How to Create a Leadership Development Plan for Employees

Leadership development is a key initiative required by businesses. Not only are we looking for candidates with leadership skills, these abilities also need to continue to be developed among all employees who have contributed to the company.

For employees with high motivation, leadership skills play an important role in career development, especially in leadership positions. To be able to meet the demands of the job market, companies also need a leadership development plan.

The Importance of a Leadership Development Plan

Leadership is an ever-evolving skill. You can determine your personal development needs and get brilliant ideas about areas that need improvement. You do this by learning more about your potential and knowing your strengths and weaknesses.

To be a good leader, you have to know how to change behavior. Apart from that, you must also be able to develop self-awareness which will contribute to behavior modification in the future.

The leadership development plan is a comprehensive plan that will help your career on a strategic leadership path. In general, a leadership development plan is your vision statement that will determine your goals for the next 3-5 years.

How to Create a Leadership Development Plan

When you plan your career development, you can maximize your influence and role professionally. Here's how to design a leadership development plan for successful development.

1. Assess your position professionally

You can start mapping your leadership development by understanding yourself. Know where you stand professionally by identifying strengths, weaknesses and work tendencies. This will help you more easily identify personal development and anticipate obstacles when becoming a leader.

Completing an assessment such as 360-feedback can be a valuable way to reflect on your motivations and clear boundaries regarding your leadership style. Through this reflection process, you can gain a more holistic view.

2. Set realistic goals

Every leadership development plan requires goal setting which is an important component. According to Ethan Bernstein, professor at Harvard Business School, summarizing your goals plays an important role in determining where you will go there.

According to Bernstein, this can be achieved through the PACE model. PACE is used by students to choose their leadership development goals. Not only that, action is needed to map its achievements. After identifying the keys to achieving your goals, determine how to measure them so you stay on track.

3. Engage in leadership training

Leadership training will benefit you no matter your career stage. In addition to the opportunity to gain and practice technical skills in empowering employees and influencing others, you also need to be exposed to teachers and colleagues for support, learning, and growing.

According to Bernstein, honing your leadership skills through a training class is beneficial. These situations provide a low-risk environment to evaluate and refine your goals if you encounter setbacks.

This kind of interaction can also be obtained through online courses. Participants will practice delivering responses and feedback from training videos, enabling them to evaluate their effectiveness in various business scenarios.

4. Maintain your networking

Professional networks (networking) are one of the most valuable resources for leaders. So, make sure to develop networking throughout your leadership development journey.

Stay in touch with like-minded peers who can make a positive impact. Find friends who provide opportunities to apply the knowledge you have gained and get feedback on your progress.

5. Sharpen soft skills

Effective leadership requires a unique blend of characteristics and skills.

As you map out your leadership development plan, consider ways you can improve soft skills such as active listening, empathy, and creating value in negotiations to ensure you are ready to face organizational challenges.

Striving to become a capable leader is a commitment that can be made regardless of your career stage, one of which is through the First Line Leadership program. You can create a leadership development plan to understand your abilities professionally and think about the goals you want to achieve.