Leadership4 min read
Leadership development program: how to structure one
How to structure a leadership development program that changes behavior: diagnosis, a staged path, practice at work, manager support and measurement.
Paula AlexandriskyFounder of Ativme
Quick answer
A leadership development program works best when it is organized as a path. It starts from a diagnosis of what the company needs, arranges content in stages (from self-knowledge to preparing successors), makes sure participants practice at work between sessions, involves each participant's manager and measures behavior change, beyond satisfaction with the training.
What you will learn
- Why so many leadership programs change nothing
- The five elements of a program that works
- How to organize the path in stages
- How to measure results beyond reaction surveys
Almost every company has invested in some kind of leadership training, and many have come away feeling that, once the enthusiasm of the first few days faded, everything went back to normal. Most of the time, the format is what fails: an isolated, generic event with no practice and no follow-up rarely changes how someone leads. This article shows how to structure a leadership development program that reaches the daily routine.
Why invest in developing leaders?
Because leaders translate strategy and culture into their team's daily work. A Gallup study of thousands of teams found that managers account for at least 70% of the variance in engagement across business units. The same company can have highly engaged teams and demotivated ones, and the main difference between them is who leads.
There is also a regulatory reason in Brazil. Since the update to NR-1, factors such as overload, conflict and lack of support are part of occupational risk management, and many of them depend on how people are led. The World Health Organization recommends training managers as one of the measures to protect mental health at work. Read more in NR-1 and psychosocial risks.
Why do so many leadership programs fail?
The reasons repeat from company to company:
- The program is a one- or two-day event, and learning has no time to become habit.
- The content is generic and does not speak to the company's real challenges.
- There is no practice between sessions.
- The participant's manager does not know what is being covered and does not support the change.
- The company measures only whether people liked the training.
- Company systems (targets, bonuses, promotions) keep rewarding the old behavior.
The last point deserves attention. If leaders learn to give feedback and develop people but are still assessed only on short-term results, they will do what the assessment asks.
What are the elements of a leadership program that works?
1. A diagnosis before the content
The program needs to answer one question: what kind of leadership do the company's strategy and culture require, and where are the biggest gaps? A culture assessment, interviews with executives and behavioral assessment tools help set priorities.
2. A path in stages
Leadership develops in layers. It makes little sense to teach feedback techniques to someone who does not yet understand how their own style affects others. Ativme's Leadership School is a 40-hour path in four stages:
| Stage | Focus | What leaders take back to work |
|---|---|---|
| Self-knowledge | Behavioral profile, strengths and blind spots | Awareness of how they react under pressure and how they come across |
| Leading through dialogue | Nonviolent, assertive and caring communication | Difficult conversations with less friction and more clarity |
| Leading by example | Consistency between words and behavior | Company values visible in their own decisions |
| The leader who develops leaders | Feedback, individual development plans, succession | Team members ready to take on more responsibility |
3. Practice between sessions
The 70-20-10 model, popularized by the Center for Creative Leadership, suggests that most of a leader's development comes from challenging experiences at work, some from relationships (feedback, mentoring, watching other leaders) and a smaller share from formal courses. The numbers are a reference and not an exact rule, but the message is useful: formal sessions prepare people for practice and help them make sense of it.
Each stage of the path should end with a concrete commitment to apply before the next session, such as holding a feedback conversation, reorganizing how work is distributed or running an alignment meeting. The next session starts with what happened.
4. The leader's own manager involved
When the participant's manager knows the program, they can reinforce new behaviors and make room for them. A short alignment conversation before the start and another at the end already make a difference.
5. Measuring what changed
The Kirkpatrick model, widely used to evaluate training, proposes four levels: reaction (did participants like it?), learning (did they learn?), behavior (do they act differently at work?) and results (did it affect company indicators?). Most companies stop at level one. For a leadership program, level three is the most revealing. It can be measured with team feedback before and after, observations from the manager and follow-up on practice commitments.
How do you fit the program into the company's routine?
A leadership program competes with operations for people's time, so the schedule has to be flexible. At the Leadership School, sessions can run on weekdays, weekends, afternoons or full days, depending on how each company works. In shift-based operations, such as oil, gas and energy, the design has to account for rosters and offshore rotations.
What matters most is that leaders finish each stage confident enough to put the tools into practice.
Frequently asked questions about leadership development
What is the difference between leadership training and a leadership development program?
Training is usually a one-off event focused on a single topic. A development program is a path with stages, practice between sessions, manager involvement and measurement of results. The first passes on content; the second is more likely to change behavior.
How long should a leadership program last?
It depends on the goals, but development needs time between sessions for practice to happen. Ativme's Leadership School, for example, has 40 hours of content spread across stages, with the schedule agreed with each company.
Who should go first: new or experienced leaders?
Both groups benefit, with different emphasis. Newly promoted leaders gain most from self-knowledge and communication. Experienced leaders usually get more from the stages on leading by example and preparing successors. Mixed cohorts also work well, because experienced leaders share real situations.
How do you know whether a leadership program worked?
Look beyond satisfaction surveys. Compare how the team sees the leader before and after, check whether practice commitments were kept and watch indicators such as turnover, sick leave and climate in the teams involved.
References
Informational content. Every company has its own context, and occupational health and safety decisions should involve the people responsible for OHS in your organization.
