What a leadership development enablement strategy looks like in action

I’m excited to kick off another six-month leadership program with our third cohort of Team Leaders. The privilege of evolving this program over several years has allowed us to zero in on an enablement strategy to close the knowing-doing gap and create behaviour change.

When identifying enablers (things that make behaviour change possible), I focus on leadership being about relationships to and with other people. The relationships and enablement strategies I find to be most pivotal are:  

• Leaders and their teams (on-the-job accountability and support)

  Leaders and their peers (peer coaching)

• Leaders and their leaders (sponsorship).

To enable behaviour change within the context of this program, we have included the following:  

LEADERSHIP ASSIGNMENTS

These targeted application activities provide structure, support, and accountability for behaviour change. They are primarily conversation-based, with a specific focus and intent for each module. They aim to generate positive ripples throughout the organisation from conversations that might not have occurred otherwise. While these are an additional ‘ask’ of Team Leaders, they are designed to help them spot opportunities to use new skills in the flow of work and not to be time-consuming or onerous.

PEER GROUP COACHING SESSIONS

Peer coaching sessions occur between workshops, allowing smaller groups of Team Leaders to come together and share how they tackle their Leadership Assignments and the new leadership behaviours they’re experimenting with. These groups remain the same throughout the program so that Team Leaders can get comfortable sharing insights, feedback, advice, and strategies to help each other turn new knowledge into successful habits.

SPONSOR SESSIONS & MODULE MENTORS

We worked with the Divisional Managers who collectively lead the Team Leader population to evolve the program to the next level. Before kicking off the program, Divisional Managers participated in a Sponsor session to:

• Understand the vital role they play in bringing the program to life

• Reflect on and assess their ongoing role in growing other leaders

• Identify actions they can personally take to sponsor the development of Team Leaders within and outside the program.

A subset of Divisional Managers also put their hand up to become ‘Module Mentors,’ a role that includes:

• Workshop participation to establish context and relevance and to share their own stories and development journeys

• Following up after workshops to thank participants for the opportunity to join them, as well as to pass on their reflections and recommend further resources

• Dropping in on peer coaching sessions to continue sharing their experience and expertise and deepen cross-functional connections.

I’m keen to see how these changes enhance the development experience and outcomes, so stay tuned for progress updates!

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