Leadership programs
Leadership programs designed to change behaviour.
…And leave organisations better able to develop leaders than they were before.
Programs are one of the most significant leadership development investments an organisation can make.
Too often, they're expected to do all the heavy lifting. I don't think that's the problem.
The problem is expecting one investment to achieve only one outcome.
Every leadership program should achieve two things:
Develop better leaders today
Strengthen the organisation's capacity to develop leaders tomorrow.
That's how leadership programs create their greatest value.
A pathway from knowing to doing.
Organisations rarely invest in leadership programs because they want leaders to know more.
They invest because they want leaders to lead differently.
To make better decisions.
Have better conversations.
Build stronger teams.
Navigate change with greater confidence.
In other words, the goal isn't learning.
It's behaviour change.
Learning creates the possibility of change.
It doesn't guarantee it.
Closing this knowing-doing gap sits at the heart of how I design leadership programs.
Designing leadership programs for behaviour change.
The Knowing-to-Doing Pathway™ is one half of my Leadership Development Blueprint.
It provides an organising principle for designing the participant journey around the way behaviour change is most likely to occur.
Many leadership programs are designed to answer the question:
How do we help leaders learn?
But if the goal is changing behaviour, they also need to ask:
What will help leaders do things differently once they return to work?
That simple shift changes the way leadership programs are designed.
Rather than focusing on the moment of learning, design extends to what needs to happen before, during, and after learning to make new behaviours more likely to emerge and, crucially, more likely to last.
The result isn't simply a better learning experience.
It's leadership development intentionally designed for behaviour change.
If only individual behaviour change were enough.
Changing leadership behaviour is the purpose of a leadership program. Sustaining that behaviour is largely the work of the organisation.
Leadership behaviour is reinforced or undermined by the organisational environment: the expectations leaders are held to, the support they get, the opportunities they have to practise, the feedback they receive and the behaviours that are recognised and rewarded.
Programs matter. They just can't carry the whole load.
That's why every leadership program I design operates at two levels simultaneously.
It develops individual capability while strengthening the organisation's capacity to develop leaders.
Every organisation influences the program designed for it, and every program has the potential to influence the organisation in which it is delivered.
The greatest return comes when those two work together.
Not simply changing leadership behaviour.
But strengthening the organisational conditions that allow that behaviour to continue long after the program has finished.
This means leadership programs are not just interventions to develop leaders.
They become one of the ways an organisation's leadership development system evolves.
The strongest leadership programs leave organisations better able to develop leaders than they were before.
Every leadership program should leave something behind.
Leadership programs should do more than change the leaders who participate in them. They should strengthen the organisation that surrounds them.
Leadership expectations become clearer.
Sponsors become more engaged.
Line managers become more confident coaching on the job.
Peers continue learning together.
Leadership language becomes more consistent.
Future leadership initiatives begin from a stronger foundation.
In other words, every leadership program should strengthen the organisation's capacity to develop leaders.
Over time, repeated leadership development investments strengthen that capacity until it becomes an organisational capability.
That's when leadership development creates its greatest value.
Not simply because leaders have changed, but because the organisation has become better at developing leaders.
A more complete way to design leadership programs.
Leadership development needs a broader ambition. Not simply developing better leaders. Building organisations that consistently develop better leaders.
That’s why I design leadership programs using the Leadership Development Blueprint method. It brings together two interconnected organising principles for designing programs that develop leaders while strengthening an organisation's capacity to develop leaders.
The Knowing-to-Doing Pathway™ designs the participant journey around the way behaviour change is most likely to occur: Assess & Consider, Explore & Learn, Plan & Practice, Apply & Implement, Reflect & Reinforce.
The LDS Wheel™ designs the organisational conditions that help new leadership behaviours take hold and endure. It provides the design principles that ensure the program strengthens the system surrounding it, not just the participants within it: Adaptability, Coherence, Scope, Integration, Continuity, Sponsorship, and Evaluation.
One designs for behaviour change.
The other designs the conditions that allow that behaviour change to last.
Together, they create a Leadership Development Blueprint that ensures every leadership development investment contributes to two outcomes:
Developing better leaders today
Strengthening the organisation’s capacity to develop leaders tomorrow.
Ready to get more out of leadership development?
The Leadership Development Blueprint is my approach to co-designing custom leadership programs.
It results in a design blueprint for developing leaders that intentionally supports behaviour change while strengthening your organisation’s ability to continue developing leaders long after the program finishes.
The four steps in this process are:
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Through a desktop review and listening sessions, build a deep understanding of your organisation, strategy, leadership context and the outcomes the program needs to achieve.
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Work with sponsors and key stakeholders to define the leadership development approaches, organisational conditions and success measures that will enable lasting impact.
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Develop the program architecture, participant journey and organisational design recommendations that together form the Leadership Development Blueprint™, including:
Program on a Page: A visual overview of the proposed approach and how the various elements work together.
Participant Journey: A high-level view of how leaders will engage with the proposed program over time, including learning, application and reinforcement touchpoints.
Design Roadmaps: Each element of the program is outlined in sufficient detail to enable its full design once the program is signed off.
Stakeholder Strategy: The role sponsors, line managers, peers and participants will play in supporting success.
Implementation Recommendations: Practical guidance on bringing the solution to life.
Success Measures: How progress, behaviour change and organisational impact will be evaluated.
Each deliverable contributes to a single outcome: A leadership program designed to develop leaders while strengthening the organisation's capacity to develop leaders.
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Review, refine and build ownership before moving into detailed design and implementation.
Because the strongest leadership programs aren't created for organisations.
They're created with them.
From blueprint to organisational capability
The blueprinting process culminates in a Sponsor Playback session, a facilitated discussion of recommendations, implications and next steps.
Following this, some organisations use their Leadership Development Blueprint to guide detailed design and delivery internally.
Some use it to accurately scope and cost the program before onboarding multiple providers. Others continue to partner with me for detailed design, facilitation, and implementation support.
Whichever path you choose, the ambition remains the same.
To create leadership programs that change behaviour, strengthen organisational capacity and increase the value of future leadership development investments.
Because every leadership program should leave the organisation better able to develop leaders than it was before.
When enough leadership development investments achieve that outcome, something important happens.
Leadership development stops feeling like a series of initiatives.
It becomes something the organisation does, not simply something it buys.
Let’s work out what will create the greatest impact
If you're designing a new leadership program, refreshing an existing one or simply exploring where to invest next, I'd love to hear what you're trying to achieve.
Together, we'll work out what will create the greatest impact for your leaders and your organisation.