Leadership Development Determines Your Organization’s Future. Here’s How My Company Is Getting It Right.
Leadership training is about so much more than giving employees promotion opportunities. Done well, a leadership training program can positively impact culture, retention, engagement and the future success of your organization.
According to research from Glint, an employee engagement platform, giving employees opportunities to learn and develop new skills is the top factor behind an exceptional workplace culture. Plus, when an organization offers upward internal mobility, employees tend to stick around more than 5 years — nearly double the average.
Young professionals are especially eager to work for a company that provides them with a clear career path and opportunities to learn and grow — at my company, Centric Consulting, it’s a top inquiry we get from recruits during the interview process.
How My Company Is Developing The Next Generation of Leaders
A little over a year ago, Centric launched a tailored leadership development program. Two factors fueled the program’s development: Employees were hungry for learning opportunities — we knew a program was long overdue — and we knew we needed to take steps to preserve and pass down the organizational wisdom of our seasoned leaders, keep our culture and values intact and prepare a new cohort to lead the company into the next decades.
The program tackles a range of leadership topics such as strategic thinking, communication, decision-making, emotional intelligence, trust building and coaching, delivered via a combination of virtual workshops, online modules, small group discussions and one-on-one coaching.
In its first year alone, more than 300 employees took part in the program. Below, I dive into the factors that have made it a success:
We make it worth employees’ time.
We’re all busy. Giving up time to focus on leadership development isn’t always easy. From the beginning, we knew it was on us to design a program that would be worth peoples’ time. We had to find the right way to integrate the training into their schedules, not just dump extra work on their plates.
We designed the program around our cultural DNA.
No generic leadership training here. When Centric began designing its leadership development program, we started with our core purpose and values. We worked to get clarity on what makes a great leader at Centric, then based everything off that definition. Our goal is for program participants to fully understand what it looks like to live our culture and inspire others to do the same.
We offer opportunities for all.
Every employee can participate in Centric’s leadership program. We believe leadership is more about a set of behaviors than about a specific title. Plus, Centric is a consulting firm, which means our clients value leadership skills among the consultants they engage to help them solve problems. Our clients trust our advice and guidance, so when consultants can lead and inspire, we naturally deliver better work.
That said, we do have tailored programming for different types and levels of employees. For example, high-potential employees who soon will be going through the promotion process can take part in a more immersive experience, which includes an opportunity to test their new skills by leading a project or initiative within their organization, as well as continued coaching and feedback to support participants’ continued growth and development.
We foster a culture of learning.
Centric’s culture celebrates learning and the fact that we can always improve — even (and maybe especially) leaders who have been in the trenches for years. When leaders participate fully in the culture of learning, they set an example for employees at all levels that it is okay to prioritize self-improvement training.
By recognizing that we all have skills gaps and blind spots, it makes it okay for everyone to admit when they don’t know an answer or need to work on something. This imbues the company with natural collaboration, vulnerability and trust, helping us all perform at our best and motivating everyone to take steps to continually improve. Learning becomes something to be excited about, not an administrative chore.
We strive for learning equity.
Learning equity is a top goal for our leadership development program — we don’t want any employee to be left out or feel like the opportunity is inaccessible.
We tackle this goal by sharing information on multiple channels (such as our employee resource groups), conducting surveys so we can schedule programming during times that work for most employees, and taking care to use inclusive language when promoting classes and facilitating sessions.
Centric’s goal is to become multi-generational company. Our leadership development program is a big part of our strategy to make that dream a reality and, in the meantime, keep our culture strong, retain top talent, engage our employees and always deliver our best work.
Centric Consulting is an international management consulting firm with unmatched in-house expertise in business transformation, hybrid workplace strategy, technology implementation and adoption. Founded in 1999 with a remote workforce, Centric has established a reputation for solving its clients’ toughest problems, delivering tailored solutions, and bringing deeply experienced consultants centered on what’s best for your business.
