The Value of Leadership Development – Part 1 of 3

“Leadership and learning are indispensable to each other.” – John F. Kennedy

Developing and growing leaders has been, is and will be a priority for organizations. Without strong, competent and agile leaders, the success and preservation of a company’s market share can be negatively impacted. Some companies “wing it” and hope future leaders will step up to the bench and throw their hat in for consideration. Other companies take deliberate steps to seek out high potential talent and invest in them. These companies spend valuable time and resources training, developing and motivating these high potential employees with the hopes they will be the future senior leaders of the organization. These leadership development opportunities are evidence of a company that values their talent and wants to retain for future greatness.

In November 2013, I was honored by being selected by my employer for our Leadership Development program. Less than 5% of our leaders were chosen – what an exciting development opportunity! I will be working on a fundraising project for future growth and expansion of the hospital system until May 2014. There is a lot of potential to grow the existing fundraising programs which will provide capital for system-wide growth. We meet weekly (at least) and are putting together plans for a sustainable program. Needless to say, I have busy over the last 2 months.

The Leadership Development program is highly structured with detailed milestones and benchmarks. Each member of the program (almost 50 leaders in total) is working on one of the 8 selected projects – all of which have deep and expansive impact on our hospital system. And each team has a project champion, project sponsor and in-house Organizational Development Consultant to keep us on track. There are formal, full day meetings monthly with each team reporting out and presenting the project progress to date. Some of the benchmarks so far have included project overview, customer identification and SIPOC and CTQ Trees creation. Now we are working on data collection methods.

I have learned a lot from my team mates who include professions like telemedicine, nursing, research, IT, security, philanthropy and a DMAIC expert who is also a Six Sigma Black Belt. This opportunity has afforded me incredible professional and personal development. There is much more to come.

Have you been a member of or work for a company that has a Leadership Development program? I would like to hear about your experiences.

Don’t forget to CELEBRATE!