How To Develop a Leadership Training Structure

Given the high number of executives who are reaching retirement age, and the increasingly competitive international business market, corporations that don't have a structured leadership training program in place might not have a leg to stand on in a few years. Today's leaders need to be innovative, and they need to have someone in line to take their place when they are not able to lead any longer. Developing a leadership training structure will ensure that your corporation remains viable during times of conflict and change.

1. Determine the type of material you want your leadership training program to cover. For example, do you want all managers to participate in mandatory diversity training? What about the topics of conflict resolution and innovation? And, do you think it would be wise to incorporate some elements of succession planning training into your course offerings?

2. Choose one or more delivery platforms through which leaders will have access to the training materials. Keep your managers' needs and time constraints in mind. For example, if you are going to implement group leadership training sessions, live or virtual classroom instruction might work best. But, if you want managers to be able to access training materials whenever they are free, self-paced Web-based training is more flexible.

3. Mandate that all managers and senior level executives, regardless of seniority, actively participate in the new leadership training structure. Encourage them to apply new leadership techniques that they are learning to their daily workday in order to assess the validity of the training materials. Then, make adjustments as needed.

4. Devise a method for tracking all training participation and performance. And, put a process in place that evaluates the training. According to the Free Management Library, when evaluating the training some points to consider include the purpose of the training, the audience for the results of the evaluation and the points or spans of points at which measurements will be taken.

5. Provide all leaders with follow-up support in the form of executive coaching after the training program is compete. This will help them retain the information that was covered in the courses and will encourage them to apply it to their everyday lives.