Generally, when organizations implement leadership development programs for their employees, they are hoping for changes in behavior or performance that ultimately assist the organization in reaching its goals. But when those company goals are large and multifaceted, it can be difficult to identify whether or not these trainings are helping individual employees improve their skills and competencies.
When developing leadership training programs, I follow this process to ensure these trainings are working for everyone at the organization:
1) Discover:
The first step involves talking with senior leadership to determine those major goals and the gaps that need filling in order to reach them. Specific questions to ask senior leadership include:
- What are the organization’s current priorities? How could employee training fit into the overall business plan and support strategic initiatives?
- Where are there gaps between current and desired performance? Which skills and competencies need work?
- Does company leadership support training in these performance areas? If so, how will they reinforce it?
Solicit feedback from the employees who will be participating in the training, too. Ask them to rate their level of proficiency and interest in the specific leadership competencies your training will focus on. This will help you identify the employees who need the most assistance shrinking those gaps between current and desired performance. This also involves participants in the training process early so they know what’s going on and why.
2) Design:
At this point, your Learning & Development staff creates training content focused on these skills and competencies you and the leadership team at your organization have identified. Ideally, each training module will include a combination of self-study and reflection, activities, and action plans for follow-up.
3) Measure:
Once you’ve delivered the training program, measure employee commitment and results. There are a few ways to do this, and you’ll get a more accurate picture of how the training went if you complete all of them.
- Request feedback from participants as soon as the training concludes. Focus on measuring understanding and how they will apply what they learned. For example, you could ask: “What specifically will you do to improve your leadership effectiveness?”
- Solicit feedback from participants’ managers soon after the training. Ask these managers to evaluate each of their employees individually. Questions may include:
- What performance changes did you observe following the employee’s participation in the training?
- Would the employee benefit from further training or coaching related to these skills?
- What tools in this training program could be reinforced?
Your Human Resources team may have useful input here, too. Since they routinely support supervisors with employee relations, they can provide insight into how confident and effective leaders navigate employee issues and can help identify remaining gaps in these areas.
The employee’s self-assessment, their supervisor’s assessment, and HR’s experience will help you evaluate the impact of the training and where there’s still room for improvement. Not only does this evaluation help the individual employees who participate in the training, it also helps you in creating your next training. By checking in across the company, you’ll have a better idea of what’s working, what isn’t, and what tools can be implemented into the organization further to encourage continued growth.