Developing people is part of what leaders do, but there are often many other demands and priorities, plus limited resources and time. You need a plan for knowing the best times for leadership development to create the best outcomes for your people and your organization.

We’ve worked with experienced talent from all over the world and across industry sectors to learn what it takes to lead change, create strategic alignment, influence others, communicate effectively, and manage up and across the organization.

Here, we highlight the situations when leadership development programs are most worth the investment — to expand the potential of your employees by helping them develop the mindsets, capacity, and capabilities needed to succeed now and to prepare for tomorrow’s challenges.

The Best Times for Leadership Development

Leadership development is wrapped in different packages. More leadership content is available than ever before to anyone, in any role, in all pockets of the organization.

But when does it make sense to invest in something more focused and transformative? When can a leadership program create the most impact to fulfill someone’s leadership potential to positively impact their teams, their organizations, and the world? And how can an open-enrollment experience provide the right impact at the right time?

Here are the 5 times that leadership development is most valuable:

1. During a big career transition
2. During a significant change in the organization
3. To prepare high potentials for the next step
4. When someone shows signs of derailment
5. To retain and engage high-value employees

1. During a Big Career Transition

The first few months to a year in a new role are loaded with opportunities to gain experience. They can be exciting, challenging, overwhelming — or likely, all 3 at once.

A significant career transition is a time to assess current skills and support for success, alongside the challenges that are guaranteed. This applies when someone is new to the organization or when they’re joining a new function or taking on new responsibilities.

Becoming a first-time manager, for example, is a major career milestone that’s rarely met with the tools and strategies to be an effective leader. Often, the shift from being an individual contributor to a leader of former peers proves especially challenging. Even making a lateral move into an unfamiliar group (such as moving from quality manager of one site to another) requires new relationships and new approaches.

Adding significant responsibilities to a current job may also be a notable transition. For example, a team member stepping in to be a project manager when the team leader resigns may need to learn new relational and technical skills.

Why invest in development during a big career transition? A leadership program can help people recognize that new roles and responsibilities require new perspectives, skills, and behaviors. It’s a chance to figure out what to do more of, or do differently, to be more successful.

2. During Significant Change in the Organization

A new context demands new thinking and different actions — and both require people to lead in new ways.

A merger or reorganization, for example, shifts the norm for everyone. A change in strategy or external conditions creates cascading changes, with varying intensity in the organization. Plus, ongoing changes – even if they seem smaller – put significant demands on teams and employees.

Leaders need to adjust to the organizational changes themselves and to help others adapt as well. They need to think in different terms to drive change effectively, and often need new behaviors, skills, or competencies to be successful, especially if they’re faced with challenges like shifting business priorities, emerging competition, or industry disruption.

Why invest in development during significant change in the organization? A leadership program can help people define the leadership challenges associated with the organizational change. It can provide a chance to step back and identify ways to be effective and start to build new capabilities.

3. To Prepare High Potentials for the Next Step

When someone is on track, performing successfully, and in line for growth, what do they need to learn for the next level and for the long term? This is one of the best times for leadership development.

Selecting and developing people for their next leadership step are best accomplished when they are effectively working at the level to which they are currently assigned. This gives them time to gain needed experiences and learn new skills and behaviors, so they are prepared to successfully take on higher-level responsibilities. It also helps them explore and understand the various career paths that are available — and make choices for how to best use their talents and energy.

High potentials expect more development, support, and investment: 84% of high potentials agree that organizations should invest more in them and other valuable talent. And if they are considered high potentials but haven’t been told that, they’re twice as likely as “formal high potentials” to be looking for another job.

Why invest in development when preparing high potentials for the next step? A leadership program can provide top talent with a full and complete assessment of their strengths and weaknesses. Armed with this knowledge and an awareness of future opportunities, they can map their development and prepare themselves for the next step.

4. When Someone Shows Signs of Derailment

Strong performers and those in line for greater responsibility usually stay the course. But sometimes they falter and need guidance to get back on track. Being passed over for promotion, struggling in normally strong areas, and having problems working with others are all warning signs.

An employee who was considered a high potential but is now at risk of plateauing, or even being demoted or fired, may need extra support to stay on track— particularly if they’re demonstrating weaknesses in these areas that are known to predict derailment.

Our research has identified 5 factors that increase a leader’s odds of derailing:

1. Problems with interpersonal relationships
2. Difficulty building and leading a team
3. Difficulty changing and adapting
4. Failure to meet business objectives
5. Too narrow of a functional orientation

Why invest in development when someone shows signs of derailment? A leadership program can give someone who’s struggling an accurate view of what’s happening and why. It can also mitigate weaknesses that threaten to overshadow valuable skills or knowledge. With time, support, and focused effort, an intervention may salvage an otherwise promising career before it stalls or goes off track completely.

5. To Retain and Engage High-Value Employees

Opportunities to learn and grow are essential for an employee’s work engagement, career success, and willingness to stay. Leaders at all levels — from individual contributor to senior executive — want to feel appreciated for what they’re doing now. They also want to gain new skills, add credentials, and boost their capabilities. Providing leadership development is one way to meet both expectations.

In addition, people need the space to talk about their leadership challenges. When they learn behaviors, perspectives, and actions to help them be more effective, they can see ways to develop in their current role. They have the chance to become reenergized about their work and how they approach it.

Professional development is valued by employees of all generations but is notably important to younger workers. In our research with Gen Z and Millennials, 78% said they have participated in leadership development activities.

Why invest in development to retain and engage high-value employees? A leadership program empowers your employees and is an investment in their future. It’s a great way to recognize, engage, and retain talent.

Ready to Take the Next Step?

We offer personalized programs that address these best times for leadership development. Learn more about our global open-enrollment leadership training programs or explore all our open-enrollment leadership development offerings and select the best one for your needs.

The post The 5 Best Times for Leadership Development appeared first on CCL.

• News
• : June 27, 2024

CCL Research Reveals That DEI Agenda May Be Diluting the Women Leadership Agenda

Most recently a broader equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) agenda has in some ways diluted focus on women leadership and a growing EDI backlash seems to be getting in the way.

The Center for Creative Leadership (CCL)®, a global provider of executive education, has released a new report, “Elevate the System” with its research partners, Institute for Human Resource Professionals, Prasetiya Mulya Executive Learning Institute (prasmul-eli), Society for Human Resource Management, Slingshot Group, and XEd Space. The report was developed through data drawn from 894 survey respondents and 71 interviewees across the Asia-Pacific (APAC).

The report unpacks challenges that have stifled women from attaining senior roles and examines whether gaps in perception between men and women have improved or gotten worse since CCL’s 2020 Overcoming Barriers to Women’s Leadership Research.

“While increased focus on women’s leadership is encouraging, our latest report reveals a critical disconnect. The persistent underrepresentation of women at the highest levels suggests hidden obstacles are impeding their advancement. These obstacles often stem from biases – deeply ingrained societal expectations and systemic barriers that we are not aware of and don’t see on the surface. Addressing the gender gap in leadership requires men, women and organizations to come together as champions for equity, with the courage to make changes to the systems that are holding women back. The gender equity agenda isn’t just about fairness, it’s about unleashing the power and potential of our full talent pool to create a stronger and more prosperous future for all,” said Elisa Mallis, Managing Director and Vice President, APAC at CCL.

Organizations are encouraged to move beyond quotas and targets by measuring female participation more holistically, engaging male allies, and celebrating champions of gender equality.  This combined effort from organizations and individuals will pave the way for a more inclusive leadership landscape, supporting women’s leadership development ultimately enabling their success in leadership positions.

Thoughts from Our Research Partners

“As a research partner in this study, we echo the findings that highlight the need for systemic change to advance women’s leadership and contributions to the workplace. The data underscores a persistent gap between perception and reality in workplace equity, revealing unconscious biases and societal expectations as major barriers. HR professionals play a pivotal role in addressing these issues by taking a strategic and business-aligned approach in implementing progressive HR policies such as flexible work arrangements to elevate a ‘skills-first’ and ‘change-ready’ culture. By doing so, we not only unlock the full potential of women leaders but also drive organizational success and innovation. This report is a call to action for all stakeholders to commit to meaningful change and create workplaces where everyone can thrive.”

Aslam Sandar

Chief Executive Officer, Institute for Human Resource Professionals

“Diversity is not just an inevitable aspect of life but also a fertile ground for innovation. Promoting and managing diversity has already become and will continue to be a vital factor for future business success. Therefore, discussions and studies about women in leadership, as a part of gender diversity, are both interesting and essential. In Indonesia, while there has been considerable progress in women’s leadership, ongoing discussions and studies are necessary to achieve even greater benefits.”

Deddi Tedjakumara

Chief Executive Officer, Prasetiya Mulya Executive Learning Institute 

“Initially, we didn’t think there was an issue with women leaders, as we believed their journey to leadership was based on their skill set and competency. For too long, we have lived without a sense of urgency regarding this matter. However, the survey results have been a powerful wake-up call, revealing the urgent need to confront unconscious biases, cultural norms, and familial obligations that hinder women’s leadership progression. Despite their remarkable capabilities, women face many challenges. It’s time to transform the entire system to ensure true equity, enabling women leaders to rise without undue barriers. Let’s break down these obstacles and create a future where the next generation of women leaders can lead with confidence and strength. It is time to make equity a reality.”

Dr. Sutisophan Chuaywongyart

Partner, Slingshot Group

“Australia is currently ranked 26th globally for gender equality, so clearly we still have some way to go. Only 9% of the top ASX companies are led by a woman, our gender pay gap is calculated at 12%, Australian women do more than nine hours additional unpaid work each week compared with men, and one in five women have experienced sexual violence since the age of 15. XED Space is an Executive Education firm that aims to make a real difference in everything we do.  We want to accelerate the development of others so that they too can make a difference in their worlds, and we can be part of something that is bigger than us. We are tremendously proud of the work that we and our colleagues do to help shift the part of the ’system’ that better equips all leaders to lead more effectively and more equitably.”

Ric Leahy

Co-Founder, XED Space

Learn More

About the Center for Creative Leadership (CCL)®

At the Center for Creative Leadership, our drive to create a ripple effect of positive change underpins everything we do. For 50+ years, we’ve pioneered leadership development solutions for everyone from frontline workers to global CEOs. Consistently ranked among the world’s top providers of executive education, our research-based programs and solutions inspire individuals in organizations across the world — including 2/3 of the Fortune 1000 — to ignite remarkable transformations. Learn more about CCL.

| What to Explore Next

Elevate the System to Elevate Women Leaders

Change Systems, Not Women: Celebrating “Feminine” Leadership

| Related Solutions

Women’s Leadership Development

APAC

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The post CCL Research Reveals That DEI Agenda May Be Diluting the Women Leadership Agenda appeared first on CCL.

You know that leadership competitive advantage is important, but effective leadership does not simply emerge and spread across an organization without focused and intentional effort.

Research shows that leadership development has the potential to grow individuals and transform an entire organization from being one that merely meets its objectives into one that excels. Scalable leadership development unlocks compounding effects — heightened employee engagement, stronger retention of top talent, greater diversity of thought, and elevated financial performance — that are essential in an era of perpetual transformation and change.

Join our experts as they discuss how effective leadership development programs invigorate an organization’s leadership competitive advantage, leading to an increase in leadership capacity and a strong, healthy talent pipeline.

What You’ll Learn

In this webinar, you’ll learn:

• The value of creating leadership competitive advantage for your organization
• 4 compelling reasons for making leadership development more accessible
• Research findings on the benefits of investing in leadership development

The post How To Create Leadership Competitive Advantage appeared first on CCL.

• Case Study

RPM International Builds a Culture of Feedback

CLIENT:	RPM International Inc, a $7.3 billion, multinational company with subsidiaries that are world leaders in specialty coatings, sealants and building materials, is known for such market-leading consumer brands as DAP, Rust-Oleum and Kwik Seal.
LOCATION:	Headquartered in Medina, Ohio
SIZE:	17,300 employees

Client Profile & Challenge

Consumers and professionals around the world trust RPM International’s brands to protect and preserve homes, workplaces, and even iconic landmarks like the Statue of Liberty.

But company leaders know it’s the people behind those products who make the $7.3 billion multinational company the success it is today.

“Our CEO likes to say, ‘We don’t make anything at corporate headquarters. All the making happens at our respective companies,’ ” says Randy McShepard, Chief Talent Officer at RPM. “Let’s be clear about that.”

Once a small, family-owned business, today RPM’s respective companies comprise a complex network of 80 business units and four operating groups. And with 17,300 associates working in more than 120 global facilities and the corporate office, effective communication can be challenging.

So when communication cropped up as a top concern on employee surveys a few years ago, CEO Frank C. Sullivan took note. Sullivan, whose grandfather founded the company’s forerunner to RPM in 1947, believes success depends on valuing the worth of every associate and their combined contributions. RPM’s core values — transparency, trust and respect — are foundational to its culture of doing business the right way for the right reasons.

“With a company our size, he was becoming more concerned about whether he really understood the pulse of our employees. Did he really know what they care about?” McShepard notes. “Are they loving coming to work every day or are they flight risks just waiting for the next opportunity because they don’t necessarily have strong connections or communication with their leaders, their peers, and the corporate office? While this type of assessment had been done at the group level, it had not been done across the entire company in comprehensive fashion.”

Solution

RPM International turned to a trusted partner, the Center for Creative Leadership (CCL)®, to meet its communication challenges head-on. The two had worked together before with positive results.

And CCL had just the right fit: a highly immersive and practical program called Better Conversations Every Day that is designed to build a coaching culture of feedback within all levels of an organization. Participants learn core behaviors and practice the types of candid conversations that build stronger relationships, fuel collaboration, and enable better business outcomes.

“When we were introduced to the Better Conversations Every Day model, we thought, if CCL is offering it, it’s probably worth taking a close look at. And that ended up being exactly the case,” McShepard recalls. “CCL gave us all the support that we needed to be bold enough to try to build a program from the ground up.”

RPM launched the program in 2020, starting with senior officers at corporate headquarters and the four operating groups.  Their enthusiasm for the BCE experience quickly cascaded throughout the company, McShepard said.

“All of the leaders got excited about it. So it wasn’t a tough sell to then go to our operating companies to say, ‘OK, this is what we now want you to do.’ “

Early on, RPM worked with CCL to get its own people trained as facilitators so the program could be scaled company-wide. These associates participated in CCL’s train-the-trainer certification process consisting of a series of asynchronous study lessons and three group sessions – including practice sessions delivering program content, followed by coaching and feedback. The training is designed to help internal trainers improve their facilitation skills, become intimately familiar with the program content, and gain confidence to deliver it by hands-on practice.

Shelly Wilson served on the company’s Global Organizational Leadership Development (GOLD) Team at the time and volunteered to be the in-house coordinator of the initiative.

The 8-hour workshop, offered in-person or live online, takes place several times a year, with 24 to 36 employees taking part in each session. Participants are broken into groups of 4 that each work with an assigned coach. They are grouped with associates they do not work for or with to encourage openness and vulnerability. Everyone is asked to bring real-life work issues to the table for the practice sessions.

Associates learn the skills necessary to grapple with difficult issues candidly. One such tool is CCL’s research-backed Situation-Behavior-Impact (SBI) model, which is proven to reduce both the anxiety of delivering feedback during challenging conversations and the defensiveness of the recipient. The method is simple and direct: capture and clarify the situation, describe the specific behaviors observed, and explain the impact of those behaviors.

“SBI is such a powerful tool, and it ties so well with listening to understand and asking powerful questions. All three of those are just so important,” Wilson says. “We really push the vulnerability and trust aspect of it, and that has made a big difference because people share more. The model really works.”

Results

The Better Conversations Every Day training has become so popular at RPM that new hires are lining up to participate in the next workshops. And RPM now is offering a 2-hour, virtual “refresher” course for associates who want to brush up on the skills they learned in the original workshop.

“We have trained 1,267 people to date and I have surveys for every single one of those,” Wilson notes. “And not one — not one — thought it wasn’t impactful and that it should not be scaled throughout the company.”

Indeed, 99% of participants report they can apply the knowledge and skills learned in BCE sessions to their jobs.

“Educational and paradigm shifting,” one associate wrote.

 “Empowering” and “Eye-opening,” wrote others.

Learn More

BY THE NUMBERS
Additional survey results are overwhelmingly positive:
98%	of participants are better able to listen to understand.
98%	of participants are better able to ask powerful questions.
97%	of participants are better able to challenge and support.

These results check a lot of boxes for McShepard. “All of that tells me as the Chief Talent Officer that this is a product that our associates are pleased with, that they see clear value in participating in it and they want more of it.”

Harrison Sturdivant, Strategic Business Partner at CCL, says of the partnership, “We’ve been on amazing journey of impact in service of RPM’s vision for a better and stronger culture around the world.  Working collaboratively with the team has been an honor and continues to build on CCL’s commitment to results that matter.” 

Investing in a feedback culture has proven to be a wise decision for RPM, McShepard says. So, too, is partnering with CCL.

“There’s a lot of great leadership organizations out there that do this work, but the professionalism and the precision that we’ve experienced with CCL puts them at the top of the heap in our book,” he says.

“We’re proud of our partnership with CCL and proud of how far we’ve come with BCE and the impact that is making on our company.
What more can we ask for?”

Participants Say

“CCL gave us all the support that we needed to be bold enough to try to build a program from the ground up.”

Randy McShepard

“We really push the vulnerability and trust aspect of it, and that has made a big difference because people share more. The model really works.” 

Shelly Wilson

“Educational and paradigm shifting” 

Program Participant

Partner With Us

We can work with you to build a culture of feedback which is key to improved communication within your organization. It all begins with better conversations every day, from the front desk to the corner office.

Learn More

| What to Explore Next

Better Culture Starts With Better Conversations

How to Coach People

| Related Solutions

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Better Conversations & Coaching

Better Conversations Every Day

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The post RPM International Builds a Culture of Feedback appeared first on CCL.

Leadership is often described by what a leader does or the capabilities they have. Yet while the skills and behaviors of individual leaders are important, the true meaning of leadership is about what people do together. Said another way, everyone in an organization contributes to leadership.

So, what is leadership, really?

Based on our decades of pioneering research and experience, we define leadership as a social process that enables individuals to work together to achieve results that they could never achieve working alone.

Understanding how leadership works as a social process is important for several reasons:

• This definition of leadership avoids putting the entire weight of leadership on a few individuals — or limiting the leadership potential of others. Each person can discover and build upon their own leadership potential.
• This view of leadership is both realistic and adaptive — because the truth is, leadership doesn’t take place in isolation. It reflects, responds to, and shapes many different relationships, cultures, and systems.
• It’s also practical. When we define leadership as something that happens through the interactions among people with shared work, we have many opportunities to amplify leadership potential. Plus, in a group, a multitude of skills, perspectives, and expertise work together, making the whole greater than the sum of its parts. Any individual weaknesses are overshadowed by the strengths of others, and the team or group thrives — accomplishing more together than any one individual could ever do alone.

Management vs. Leadership: What’s the Difference?

The terms management and leadership are often used interchangeably, but there are distinct differences, so understanding the definition of leadership vs. management can be helpful. The key difference between them:

• Management is the process of planning and control, while
• Leadership is the process of people working to achieve something together.

Both management and leadership are important for accomplishing goals or making change happen, and depending on your role, you will need to draw on aspects of both to be effective.

What Do Managers Focus On?

Management roles and responsibilities involve planning, organizing, getting things done, and solving problems. Effective managers deploy resources and work through others to gain efficiency, quality, and accomplish goals. The focus is on day-to-day operations and tasks, and ensuring employees meet expectations for what they do and how they do it. A good manager delegates tasks effectively; ensures the team meets any deadlines and targets; manages resources; and addresses conflicts efficiently.

What Do Leaders Focus On?

Leadership roles and responsibilities are broader, and involve influencing, inspiring, and bringing out the best in others. Leaders see the big picture, help others connect the dots, and fill in gaps. Effective leaders motivate and influence teams to work towards achieving a common goal, and invest in the whole — the collective people and systems needed to succeed. They set a clear vision, encourage innovation, and support personal and professional growth in others.

Whether you’re currently leading people and projects, a team or department, or an entire organization, your role will involve aspects of both leadership and management, as both are important. And when facing a new challenge, goal, or situation, remember the definition of leadership as a collective process, and consider what’s most needed in the moment: leadership vs. management.

With that clarity, you can learn or apply the skills, behaviors, and capabilities most likely to solve a problem or support the desired shared outcome — and guide others to play their part, too.

Defining Leadership By Its Outcomes — Direction, Alignment, and Commitment

At CCL, our research distills leadership down to 3 essential elements: direction, alignment, and commitment, or DAC, in our widely-recognized DAC model for leadership.

This leadership definition moves beyond a focus on leaders, followers, and shared goals, and instead puts the emphasis on the shared outcomes of leadership. If all 3 elements – direction, alignment, and commitment — are present, then we know that leadership is happening.

The actions, interactions, reactions, and exchanges of multiple people produce DAC together. And while organizational leaders play a vital role in setting the tone and making space for DAC to thrive, everyone is involved in creating DAC.

When you understand how essential direction, alignment, and commitment are for what leadership is, you can see why we define leadership as a social process — not a solo effort.

Our definition of leadership puts focus on what effective leadership does. It recognizes that everyone can learn, grow, and contribute to shared direction, alignment, and commitment. And it creates space for many different leadership styles, individual personalities, and cultures.

But what exactly do we mean when we say that leadership is the result of DAC?

Direction

Agreement Within the Group on Overall Goals

Direction is a shared answer to the question, where are we going? It’s an agreement on what a team or organization wants to achieve together and serves as a guide for setting shared goals.

With a collective sense of clear direction, everyone’s time and energy go where they matter most. People know what to say yes and no to, and where to spend resources. They can see how their individual efforts fit into larger objectives.

Setting direction is an essential part of what leadership is, because it requires much more than just announcing a business target or even articulating a vision; it’s about purpose-driven leadership that creates clarity and inspires and motivates others.

Alignment

Coordinated Work Within the Group

While direction is where we’re going, alignment is how we get there.

With alignment, each person understands their role and how it fits with the work of their colleagues. Overall, there’s a sense of coordination and synchronization. Confusion and miscommunication are reduced. Efficiencies are created, resulting in fewer redundant tasks, duplication of efforts, and multiple checks and cross-checks.

Creating and maintaining alignment can be especially challenging today among remote or hybrid teams, with members in different locations and time zones. It can be frustrating to try to collaborate with others because teammates are in a different place and time of day — leaving people feeling left out, unable to contribute, and confused about their role and what’s going on.

Effective leadership always requires a focus on both relationships and tasks, but that’s particularly true when leading in a hybrid work environment or with remote team members. Intentionally building trust and fostering coordination and interdependence can ultimately create greater alignment.

Commitment

A Feeling of Mutual Responsibility for the Group

Commitment is a willingness to make the success of the collective a personal priority, where individuals know that their own successes are connected to those of others. People can trust that everyone will make the effort needed to ensure the group is successful, with a balance of give and take.

When a culture of resistance or minimal effort is replaced by a sense of “being in it together,” managers don’t need to monitor activities so closely, or follow up many times on the same item. Team members are willing to give a little extra to ensure their group’s success, versus just doing enough to get by. With an increased sense of accountability and a shared ownership mentality, change is supported, shared goals are achieved, and cultural transformation is possible.

But commitment cannot be enforced; it must be fostered. The most effective managers understand that leadership means respecting differences, and seek to understand the experiences of their employees and build belonging at work, creating spaces where people feel their perspectives and contributions are valued.

How a Better Definition of Leadership Can Improve It

A shared view of the importance and meaning of leadership can actually help to improve the quality and consistency of it. With clarity on what leadership means, you can assess what’s going well and what isn’t — and take steps to improve how you work with others and accomplish what matters most.

So now that you know what leadership is and how to recognize when it’s happening, what can you do to improve it?

Fuel the Social Process of Leadership: Start by Diagnosing Leadership Challenges

If progress is stagnant in your organization or team, or in a community effort, think about leadership as an outcome that you want to achieve through direction, alignment, and commitment. This can quickly help you diagnose where you need to focus your attention to regain momentum. Some specific steps to follow are outlined below.

1. Watch for signs that DAC is weak.

How can you diagnose unclear direction, lack of alignment, or low commitment? Here are a few key signs:

• A lack of agreement on priorities or resource allocation
• People feel as if they are being pulled in different directions
• People are stuck, the same things are repeatedly problems or frustrations
• Team members are unclear about how their tasks fit into the larger work of the group
• Deadlines are missed, rework and duplication of effort are common
• Groups or functions compete against each other
• Only the easy things get done, there’s a persistent gap between effort needed and effort given
• People put their own interests first, a sense of “what’s in it for me?” dominates
• Inconsistencies between what people say and what they do

2. Bring in multiple viewpoints.

Go beyond your own perspective to engage your team and learn how others view the current levels of DAC. Hold a candid conversation about the outcomes of leadership in your group, team, or organization to get a more accurate picture of what’s going on and understand the current issues and challenges. Be intentional about first creating psychological safety so that group members feel free to share openly what they think is going well and what’s not.

• Try to gauge whether others agree on what you’re trying to accomplish together. Ask if everybody is clear about how their task fits into the work of the group. Do they think their contributions are valued?
• Have colleagues, partners, or direct reports take our quick and complimentary DAC assessment. Hold one-on-one meetings and focused conversations to share perspectives on what is going well, and where improvement would make a meaningful difference.
• Sometimes, getting everyone’s mind out of the present and into the future is helpful. For instance, if the team was performing better 6 months from now, what would start happening? What would stop?

Based on what you learn, you can identify needed changes.

3. Take simple actions to address issues that emerge.

Every team, project, and situation will involve different leadership challenges, so how you address issues will require different skills, actions, and behaviors.

For example, you may realize that your group has clear direction and strong commitment, but the processes and the systems and the way the organization is set up is chaotic. That means that Alignment is the area that needs the most work, and so the collective effort should focus on improving how work is accomplished. In other situations, it might be low levels of shared Commitment and/or Direction that are the biggest pain points to address.

While there are no quick fixes or single solutions, you can make progress on improving DAC levels with small changes such as these:

• Expand your network. Involve a more diverse group of people as you plan or make decisions, communicate more broadly, and build in connection points with people, groups, or functions whose work or interests are related to yours. Taking a network perspective enables leaders to get more tasks accomplished through influence and the power of their relationships.
• Go beyond surface-level relationships. Try to understand what really motivates your team members, what information each person needs to make sense of the goal, and encourage leadership purpose to help each individual connect the larger objectives to their own work.
• Improve interactions within the group. You might change the frequency or format of meetings or updates, streamline a key process, or consider establishing team norms or setting up a team charter to turn the team’s values into agreed-upon behaviors and operating agreements, if those weren’t in place already.
• Hold candid conversations. Give greater effort to building trust, rapport, and a deeper understanding of the group’s perspectives. Ask for feedback, ideas, and concerns. Hold open discussions about changes that are needed and why, and use active listening skills to learn others’ views.
• Help your team manage priorities and competing demands. Consider more frequent check-ins, clearer accountability structures, and focus on helping to address or remove roadblocks for others, which will help the team make progress and also demonstrates compassionate leadership.

Investing in Leadership at All Levels

When everybody at an organization understands what leadership is and how to support DAC as part of their role, more leadership happens. The results of more leadership include:

• Increased agreement on group and organizational priorities;
• Clarity on how individual tasks fit into the work of the larger team; and
• Individuals who prioritize the success of the collective.

Implications of This Relational Definition of Leadership

This more relational understanding of the meaning of leadership has important implications for leadership development. As our research has noted, it underscores the importance of not focusing on development solely for individuals in positions of authority or who have been deemed “high-potential,” but rather, the importance of building leadership capacity for the collective — teams, workgroups, and organizations.

But effective leadership across all levels doesn’t come automatically; knowing how to contribute to the leadership outcomes of direction, alignment, and commitment must be learned and practiced. This requires an intentional investment in growing leadership at all levels.

We can begin by honoring the unique starting point of individual leaders, helping them grow their self-awareness and leadership skillsets and mindsets. We can also work to foster an increased understanding of the meaning of leadership within teams and groups — ultimately creating a profound ripple effect across entire organizations and communities.

Amplifying Leadership Potential With Development

Providing the right learning at the right time for all talent — from individual contributors to frontline managers, and from team and cross-functional leaders through senior executives — is the key that unlocks organizational performance, engagement, and retention. Some key steps to amplify leadership potential across your organization:

1. Encourage good leadership and make development accessible.

The most effective leaders consistently show the characteristics of a good leader such as integrity, self-awareness, courage, respect, compassion, and resilience. When individuals learn and improve these essential leadership qualities, and more, the social process of leadership becomes smoother and more effective.

But just knowing what good leadership looks like isn’t enough. In our decades of research and hands-on experience, we’ve found that people are more committed and engaged when they have a clear career path, ample professional and personal leadership development opportunities, and the support they need to become the best possible version of themselves. Leadership development prepares individuals to navigate change and builds collective capacity to solve pressing problems.

Unfortunately, access to opportunities for growth and development isn’t always available. Our research on emerging leaders found that 60% of young professionals worldwide feel that access to opportunities for leadership development is inequitable.

Fully supporting emerging leaders can include actions such as working against systemic exclusion from the past and providing more equitable access to opportunities in the present. A variety of leadership programs, courses, and tools can fit together like puzzle pieces to tailor your organization’s large-scale training and retention initiatives and make leadership development more accessible to all.

2. Grow teams together.

When building high-performing teams, remember to focus on more than just star power. Of course, having the right people with the right leadership capabilities is important, and each person should know why they’re on the team. That’s key. But that’s just one of the 4 components of team effectiveness, and the only one that considers individual people, or the level of talent and ability within a team. As the other 3 aspects of our research framework on team effectiveness emphasize, an effective team supports direction, alignment, and commitment, reflecting that what leadership is about, really, is people working together to produce collective results.

And instead of only having individuals move through leadership development independently, picture the power of teams growing together. By establishing strong direction, alignment, and commitment, team members will all work together more seamlessly, improve outputs, and expand potential for impact.

3. Scale for organization-wide impact.

Imagine the impact that would result in your organization if there was a shared understanding of the definition of leadership, and a leadership vision, language, and behaviors were all linked to critical business needs. What if direction, alignment, and commitment were strong and vibrant, rather than an unfamiliar way to define leadership?

By implementing and scaling leadership development enterprise-wide, organizations broaden access to learning, provide equitable access to opportunities for growth and development, create new capabilities across the enterprise, and foster the social processes needed for effective leadership. In fact, organizational investments in leadership development have been repeatedly shown to:

• Improve bottom-line financial performance. Superior human capital management is an extremely powerful predictor of an organization’s ability to outperform its competition.
• Attract and retain talent, strengthening the leadership pipeline. As a result, employee retention is 20 times greater at companies with a focus on leadership development.
• Drive strategy execution and facilitate organizational alignment. Done right, leadership development unquestionably delivers impact and fosters alignment.
• Increase organizational agility and change readiness. When facing an unpredictable business environment, 86% of companies with strategic leadership development programs are able to respond rapidly, compared with 52% of companies with less mature leadership programs.

While it can be a challenge to deliver high-impact development opportunities at all leader levels and to large populations, organizations can still enjoy the many benefits of leadership development by supplementing their own in-house training resources and teams with content and support from outside experts and proven leadership development providers.

4. Create a ripple effect in society.

As individuals, teams, and organizations come to understand the meaning of leadership and how to create greater direction, alignment, and commitment, their leadership potential is expanded, and the impact can ripple outward — making a difference not only in their lives, but also in the lives they touch.

That’s why we say that systemic societal or community problems cannot be solved by individuals alone. Given their size and complexity, confronting so-called “wicked problems” takes many people working together to uncover the roots of the issues and find sustainable solutions.

This reality truly underscores that when we embrace a more relational and collective definition of leadership, we open up the possibility of transformational change for everyone — from individuals and teams to entire organizations, and even larger communities and society.

What Does Leadership Mean to You?

Now that you know the research-based definition of leadership involves the outcomes of direction, alignment, and commitment, and that DAC enables people to achieve more together than they ever could working alone, you can decide what effective leadership means to you and the mission and goals of your organization, group, or community.

When you see areas of strength and what’s holding you back, you can take targeted and intentional action to develop your capacity to lead — and help others do the same. The result? More people reaching their potential, making faster progress, and finding better solutions — together.

Ready to Take the Next Step?

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Frequently Asked Questions About the Meaning of Leadership

The post What Is Leadership? appeared first on CCL.

A lot of effort, time, money, and attention go into developing leadership training programs, retreats, classes, webinars, and other formal learning opportunities.

Program designers usually focus on meeting the learning needs of participants and aligning content with corporate strategy and goals. And they should.

But what happens before and after those formal programs has a major impact on the return on training investment — and could be the key to ensuring success: boss support.

Our research on what makes leadership development programs successful has found that people who have support from their bosses get significantly more out of these types of training. In fact, it’s the primary predictor of a leadership development program’s success.

When bosses are more engaged and actively show clear support of their direct reports’ development, participants report they get more value from the training.

To better understand a supervisor’s impact on their participants’ success, we conducted a study. Our findings revealed that when bosses are involved and supportive of training, participants experience the following outcomes:

• Leaders’ self-awareness, leadership capability, and leadership effectiveness significantly improve.
• Leaders have a greater impact on the teams they lead.
• Leaders receive more favorable ratings on organizational effectiveness, management capabilities, and employee empowerment.

Boss Support for Development Drives Better Organizational Outcomes

We also found that greater boss support drives better organizational outcomes. The data show that bosses rated most leaders participating in our Leadership Development Program (LDP)® with high marks for organizational impact:

• 79% showed increased or significantly increased organizational effectiveness.
• 64% showed increased or significantly increased employee empowerment.
• 75% showed increased or significantly increased management capabilities.

Although the average impact of the program was high, leaders who exhibited the most change in key leadership parameters were more likely to have strong support from their bosses. Those who exhibited no change after their leadership course were more likely to lack boss support. For example, there was a 16% gap in boss support between leaders who made significant improvements in their organizational effectiveness and those who made no improvement. There were similar gaps of 8% and 13% in empowerment and management capabilities, respectively.

So bosses can literally make — or break — the effectiveness of an organization’s leadership development program.

How to Be a Supportive Boss Before & After Your Direct Reports’ Training

So, are your direct reports preparing to take part in an in-person or virtual leadership development program?

If so, plan to have a couple of conversations with them. Meeting with your employees both before and after they attend a leadership training program is a great way to maximize their success and communicate your buy-in. It needn’t require a large investment of your time, but it helps convey you’re a supportive boss and adds considerable accountability to the process.

These types of conversations can happen in person, of course, but can be just as effective if they happen remotely. (Just keep in mind how to craft your persona for effective virtual communication.)

Before the Training: How to Be a Supportive Boss

Ideally, participants would take a 360-degree feedback evaluation tool, like one of our Benchmarks® 360 assessments, that includes input from their boss, which provides further fuel for the leadership development experience. At this stage, a supportive boss will also help their direct reports choose a strategic challenge to work on during or after the program.

During your pre-meeting, plan to ask questions for 20% of the meeting and then listen to each direct report’s responses for the remaining 80% of the time. Don’t feel like you need to memorize these questions — we recommend that you have the questions and topics you plan to cover in front of you. It will keep the conversation flowing and can serve as a checklist.

5 Questions to Ask Employees Before Training

1. What do you hope to get out of the training? Have them articulate their goal, and follow up by asking, “What else?”
2. What developmental areas do you want to work on as you go through the program? This will allow them to admit what they think they aren’t great at. Ideally, participants also take a 360 evaluation that includes input from you. Encourage them to consider that feedback when choosing a strategic challenge to work on after the program.
3. What do you believe are your strengths, and how might you improve upon them? Our research shows that great leaders are known for their towering strengths rather than the absence of weaknesses, so improving strengths is still crucial. Most people over-focus on weaknesses.
4. What sort of support and help do you need in order to apply the learning back at work? You may be surprised what they actually need from you as a manager to keep it growing.
5. During training, what support do you need so that you can fully disconnect from your daily responsibilities? You want participants to soak up the learning in the program so they can implement real changes when they return. If you skip this step, expect them to be distracted during the training.

Before your conversation ends, schedule a follow-up meeting for after they complete their development program. This will help ensure that a follow-up discussion occurs, and it also lets your direct reports know that they have boss support, that you’re committed to their success, and that you’ll be checking in again after the training is complete.

After the Training: How to Be a Supportive Boss

Once your direct reports are done with leadership training, your goal is to help them turn their learning into action items. After all, the new insights and skills gained in a leadership development program are only valuable if they’re applied.

After the program, participants ideally would apply their new skills and insights to the strategic challenge they agreed to with their bosses during the preparation phase. In addition, organizations can provide resources to the bosses of program participants so they understand what the participant learned and how to support ongoing development.

The post-training meeting reinforces boss support for development and creates an opportunity for direct reports to publicly commit to personal goals and allows them to capitalize on their enthusiasm coming out of the training before too much time passes and their interest wanes.

Similar to the pre-meeting, we recommend that bosses spend 20% of the meeting talking — mostly asking questions — and 80% of the time in active listening and coaching mode. Again, some good questions to ask are outlined below.

5 Questions to Ask Employees After Training

1. How was the program? This general question will help the conversation start off on a casual note.
2. What did you learn? Move into discussing both the content and personal insights they came away with. How do they plan to apply their new skills and insights to the strategic challenge you discussed during the preparation phase?
3. How are you going to bring this back to work? Next, discuss implementation. How will they convey what they learned to their team, or talk about their identified strengths and weaknesses? Team members who didn’t attend the leadership development experience are often curious to hear about it and can benefit from your reports’ experience. Encourage them to share insights with colleagues.
4. How can we work together to expand your network? In many leadership development programs, participants have opportunities to build relationships with other people in their organization — often in other functions or “silos.” In open-enrollment programs, participants may meet other professionals from their industry or even different industries. This often develops into a formal or informal support network and sometimes includes peer coaching and accountability. Express your support for these relationships, which can help both employees and their teams.
5. How can I support you? Similar to the pre-meeting, it’s important to ask how you can support them in implementing changes. Not only does it illustrate your commitment, but you may learn something about how you can be more effective, too.

You’ll notice that there’s some overlap between these questions and the topics you covered in the pre-meeting, which is intentional. The first meeting sets the tone and helps prepare your direct reports, while the follow-up is designed to see it through and reiterate your support. You can even turn it into a coaching conversation, reinforcing lessons learned and helping your employees take responsibility for their actions and their development. This is sure to help them see you as a supportive boss.

If your post-training meeting comes fairly soon after the training, you’ll be able to help your direct reports focus on applying what they learned and execute a plan that will make their training — and your time — well worth it.

Ready to Take the Next Step?

Be a supportive boss by showing your direct reports that you’re invested in their professional development. Explore our leadership programs, available for leaders at every level, and we can show you how to provide boss support at every stage of their learning journeys.

The post Why & How to Show Boss Support for Your Employees’ Development appeared first on CCL.

• News
• : April 17, 2024

The Center for Creative Leadership and The Financial Academy Join Forces to Propel Leadership Excellence in KSA’s Financial Sector

We are thrilled to announce a partnership between the Center for Creative Leadership (CCL)®, a top-ranked global leadership organization, and The Financial Academy (TFA), a leading organization in developing human capabilities in the financial sector in Saudi Arabia. This partnership marks a pivotal moment in the pursuit of leadership excellence within the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s financial sector landscape.

Over the past few years, CCL and TFA have collaborated extensively to create and launch the Future Financial Leadership Program (FFLP)—a cutting-edge initiative tailored to further develop leadership effectiveness in the financial sector of Saudi Arabia. Explore the current open programs:

Future Financial Leadership Program (FFLP)

Emerging Leaders Program (ELP)

The success of the initial pilot program has led to the launch of multiple cohorts, reflecting a shared commitment between CCL and TFA to advancing leadership capabilities within this sector.

This commitment represents a strategic investment toward Saudi Arabia’s Vision for 2030, where the financial sector plays a crucial role in driving the nation’s economic growth.

As the Saudi Arabia seeks to meet its Vision 2030 objectives, TFA has identified the need to expedite leadership development across the financial sector domain. In recognition of this shared vision, CCL has been chosen as the primary partner for leadership development services. Over the past year, both organizations have collaborated with the aim of cultivating robust leadership across the sector.

“The strategic partnership between CCL and TFA aims to bring more value to the financial sector in KSA and help drive the leadership capabilities in service to the ambitious transformation journey of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia,” says Mana Alkhamsan, Chief Executive Officer of the Financial Academy.

This partnership is not just a collaboration; it’s a strategic alliance focused on shaping the future of leadership in the financial sector. By combining the expertise of TFA in financial education with CCL’s globally recognized leadership development services, we are poised to empower leaders who will drive innovation, foster growth, and contribute significantly to the realization of Vision 2030.

Commenting on the partnership, Hamish Madan, Vice President & Managing Director for EMEA at CCL, says: “Through our strategic partnership with TFA, we aim to support and empower leaders of the financial sector in KSA, and reinforce our commitment to the nation’s growth and journey towards global excellence”.

We look forward to sharing new and exciting developments as CCL and TFA embark on this transformative journey to empower the leaders in Saudi Arabia’s financial sector.

Learn More

About The Financial Academy (TFA)

The Financial Academy began operating in 1965 in the field of training and professional development. In addition to its experience in offering professional certificates, its services cover all sub-sectors related to the financial sector: banking, insurance, financing, and capital market, as well as relevant bodies and new graduates wishing to join the financial sector. Learn more about TFA.

About the Center for Creative Leadership (CCL)®

At the Center for Creative Leadership, our drive to create a ripple effect of positive change underpins everything we do. For 50+ years, we’ve pioneered leadership development solutions for everyone from frontline workers to global CEOs. Consistently ranked among the world’s top providers of executive education, our research-based programs and solutions inspire individuals in organizations across the world — including 2/3 of the Fortune 1000 — to ignite remarkable transformations. Learn more about CCL.

| What to Explore Next

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Developing Leaders in the Public Sector of the Kingdom

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The post The Center for Creative Leadership and The Financial Academy Join Forces to Propel Leadership Excellence in KSA’s Financial Sector appeared first on CCL.

There’s no magic bullet to ensure that people apply what they learn. But there are steps you can take to create leadership programs, experiences, and support mechanisms that improve learning transfer and support lasting growth and behavior change. Over time, new skills, perspectives, or behaviors can be reinforced, until they become unconsciously and competently put to use.

As a professional interested in learning and development, you may be in a position to acknowledge and help overcome the challenges of learning in your organizations. You are likely in a position to influence supervisors and executives, as well as potential participants, in leadership development efforts. You may also have a role in creating and supporting a learning environment.

The Challenges of Improving Learning Transfer

Individuals — and organizations — face significant challenges in their efforts to apply and integrate learning and develop the leadership capacity they need. These challenges include the following:

• Formal training is just one aspect of learning.
• Leadership — and its development — is always dependent on the people involved and the context.
• Leaders are already overloaded.
• Learning isn’t always aligned with what matters most.
• The learning culture clashes with the operational culture.

Given these realities, though, you can still begin to help leaders and your organization overcome challenges to learning transfer — and earn greater benefit from leadership development investments.

How to Improve Learning Transfer for Leadership Training

Learning is a process and works best when it’s viewed as more than merely a program. Leadership development can include formal or classroom-based training — but it’s just one piece of the learning puzzle that must have corresponding pieces back on the job.

Research supports the value of extending learning into the workplace and connecting the workplace into formal learning. Most executives cite on-the-job experiences as the key events that shaped them as leaders and taught them important skills, behaviors, or mindsets. In fact, research shows that senior executives distribute their sources of key developmental experiences as 70% on-the-job challenges, 20% other people, and 10% formal coursework and training. At CCL, we use the 70-20-10 “rule” as a guideline rather than a formula for creating learning experiences. Yet, we know that experiences that focus on creating learning in all 3 categories can boost learning transfer and accelerate development.

Learning transfer is also a social process. Learning — and the desired performance that comes from learning — doesn’t take place in isolation. The work context, including the level of support from role models, mentors, peers, coaches, and bosses, has a powerful impact on turning lessons learned into leadership in action.

Drawing on our understanding of and experience with adult learners, we produced a white paper on making learning stick and explaining our 3 x 3 x 3 model for learning transfer. This framework informs our leadership development work — and can be applied to development programs or initiatives within your organization.

Our 3 x 3 x 3 Model for Learning Transfer Helps Make Learning Stick in Development Initiatives

Our 3 x 3 x 3 model for learning transfer and making leadership learning stick is:

• Think in 3 Phases: Learning isn’t a one-time event, but rather it occurs over time, as explained more below.
  • Prepare
  • Engage, and
  • Apply.
• Use 3 Strategies: Use at least 3 different approaches to provide a chance to deepen and reinforce learning.
  • A key leadership challenge,
  • In-class accountability partners, and
  • At-work learning partners.
• Involve 3 Partners: They each have to take responsibility to ensure learning happens and isn’t a passive activity.
  • The learner or participant,
  • The organization, and
  • The training provider.

This 3 x 3 x 3 model for learning transfer helps organizations that need to look at organizational change and leadership development in large-scale and deeply-personalized ways. It also outlines the critical steps that are required of the leadership development sponsor in the organization.

Improve Learning Transfer by Designing Development in 3 Phases: Prepare, Engage & Apply

For making learning stick, what happens before and after the formal part of a program or development effort is just as important as the program content and delivery. This is true whether the initiative is long or short, in-person or virtual, ongoing or one-time.

At CCL, we design leadership development keeping the 3 phases of “Prepare, Engage, and Apply” in mind, to help both individual leaders and organizations get the most out of their investment in leadership development.

The Prepare Phase

As soon as a person is tapped for or has chosen to participate in a formal leadership training effort, the development process begins. Consider:

• How might you help participants start learning right away?
• How do you get them thinking about their leadership experiences, challenges, and needs?
• How do you help them connect to the purpose, content, and value of their development experience?

This is a time when boss support is crucial. The Prepare phase involves good communication about logistics and expectations — but also begins to build an emotional connection to personalize the learning experience. It’s a chance to engage and excite the learner — rather than approaching the process as another item on their to-do list. Research shows that participants begin to engage in a development experience when they’re able to make plans with a boss, mentor, or coach and discuss the support they’ll need and understand how the program will benefit them.

At CCL, we carefully prepare participants for their learning experiences in our leadership programs by providing guidelines for selecting raters and completing 360 leadership assessments, interviewing key stakeholders, selecting real-life challenges they’re facing to apply to course learning, and asking the learners and their colleagues to complete self-assessments and reflections on their leadership style and skills. Other activities during the Prepare phase could include asking participants to read material ahead of time or watch welcome videos from course faculty.

The Engage Phase

The content of a learning experience is important, but so is the way it’s presented. Listening to speakers and reading information is a passive learning process — and information is less likely to stick than processes that connect and engage each person through applied practice. So when designing leadership development initiatives, we always consider how we might create opportunities for guided practice and skill development throughout the program to help improve learning transfer.

At CCL, we ensure our learning experiences include a variety of ways to keep learners engaged, whether in a live, in-person setting or a virtual leadership program. We use a mix of activities such as skill-building, action learning, reflection, simulations, experiential activities, goal-setting, and coaching.

The Apply Phase

Reinforcement and support at work — away from the learning environment and over time — is also essential for learning transfer. How might you create opportunities for the participants to use and continue new learning at work and beyond? Most people need structures that foster the application of new concepts and practice of new skills to achieve lasting behavior change. To improve learning transfer, participants need support and encouragement to get past the initial awkward phase that accompanies the application of new skills.

At CCL, we often use tools such as action-learning projects tied to real work issues; conversations to help connect new learning to an existing business challenge; follow-up lessons through reading, discussion, toolkits, and job aids; and executive coaching focused on making progress on goals.

A Closing Word on Making Learning Stick

We know that leadership development can create competitive advantage, but organizations rightfully want to ensure that their investments pay off through sustained behavior change. With a better understanding of the 3x3x3 model for learning transfer, you can help your organization improve learning transfer and realize multiple benefits, including a greater impact from investments in development, more effective leaders, and a stronger organizational culture.

Ready to Take the Next Step?

We can help you make learning stick and improve learning transfer. Get our latest leadership research, tips, and insights by signing up for our newsletters.

The post Make Learning Stick: Improve Learning Transfer to Get the Most Out of Leadership Development appeared first on CCL.

Our white paper explores what research suggests are the direct benefits of leadership development (i.e., program-specific outcomes) and the indirect benefits of development, including increased employee engagement and attractiveness to potential employees. It outlines 4 key leadership development benefits that have emerged from both our own and other research, noting that investments in leadership development:

1. Facilitate organizational alignment,
2. Enhance the organization’s change readiness,
3. Promote equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI), and
4. Strengthen leadership pipelines.

Creating Competitive Leadership Advantage

When implemented effectively and comprehensively, leadership development has the potential to grow individuals and transform an entire organization from being one that merely meets its objectives into one that excels.

That’s why we say that one of the key benefits of leadership development is also simply that it creates competitive leadership advantage. And having a competitive leadership advantage not only raises the organization’s level of leadership capacity, developing a healthy leadership pipeline for the future, but also enables organizational agility, which is essential in today’s era of constant disruption.

One of the most critical drivers of organizational success in adapting to change is effective leadership at all levels — not just at the top.

To create the engagement and productivity required for this level of performance, leaders need to inspire others, drive innovation, collaborate across boundaries, and create an environment of psychological safety and inclusion. But these leadership skills don’t simply emerge and spread throughout the organization on their own. It takes focused effort and intentional strategy to optimize the leadership talent organizations need today and in the future.

Building these needed skills, from the top to the bottom of your organization, can feel like an impossible task. How can you possibly get quality development into the hands of all employees to fully leverage the benefits of leadership development?

The answer is by implementing a leadership development initiative that can be scaled. A scalable leadership development program is one that can easily be adapted and executed across an organization, regardless of its size or structure. A scalable development program unlocks leadership development’s benefits and creates significant competitive leadership advantage.

Download our white paper today to learn the many benefits of leadership development and how to scale it to start building a stronger talent pipeline at your organization.

Download White Paper

The post 4 Ways That Scaling Leadership Development Powers Engagement, Retention, and ROI appeared first on CCL.

• Award
• : April 15, 2024

CCL Ranked Among the World’s Top Providers of Leadership Training

Training Industry, a leading research and information resource for corporate learning leaders, has once again named the Center for Creative Leadership (CCL)® a top provider of leadership training.

CCL has been on Training Industry’s global Top 20 Leadership Training Companies List in the each of the following years:

• 2010
• 2011
• 2012
• 2013
• 2014
• 2015
• 2016
• 2017
• 2018
• 2019
• 2020
• 2021
• 2022
• 2023
• 2024

As Training Industry notes, their Top 20 Leadership Training List each year “is based on thorough analysis of the capabilities, experience, and expertise of leadership development providers.” Criteria for inclusion include:

• Breadth and quality of program and service offerings.
• Industry visibility, innovation and impact in the leadership training market.
• Client and customer representation.
• Business performance and growth.

Because of the diversity of services included in leadership training programs, Training Industry does not rank the Top 20 in order of priority.

We’re proud to have earned this award from Training Industry once again, in addition to being ranked as one of Training Industry’s Top 20 providers of leadership assessments, in each of the past 10+ years.

Learn More

About Training Industry, Inc.

Training Industry is a trusted authority on the business of learning, built on deep ties with more than 450 expert contributors who share insights and actionable information with their peers. Training Industry’s courses, live events, articles, magazine, webinars, podcast, research, and reports generate more than 10 million industry interactions each year, while its Top 20 Training Companies Lists help business leaders find the right training partners. Learn more about Training Industry.

About the Center for Creative Leadership (CCL)®

CCL is a top-ranked, global provider of leadership development dedicated to advancing the understanding, practice, and development of leadership for the benefit of society worldwide. Learn more about CCL.

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The post CCL Ranked Among the World’s Top Providers of Leadership Training appeared first on CCL.