Leaders are created not born. Therefore, it is in your best interest to develop new leaders who will have a positive influence on your employees. When doing this, it is important to have benchmarks and standards for performance to serve as a useful guide in determining if employees are improving and acquiring new skills.

How do you do this? Here are four imperatives for an effective leadership strategy.

Have a blended delivery approach. One size does not fit all. Include blending modalities – like having both online and face-to-face leadership trainings – and/or having both formal and informal programs including workshops, webinars, and other initiatives.

Focus on workplace realities. Make sure that the trainings being offered replicate on-the-job challenges that your leaders are likely to face. The most successful leadership development initiatives connect the trainings to real on-the-job possibilities. This results in these trainings having a meaningful long-lasting effect on employees.

Interact and engage with employees. Make your trainings more exciting by making them interactive and engaging. This can be done by including interactive questions, games, videos, and other techniques to keep your employees interested. Interactive activities are more likely to be remembered and utilized. Use tools and assessments. Use leadership assessments, like the DISC and other tools, to provide each employee with context about their particular leadership style. People love to learn about themselves! This also provides future leaders with a better understanding of their organization’s needs while comparing their approaches to those of their peers and direct reports.

Investing in an effective leadership development program will drastically improve your organization’s culture, reduce resignations, and benefit employees greatly.

If you can’t implement it yourself, consider hiring an outside consultant, like Dr. Mimi Hull!!