Leadership Development Interventions: Ensuring a Return on the Investment

By: Jay A. Conger

Sign Up Now! Already a Member? Log In
You must be logged into Bookshare to access this title. Learn about membership options, or view our freely available titles.

Synopsis: Leadership development initiatives can and should play a critical role in building the bench strength of leadership talent in an organization. At the very least, these programs can heighten managers' appreciation of good leadership; at the most, they can facilitate a common and widespread understanding of the organization's vision and culture, integrate training with job promotions, and build champions to implement critical strategies. This chapter explores how formal leadership training programs can best be deployed to achieve these kinds of impact. It examines a range of approaches and the trade-offs unique to each, with a closer look at the practices that enhance a program's effectiveness, as well as some common pitfalls. In short, successful leadership development programs must be well designed, tightly aligned to the organization's strategy, and supported by its performance management systems. This chapter was originally published as Chapter 24 of "Handbook of Leadership Theory and Practice: A Harvard Business School Centennial Colloquium."