Leadership development refers to the tasks dedicated to enhancing the capabilities of an individual to take on leadership roles and responsibilities. This covers programs in management, education, seminars, workshops, and even until internships. These opportunities are often focused on developing and propagating new knowledge, skills, self-awareness, and the abilities needed to lead effectively. Having a strong leadership base within your business can ultimately determine how successful your organization can be. If  your company  is dedicated  to developing its own leaders, then you can expect a significant increase in your competitive advantage  over the market. Attracting,  developing and retaining talent, driving strategy execution, and increasing your overall chances of success, especially when you are operating your business in a widely competitive industry.

Despite how important  leadership  development is in an organization, a lot of businesses  still fall short  on trying to develop and implement it. More often than not, managerial positions are give to individuals who do not have the right qualities and qualifications to lead a team. The lack or proper leadership can be very detrimental for your business. Including, but not limited to, the loss in productivity, high rates in turnovers, low morale, absenteeism, and a whole lot more.

That is why it is important for all businesses to be able to come up with a leadership development plan of their own. The document can be a very useful tool that you establish in and around your company, to create a  relatively secure pipeline to produce future good leaders and improve the ones that are currently in place. The  growth and evolution of your  business is directly proportional to  how you develop your leaders  and how your leaders run  your business. A leadership development plan allows  you to outline a lot of the details steps so  that you can identify and nurture  the following  leaders  within your organization. Businesses are  complicated  entities to manage. It can be quite a chore to keep track of all the components within  your business just to make sure that you have everything covered and taken into account. That’s why you need competent leaders to manage that business for  you. And to establish competent leaders in and around your business, a business leadership development plan can easily help you with  that.

Leadership is and will always be an important component in every business operation out there. Businesses won’t last very  long if there is no capable person at the helm. So writing a business leadership development plan may  not be as easy as it may seem. That is why before you attempt drafting a document of your own, check out these business leadership development plan samples that we have listed for you down below. Once you have acquainted yourself with the document, with what it  looks like and how it works, feel free to use these samples as guides or even as templates so that you can write an effective business leadership development plan.

3+ Business Leadership Development Plan Samples

1. Business Leadership Development Plan

business leadership development plan

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2. Sample Business Leadership Development Plan

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3. Business Integrate Leadership Development Plan

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4. Business School Leadership Development Plan

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What Is a Business Leadership Development Plan?

A business leadership development plan is a plan that is dedicated to assisting employees and potential leaders gain and develop the skills that they need to develop their own leadership competencies to prepare them for the larger management and leadership roles within your company. A leadership development plan outlines the different steps that you need to take to become a better leader. It  should include a comprehensive list of skills that  you need to improve, the responsibilities that you have to take, and the tasks that you need to complete. Most leadership plans work as agreements  between the employer and the employee. For business leadership  development plans, the benefits extend beyond a single person, to the confines of the business itself.

When leadership development is  aligned with the overall strategy of the business, your company will be able to link their investments in supporting potential  leaders for training programs or  reimbursements in tuition to expand your  own goals and strategic plans. These efforts can lead to the larger likelihood that your management and other stakeholders in your organization will approve the further development of your leadership plan.

Leadership development plans are critical for businesses who wish to continue operating  even in times of crises and even when working  with competitive markets. A well drafted leadership  plan has a lot of potential in trying to keep the valuable individuals in your business to continue working with you and to discourage them from seeking other opportunities in other competing companies and industries. The better your leaders  and managers are, the greater the potential of your business to make  a name for itself and to  remain relevant in a very competitive industry.

Elements of a Business Leadership Development Plan

Once you have  thought about your long term leadership goals and the qualities of a leader that you are looking for, you should now be able to write  a leadership development plan of your own. When  writing a development plan, you have to remember that the components within may  vary from one organization to another. Some writing processes may even be different, like how  other companies may use a spreadsheet while others may prefer charts. Regardless of how the  document is formatted, there  are  still a couple elements that your document has to have in order for it to be effective. These element  will be  listed and discussed in more detail down below.

1. Core skills to master

Leaders may  have different responsibilities when it comes to the specific role that was given to them. It can include running meetings, providing feedback, sharing and providing information in front of an  audience and decision making. The very first thing that you need to do when writing a leadership development plan is to identify the skills that are aligned with the task  that was assigned to you. If by  any chance you  know  someone the the workplace who possess those skills, then you can try asking them if you can practice with them in the meantime. If not, them you can looks for other resources to help you build these skills.

2. Experience gaps to close

In addition to technical and practical skills,  there might also be strategic responsibilities that a leader  might  face when  given the opportunity. Like, but not limited to starting a new project, working on a project that is not going well, managing other ventures, and operating a business in times of crisis.

3. New relationships to build

As a leader, you need to be able to know how to interact with other different entities on a regular basis. You can already experience this with individuals within your organization like department heads, front-line employees, as well as managers with varying degrees of skill. While there are also others that are from outside  of  your  organization ranging from clients to suppliers and even board members from other businesses. When trying  to develop a leadership development plan, you have to be able to identify these people and their statuses, and try to gauge which of them would you like to establish a business relationship with.

4. Delegation of tasks

Effective leaders should know how to balance their time between day-to-day tasks and long-term commitments.  They  should be able to know when and where to focus on things that are mostly aligned  with their own  expertise. As well as delegate tasks that they may think to be more efficient when worked n other members of the group.

5. Key action items that need to be completed

The specifics of a leadership development plan should also include the strengths and the areas that need to be improved. For each component that  you want to improve, try to include an action item, the timeframe in which you want the task to be complete and he costs of the resources that you expect to be consumed. Action items can range from meetings with your mentors or managers, reading external resources on leadership, completing a leadership assessment,  and identifying training and  educational  opportunities.

6. Critical indicators of  success

Most of the time, leaders are  not evaluated by their own success alone, but also the success of their team. Your leadership development plan should be able to list the  indicators for  the success of your business, for the leader and for the team. Your indicators of success can include  the following;

  • Improving the  quality of work
  • Improving teamwork and morale
  • Increasing delegation of responsibility
  • Strategic planning and preparation
  • Continuous learning  for you  and your team
  • Recognizing the contributions of the team

FAQs

What are the five components of a leadership development plan?

  • Coaching
  • Accountability
  • Change Management
  • Influence and Negotiation
  • Communication

What are the 7 leadership skills?

  • Willingness to listen
  • Perseverance
  • Honesty
  • Selflessness
  • Decisiveness
  • Trust
  • Integrity

What are the five SMART objectives?

  • Specific
  • Measurable
  • Achievable
  • Realistic
  • Timed

A leadership development plan works best when operated as a live document. It should  be something that you update and visit on a regular basis to make sure that you are working on the  different areas of improvement that you have highlighted.

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