Editorial
Welcome to Courage Coach, where expert columnist Karin Hurt answers readers' tough leadership challenges with practical tools and techniques you can use right away. Have a question for her? Drop her a line!
Dear Courage Coach,
I know we need to do SOMETHING to develop our leaders. We've had a lot of promotions and frankly, I can tell some of these managers have never been taught leadership fundamentals. But I'm skeptical. I've been through leadership development programs that were a complete waste of time and others that were real snoozers. I don't want to waste time and money. How do I select a leadership training program that will get lasting results?
Signed, Want to Get This Right.
Dear Want to Get This Right,
There’s nothing more frustrating than a leadership development program that feels like a total waste of time — where you sit there nodding off or thinking, “How is this going to help me in the real world?” You’re not alone in that skepticism. I’ve been in those sessions too, where it seems like the only thing I walked away with was a free pen and a headache. But trust me, it doesn’t have to be that way.
So, how do you pick a leadership development program that works and not one that leaves your managers saying, “Well, that was fun ... for a week”?
Let’s start with a few questions to ensure you get this right:
1. What Do You Want to Change?
The first mistake people make is diving into leadership development without a clear goal in mind. What’s going to be different on the other side of this? I don’t mean vague goals like, “We need better leaders.” What specific behaviors do you want to see shift? Maybe it’s better team accountability, more strategic decision-making, or managers who actually listen when their team speaks. The clearer you are on this, the better your chances of success. Don’t leave it up to chance.
2. How Involved Will Their Managers Be?
Training in a vacuum doesn’t work. If their boss is off to the side, totally uninvolved, your managers might come back to a stack of work, overwhelmed, and just toss all their new knowledge out the window. You need buy-in from the top — and that means having those managers dialed in before, during and after the training.
One way to do this is what we call Challenger Groups, where executives meet with the managers going through the program in between sessions to discuss and reinforce what they’ve learned.
3. How Will They Apply What They’ve Learned?
You don’t want your people feeling like guinea pigs while their boss tests out the latest leadership buzzwords, right? Make sure your managers have a clear plan for re-entry after the training. They need tools to help them explain what they’ve learned and a strategy for putting it into action. For example, if you want them to improve accountability, they need more than just the word “accountability” — they need a practical approach to teach and practice team accountability with their teams.
Related Article: EX Marks the Profit: Leadership Development for Financial Success
4. How Will You Sustain Learning Over Time?
One-and-done workshops don’t work. Leadership development isn’t like a flu shot — you can’t just get it once and be good for a year. Learning needs to be reinforced and spaced out over time. If you’re on a tight budget, you can still get creative with live-online sessions spread over several weeks or months. Just make sure you’re giving your leaders enough time to practice in between.
5. Will the Program Spark New Ideas to Improve the Business?
You want your managers to walk out of this training fired up, ready to go with new ideas to help the business — not bogged down in unrealistic ideals that they’ll never be able to implement. Find a program that doesn’t just teach skills, but gives managers the chance to apply what they’ve learned in real time to real problems. Leadership development should feel like an upgrade, not a chore.
And now, because I know you’re not about to settle for some boring, cookie-cutter, click-through PowerPoint experience, here are a few things to keep in mind specifically for virtual leadership development:
6. Will They Get Real-Time Interaction With Facilitators and Peers?
There’s nothing worse than sitting through a passive webinar, watching the facilitator drone on while you respond to emails in another window. The best virtual leadership development programs give your people a chance to engage, discuss and challenge ideas in real time. You want a program that keeps them leaning in, not zoning out.
Related Article:
7. Is the Training Partner an Experienced Online Facilitator?
Virtual training is a whole different animal. You need facilitators who can handle the tech hiccups with grace and keep participants engaged in robust conversation, activities and application. If the person running the show is new to the virtual game, it’s going to show — and will tank your investment.
8. Will People Use Video?
Listen, I know not everyone loves being on camera, but video is important for keeping people engaged. If you want your managers fully present, they need to see one another — and their facilitator — to stay focused. Otherwise, it’s too easy for them to check out.
9. Will Technology Enhance the Experience, Not Just Replicate a Classroom?
One of the biggest mistakes in virtual leadership development is trying to copy-paste a traditional classroom experience into an online setting. That’s like trying to cook a gourmet meal in a microwave. Look for a program that uses the technology to its advantage — things like breakouts, real-time chat, whiteboards and spaced learning. This is your chance to take leadership development to the next level.
10. How Will You Protect the Time for Your Leaders to Focus?
In a virtual setting, the lines between “I’m in training” and “I’m still available to answer every Slack message” get blurry fast. Make sure a plan is in place to protect this time for learning. Set the expectation that your leaders are off the grid, except for real emergencies. That way, they can truly focus on absorbing and applying what they’ve learned.
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Bottom line: The best leadership development programs are more than just a checkbox. They’re an investment in your team’s future. So, yes, it’s worth the time to get it right. Your managers — and your business — will thank you later. And who knows, you might even end up with more than just a free pen.
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