Counting the Cost of Your Leadership Development Program

February 7, 2020 at 9:37 pm
Woman speaking with colleagues.

Companies need effective leaders to thrive and succeed.

It’s not surprising that many companies wonder whether leadership development is a worthwhile investment. Besides the difficulty of measuring the results of these programs, company leaders know that an employee’s tenure at their company is significantly shorter than an employee’s tenure typically was in times past.

Why should companies spend their hard-earned capital on leadership development training when it’s likely that other companies will reap the benefits of the training they provide because of high turnover rates?

While that might sound reasonable, ignoring leadership development does not benefit companies at all. Before you give up on leadership development altogether, consider the benefits and how companies can maximize those benefits in today’s corporate environments.

Employees Seek Leadership Development

An increasing number of employees actively seek and expect their companies to provide career development, including leadership training programs. Besides sending the wrong message about the importance of leadership to your employees, failing to provide leadership development could exacerbate retention problems and lead to an exodus of your best talent if they don’t believe they are valued by the organization.

The right leadership development program can be beneficial to your company’s bottom line by enhancing productivity and managing resources more effectively. An effective leadership development program will be closely aligned to your overall organizational goals and will also take into account your company’s culture and needs.

Finding Maximum Effectiveness

Assessments can help companies determine what kind of leadership training is needed and put a custom plan in place that takes into account each employee’s particular strengths and weaknesses. Gathering the needed information before putting a plan in place is important.

One study found that when leadership development was combined with succession planning, 65 percent of companies saw positive results, while only six percent did with leadership development alone. In other words, you need a leadership pipeline along with training to maximize your ROI.

Group of colleagues discussing a document together.

Companies can benefit from investing in leadership programs.

A leadership development program that can answer the question, “What is the business outcome we are trying to drive?” is probably on the right track. Possible outcomes on which to focus could include increasing overall profits, improving retention, or cultivating employee engagement and satisfaction.

A Changing Environment

Change is constant in today’s business environment, and leadership development programs help leaders learn how to adapt quickly and effectively to changes as they occur. Data from the Center for Creative Leadership showed that companies with effective leadership development programs were significantly better and faster at responding to changes than companies without them.

Leadership development programs that focus on agility among employees may be able to improve the way employees respond to change in a short period of time, which can reassure management worries about reaping benefits of these programs before employees move on.

Narish International helps companies develop leaders among their staff, looking at traits of each employee and what can best help them develop their leadership potential. Let Narish International help you build higher-performing teams today.