closely as financial results, driving accountability and continuous improvement.

 

The bottom line? Scaling your organization isn’t just about expanding your customer base or boosting revenue. It’s about developing leaders who can grow alongside the business and meet the demands of an evolving market. With the right leadership development program—customized to your needs and aligned with your strategy—you’ll be equipped to scale your organization from the inside out.

Building Resilience in Organizational Structures

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Because Fighting Fires Isn’t a Sustainable Strategy

 

Let’s face it: crises are no longer the exception—they’re the rule. As a matter of fact, we should stop treating them like crises. Whether it’s market disruptions, supply chain issues, or your top talent walking out the door, the ability to bounce back is what separates the winners from the also-rans. But here’s the kicker: you can’t build resilience by waiting for disruption to strike. You need to bake it into your organization from the start.

So, how do you create resilient teams and processes that won’t buckle at the first sign of trouble? Hint: It’s not about having a Plan B—it’s about designing your entire structure to pivot on a dime. Think about redundancy, flexibility, and decision-making.

Build redundancy into your teams

No, this doesn’t mean stockpiling talent like canned goods for a rainy day. It’s about cross-training your people so when one person’s out, another can step in without missing a beat. A resilient team doesn’t depend on one rock star—it’s a well-oiled machine that can keep humming, no matter what.

  • Example: Backup leadership roles– Identify and train high potential talent who can step up during a crisis. At a minimum, the head of departments or functions that are strategically critical  should have a designated “second-in-command” who’s familiar with the strategic vision and decision-making process and can step in when needed. There’s a secondary benefit to this, too. The second in command becomes succession ready.
  • Example: Skill-sharing initiatives– Create an internal skill-sharing program where team members regularly teach each other their core responsibilities. This ensures knowledge transfer and reduces the impact of key person dependency.

Design processes that flex, not snap

Rigid processes work until they don’t. Disruption hits, and suddenly, the entire workflow comes to a screeching halt. Instead, create processes that allow for flexibility—ones that can be scaled up, down, or sideways based on real-time needs. Think of your processes like bamboo: strong but bendy.

  • Example: Scalable project management– Adopt agile project management methods, such as sprints or Kanban boards, that allow teams to quickly pivot priorities or reallocate resources as needed without losing momentum.
  • Example: Adaptive resource allocation– Implement a flexible resource allocation system that allows teams to shift budget, personnel, or time toward high-priority projects during times of crisis, without waiting for formal approval cycles. Small organizations do this out of necessity. For example, one of my clients has significant events they need to deliver for during a couple of months each year. They can’t add staff for these events and they are important to their client relationships.  Flexible resourcing allows them to bring all hands-on deck during that cycle while still serving other client needs.
  • Example: Modular workflows– Develop modular workflows that can be quickly adjusted or restructured based on changing conditions, ensuring that only the affected parts of a process need to be altered, rather than the entire system.

Build decision-making power at every level

If your team has to run every decision up the flagpole during a crisis, you’re already toast. Resilient organizations empower employees at all levels to make decisions quickly. Trust your people to act in the best interests of the company—after all, you hired them for a reason, right?

  • Example: Decentralized decision-making– Roll out a decision-rights matrix that clearly outlines what decisions can be made at each level, especially in high-pressure situations. Differentiate the decisions to be made – strategic big bet decisions that are infrequent and significant, cross-functional decisions, and high frequency/low risk decisions that can be delegated. Push down decisions as far as possible while weighing risk and frequency.  This reduces bottlenecks and encourages quicker, more informed decisions.
  • Example: Crisis-response training– Hold scenario-based training sessions where leaders and their teams are tasked with making rapid decisions during simulated disruption.  Provide feedback and make it a fun competition. This builds confidence in decentralized decision-making and improves response times.

Resilience isn’t just about survival. It’s about thriving when everyone else is scrambling. And if you’re not building it into your organizational structure now, well, good luck “winging it” the next time the market goes sideways.

Giving Constructive Feedback to Leaders

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How to Shape the Leaders Who Shape Your Organization

Giving feedback to leaders is different from giving feedback to employees. Leaders come with a track record of success, authority, and influence and have likely given plenty of feedback themselves. But receiving it? That can be more difficult. Leaders often feel their success ensures their impact, thinking, and self-awareness are well-developed. However, no leader is perfect. Providing feedback requires balancing their reputation, past successes, and sense of control with what they need to hear. If you’re serious about navigating change and building a thriving organization, even top leaders need feedback to keep growing.

The challenge is that giving feedback to leaders isn’t just about correcting behavior or boosting performance; it’s about steering strategic thinking, fostering leadership growth, and fine-tuning their approach to managing others. Here’s how to make it happen effectively:

Focus on Impact, Not Just Performance

Leaders aren’t just executing tasks—they’re driving strategy, setting the tone, and influencing teams. So, when giving feedback to a leader, the conversation needs to center around their broader impact on the organization. It’s not about nitpicking small errors; it’s about helping them understand the ripple effects of their leadership style on the broader organization’s performance and future.

Example: Instead of saying, “Your team missed the deadline,” you could say, “From where I sit, the way you set priorities last quarter impacted the team’s ability to meet deadlines. It seems that goals and strategy weren’t as aligned as they could be. Let’s explore how we can align your strategic focus with operational goals to avoid this in the future. What’s your take on the situation.?”

Frame it as a Partnership in Growth

Leaders are accustomed to being problem solvers, not problem receivers. So, frame your feedback as a collaborative effort to help them grow, rather than a top-down directive. When you position the conversation as mutual exploration of how to improve, it lowers defenses and sets the stage for real growth.

Example: “I’ve noticed cross-functional communication has been challenging for your team.  Let’s work together to identify how you can improve communication channels and support your team in navigating these barriers. What do you think may be contributing to this situation?”

Challenge Strategic Thinking, Not Just Behavior

When giving feedback to leaders, it’s essential to elevate the conversation beyond daily operations. Leaders influence the long-term direction of the company, and your feedback should push them to think more strategically, whether that’s about how they make decisions, allocate resources, or drive change.

Example: Instead of focusing solely on how a leader managed a specific project, you might say, “I see a pattern where you and the team are reacting to issues instead of anticipating them. For example, … How can we shift your team’s focus to be more proactive in identifying potential challenges?

Acknowledge Achievements, But Don’t Sugarcoat Reality

Leaders are often high performers, which can make delivering tough feedback feel uncomfortable. And, in my experience their perceptions suffer from a bit of a halo effect – the individual’s high performance is seen to bleeds over into other areas. However, high performer are not high performers in everything they do. You’re not doing anyone any favors by sugarcoating. Start by recognizing their successes, but be direct and honest about areas where they need to grow—because, frankly, they know when you’re holding back.

Example: “You’ve done an excellent job rallying the team around key initiatives. I’m going to push you to do even better. I’ve noticed you are making some decisions too quickly without getting sufficient input from your stakeholders. That gets in the way of you being even more successful.  Let’s work on finding a balance between quick decision-making and gathering broader input.”

Encourage Leadership Development and Self-Reflection

Great leaders are lifelong learners, but they don’t always have someone pushing them to keep developing. Your role isn’t just to point out what’s wrong—it’s to help them continue their leadership journey by encouraging self-reflection and providing opportunities for growth.

Example: “You’ve accomplished a lot this year and I want to set you up for success next year. I’d like to challenge you to consider how you can strengthen your team’s leadership pipeline so that so much doesn’t fall on you. How can you mentor your direct reports to ensure that they’re developing into future leaders, too?”

Done right, feedback becomes less about correction and more about collaboration—making you, and them, stronger leaders in the process. After all, shaping great leaders is how you shape a great organization.

The Leadership Skills Gap: What’s Missing and How to Fill It

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Future-Proof Your Leadership 

Let’s be real: the leadership skills that got us through the last decade aren’t going to cut it for the next one. The world’s changing too fast, and many of today’s leaders are under-equipped for what’s coming. It’s not just about technical prowess or emotional intelligence—it’s about adapting to a rapidly evolving landscape where leaders need to continuously stretch and grow. So, what’s missing? Let’s dig into the real gaps in leadership and how to fill them.

Gap 1: Adaptive Thinking

The pace of change means leaders can no longer afford to cling to what worked last year (or last week, for that matter). We need leaders who are not just reactive, but proactive—who can anticipate change and pivot before it hits them like a freight train. Adaptive thinking is the ability to solve complex, unpredictable problems on the fly, and it’s one of the most crucial gaps in today’s leadership ranks. Adaptive challenges can’t be solved because you have a particular set of experiences.  Continual learning is key.

How to fill it: Encourage leaders to seek out diverse perspectives regularly—across departments, industries, and markets. Introduce scenario-based planning exercises that require leaders to think several moves ahead, preparing them to react swiftly when the unexpected happens.

Gap 2: Digital Literacy

Yes, your leadership team can probably send an email and hop on a Zoom call, but can they leverage AI to drive decision-making? Do they understand how data analytics can shape strategy? The digital transformation is here, and the leaders who can’t speak the language are going to be left behind. Time to get them up to speed—fast.

How to fill it: Invest in digital upskilling programs for your leaders, whether it’s through external courses or internal workshops. Challenge them to lead data-driven decision-making in their teams by introducing KPIs that are directly tied to digital tools and technologies.

Gap 3: Developing for Growth

Too many leaders are focused on maintaining the status quo or hitting short-term goals, forgetting that leadership is about building for the future. Leaders must not only be good at growing their teams but also at growing themselves. A big gap today is the lack of focus on self-development and mentoring the next generation of leaders.

How to fill it: Role model development for yourself. Let others know how you are continuing to grow and evolve. Implement leadership development plans that include both personal growth and succession planning. Encourage leaders to mentor emerging talent, not just delegate tasks. Track their efforts in developing future leaders as part of their performance metrics.

Gap 4: Real Connection

Building trust and creating a sense of purpose among teams is no longer just a “nice to have.” It’s essential. Leaders today often struggle with truly connecting with their teams in a meaningful way. This is about more than having an “open door policy”; it’s about creating an environment where people feel heard, valued, and inspired by a shared mission.

How to fill it: Train leaders in active listening and emotional intelligence, but go a step further by ensuring they consistently align team objectives with the organization’s broader purpose. Intentionally develop an environment characterized by psychological safety.  Encourage regular one-on-one conversations where leaders focus on understanding their team members’ motivations and personal goals. Building trust is a long game—leaders need to earn it through genuine, consistent engagement.

Gap 5: Performance

It’s easy for leaders to focus on holding their teams accountable, but what about themselves? True leadership isn’t just about managing performance—it’s about creating a culture of mutual accountability where leaders and their teams are aligned on expectations, goals, and progress. A shift in how we lead is holding ourselves accountable to the very people we manage.

How to fill it: Establish regular feedback loops where leaders actively seek input from their teams on their own performance. Encourage leaders to set clear, measurable goals that they are publicly committed to within the team. Create a culture where performance discussions are transparent, and leaders model accountability by owning both successes and areas for improvement.

 

Today’s leadership landscape demands much more than traditional skill sets. Leaders need to think fast, stay digitally savvy, focus on long-term growth, build real connections, and foster a performance-driven culture. By addressing these gaps head-on, we can develop leaders who are not only equipped to navigate change but to thrive in it.

Developing Your Next Generation of Leaders

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5 questions every executive team should be asking themselves

Look around your leadership team. Are you seeing the future? If not, it might be time for a little refresh. Here’s the uncomfortable truth: the leaders of tomorrow may not look like the leaders of today. And, no, we’re not just talking about diversity (although that’s an important piece). We’re talking about mindset, adaptability, and that elusive quality: resilience.

1. Identify Your Rising Stars (Before They Burn Out)
You know those high-potential folks in your org who are constantly “doing a little bit extra”? Yeah, the ones who might combust if they don’t take a vacation? They’re your next-gen leaders. But before you start piling on more responsibilities, give them the development opportunities they need to succeed without burning out. Leadership is about more than hard work; it’s about working smart, too.

Question: How do we currently identify high-potential employees, and are we doing enough to ensure their development without overwhelming them?

  • Encourage your management team to conduct regular talent assessments focusing on both performance and potential.
  • Ask managers to track burnout risks by monitoring workload and offering tailored support before it’s too late.
  • Implement succession planning that allows future leaders to shadow more senior roles without adding excessive pressure.

2. Give Them Real Challenges (Not Just Busy Work)
Handing future leaders token assignments is like giving a firefighter a garden hose. It’s cute, but it’s not going to solve anything. If you want them to grow, give them meaty, real-world challenges that test their problem-solving abilities and leadership potential. Sink-or-swim might sound harsh, but in a world of constant disruption, they need to be ready for the deep end.

Question: What significant, high-stakes projects can we hand over to emerging leaders that will stretch their abilities and prepare them for greater responsibility?

  • Assign future leaders critical projects with real impact, allowing them to grow through hands-on experience.
  • Set up mentorship programs where senior leaders guide next-gen leaders through complex problems.
  • Use failure as a learning opportunity by openly discussing the lessons from missteps instead of punishing them.

3. Coaching, Not Micromanaging
Nobody became a great leader by being spoon-fed. Leaders grow through challenge, reflection, and yes, failure. What they don’t grow from is a boss breathing down their necks about every decision. Shift your focus to coaching rather than micromanaging. Help them learn how to think strategically, navigate tricky waters, and make decisions that align with long-term goals.

Question: How can we shift from micromanaging tasks to fostering strategic thinking and decision-making in our up-and-coming leaders?

  • Promote a culture where managers ask powerful questions rather than providing all the answers, helping future leaders think critically.
  • Encourage regular one-on-one coaching sessions focused on growth, feedback, and leadership challenges rather than daily operations.
  • Introduce self-reflection exercises for future leaders to assess their decisions and outcomes, reinforcing autonomy and learning.

4. Encourage Cross-Functional Exposure

If you want a well-rounded leader, you need to throw them into situations where they’re not the expert. Let them sink their teeth into projects outside their usual domain—because real leadership isn’t just about knowing your lane; it’s about driving the whole highway. Cross-functional exposure builds broader strategic thinking and breaks down organizational silos.

Question: How can we create opportunities for our future leaders to work across different departments and gain a broader understanding of the business?

  • Rotate rising stars through key departments so they gain a 360-degree view of the organization’s operations and culture.
  • Assign future leaders to cross-functional task forces or project teams that require them to collaborate beyond their usual scope.
  • Encourage participation in cross-functional strategy discussions, giving them a seat at the table where broader business issues are tackled.

5. Provide Continuous Learning Opportunities

Your future leaders should never stop learning. Invest in their development through ongoing training that goes beyond the basics. Leadership isn’t static, and neither should be their education. Whether it’s executive coaching, leadership programs, or industry conferences, giving them the tools to learn and adapt is non-negotiable.

Question: Are we investing enough in our leaders’ learning and development to keep them at the forefront of emerging industry trends and leadership practices?

  • Create personalized learning plans for future leaders that combine formal training, mentorship, and real-world experience.
  • Offer leadership development programs focused on emerging skills like emotional intelligence, digital transformation, and adaptive leadership.
  • Provide access to external conferences, courses, and networks that broaden their knowledge base and expand their industry insights.

 

These thought-provoking questions can push your management team to take concrete steps toward developing the next generation of leaders, while ensuring rising stars are exposed to broader experiences and continuous learning—critical for their long-term growth and organizational success.

The future isn’t going to wait for your leadership team to catch up. Start building the pipeline today—because that bright-eyed manager you’re half-ignoring? They could be the very one most capable of steering your company through a big transformation before you know it.

How to Get the C-suite on Board?

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Now is the time to invest in leadership development

Cost control efforts, including layoffs, are increasing across multiple industries. Leadership development initiatives can be an easy target. However, this is often the best time to invest in your organization’s leaders, when even more is going to be asked of them. So, how do you get the c-suite on board?

Some of your CEO’s top areas of focus for 2024 are likely to be: attracting and retaining top talent, continue with digital transformation and drive growth – and, you guessed  – reduce costs at the same time (source:  Conference Board 2024 CEO Outlook Report). And, they need leaders who can support these priorities. 

This opens the door for you to guide the c-suite on how to invest limited resources in leadership development that will be most impactful. How do you get the  C-suite’s crucial support for leadership development?

Frame it up: 2 Questions to ask yourself

Start by framing your conversation to address their biggest concern – positively impacting business results.

What is the business case for your organization?  Thinking like a CEO is critical to winning their support.

  • What are executives most concerned about in 2024? In a nutshell, it’s Growth, Technology, and Talent. If you want to dig deeper, take a look at the 2024 CEO Outlook survey from the Conference Board, and the most recent Fortune/Deloitte CEO Survey Insights

  •  Find out not only what is most critical to your c-suite, but how they are talking about it. Be conversant in your company’s mission, business strategy, KPI’s / OKR’s and financial performance. Have direct discussions with senior leaders about what’s critical to them. Be prepared to provide relevant data (employee engagement, client satisfaction, attrition and talent acquisition, absenteeism, etc.). Business strategy documents, annual reports, and formal communications to leaders and employees are also good sources to prepare for discussions.
  • Create a direct link between your organization’s pain pointsand how the leadership development will help ease it. See more below.

What is the ROI / Impact?  If you have been able to demonstrate a strong ROI of past leadership development initiatives at your organization, that’s gold. If you don’t have that data, you can point to studies from reputable organizations that show a link between leadership development and business performance. Use this kind of data sparingly and targeted to your C-suite’s biggest concerns. This graphic from joshbersin.com provides compelling high-level support:

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Or some of these statistics could pique their interest:

Talking with the C-suite

In addition to data and framing it up, positioning your business case is critical. Here are some ways to talk with your c-suite about leadership development.

Alignment:“We need to improve our leaders’ ability to align with the organization on business strategy, goals, and culture.”

  • Alignment needs to be regularly reinforced at all levels of the organization, from the most senior leaders to the most junior employees. For example, innovation is one of our core business imperatives. Leaders at all levels need to create environments on their teams where people will share new ideas and step out of old ways of thinking, Strong leadership development can show them how to do this and apply it in their real work.
  • Better aligned leaders make better decisions. They are also faster at adopting new technology.Our business’s innovative strength will be a direct byproduct of helping our leaders and their teams to better align with our business strategy and goals.
  • Leadership development is best when customizedso that critical skills are taught and practiced in ways that reflect our strategy and values. And I will ensure any development program does that.

Engagement:“We know from our engagement surveys, leaders and managers want the organization to invest in them” (if you don’t have engagement surveys, use some of the statistics discussed above). Opportunity for development is one of the top motivating factors listed in virtually all studies and surveys on engagement.

  • The bottom line for better engaged managers and employees is better performance. Teams that are engaged work more productively; they’re more likely to got the extra mile to achieve organizational goals, and they collaborate across teams more willingly.
  • In our continually changing business environment, leaders are desperately looking to boost their ability to stay on top of their people challenges.
  • Developing our leaders has a trickle-down effect on the teams and employees. They will be better led and therefore more engaged themselves. That results in better retention, lower hiring costs, and increased productivity.
  • Showing our leaders how to build empathy and trustwith their team members builds connection and embeds engagement more deeply in the organization.

Performance:  “When our leaders have their teams better aligned and better engaged, they will perform better.”

  • Our leadership development will emphasize effective communication and collaboration, which leads to better working relationships and less operational friction. That means fewer misunderstandings, mistakes, and wasted time and resources.
  • We also need to improve team and individual accountability. That includes mutual accountability amongst team members and their leaders. When leaders share more accountably with their teams, it drives engagement and performance.
Growth:  “When our leaders are better aligned with our strategy, and have more engaged and productive teams… they will be better able to help grow the business. Their professional growth helps drives team and organizational growth.”
  • Leadership development hones skills like adaptability and continual learning. That helps create an organization that is agile in the face of constant change.
  • Over time it builds muscle-memory for how to shift gears quickly and effectively from one business imperative to a more urgent or critical one.
  • Well-developed leaders are also better at identifying organizational growth opportunities and mitigating risks that threaten that growth.

Of course, you will find language and examples to make this framework more specific to your organization. That will make it resonate more with your senior leaders.

The value of effective leadership development is that it supports and accelerates the business strategy. It helps create a culture of adaptability and innovation. All of which helps your organization stay competitive in relentlessly changing markets.

All of which makes leadership development a wise investment, and not merely a cost.

Contact us for more information on how we can help you build leaders who enhance connection, performance and growth in your business.