Shadow a Leader – An Innovative Capstone Approach for your HIPO Leadership Development Program

Description

Challenge: Previously, at the conclusion of our leadership development program, participants were assigned to a group “capstone project.” After several cohorts of project work, we reassessed the pros and cons of the capstone approach and developed a brand-new approach titled “Shadow a Leader.”

Shadow a Leader: In addition to the employee coach each participant worked with throughout the 12-month program, each participant was assigned to a current leader who they “shadowed” for 3 months. The positive results were multifaceted for the participants, the coaches and the “shadowed” leaders:

• Participants were able to immediately apply the learnings from the program in “real world” company dynamics.
• Participants who then became managers reported that they got up to speed much more quickly than those who had not gone through the program.
• The coaches reported that they learned just as much as the participants and both coaches and “shadowed” leaders felt reinvigorated as leaders. The program increased their own engagement with our organization.
• Finally, as each new cohort progresses through the program, there are many more executives sharing “ownership” in the program.

In this session, attendees will discover:

• A simple road map to incorporate the “Shadow a Leader” into their own Leadership Development Program.
• A list of questions that participants had to answer during their “Shadow a Leader” experience.
• A template for the final presentation on the experience the cohort delivered to the senior leadership team.
• Capstone ideas from other participants on the webinar.