Title: Four Steps to Developing Your Future Leaders | Bridgespan
Headings: Four Steps to Developing Your Future Leaders
Four Steps to Developing Your Future Leaders
Summary
Step 1: Cultivate Talent Champions
Step 2: Identify Organizational Needs and Craft Development Opportunities
Step 3: Co-create Individualized Development Plans
Step 4: Follow Through on Development Plans

Content: The key is to identify activities that your organization already performs. The day-to-day work of your organization offers ample opportunity to put your rising stars in leadership situations, at little cost and with minimal disruption to your operations. You could assign a leadership candidate to make a presentation to your board or to important stakeholders, for example, or place several candidates on a cross-functional task force. Whatever the assignment, the Corporate Leadership Council recommends that, for maximum effectiveness, the opportunities involve four elements: Discomfort – Assignments should take candidates out of their comfort zones and call on skills other than those they have already mastered. Accountability – Candidates must take ownership of their assignments and be held responsible for the results of their work. Clarity – The lesson the assignment is intended to teach should be clear to the candidate. Relevance – Each assignment should teach a skill or competency that a leadership candidate needs in his or her current role, as well as in roles s/he may play in the future. Step 3: Co-create Individualized Development Plans
When senior leadership has assessed the organization's talent and identified the activities where future leaders can build their competencies, it's time for line managers to sit down with staff members and collaborate on plans to build the competencies they need to develop.