Ten Ingredients of a Successful Customized
Leadership Program
Patricia Hughes
A regional airline was having trouble filling
supervisory positions, and the supervi-
sors who did accept promotions were frus-
trated. As supervisors, they were expected
to learn the new skills and tasks on the fly,
supervise people who just yesterday were
peers and friends, and put in longer hours,
all with little instruction or support. The
solution: a leadership program that provided
incentives for taking leadership roles, men-
tors for all new supervisors, and a skills-
based training program based on classroom,
online, and on-the-job instruction.
The managers at a city utility felt discour-
aged. “The word leader here is a four-letter
word,” one said. “It feels like we have a tar-
get on our backs all the time.” Willing to lead
but unwilling to endure the complaints and
attacks that had become commonplace,
these managers needed an overhaul of
the leadership culture. The solution: a seven-
year leadership-development effort that
trained leaders at all levels in key competen-
cies and shifted the leadership culture to one
that was more proactive and positive.
The staff at a human-service agency felt
disconnected and burned out. They felt
isolated within the eight programs they
delivered, didn’t know many staff at the six
geographic locations, and were stressed from
the ongoing pressure of smaller budgets and
greater poverty. They needed to reignite their
passion. The solution: a three-year initiative
© 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Published online in Wiley Online Library (wileyonlinelibrary.com). DOI 10.1002/ert.21398
to connect, communicate, and celebrate with
fellow employees, which featured a strong
connection to values, site visits, and a Fun
Committee who organized surprises between
departments (think desk massages and cup-
cake parties) that left everyone smiling in
anticipation and gratitude.
Each of these organizations and their
people benefitted from a leadership program
that was customized for their specific needs.
There are many reasons a company decides
to offer a leadership-development program,
among them: deepening the leadership
bench, enhancing skill sets, team building,
improving employee engagement, cultivating
high-potential talent, increasing competitive
advantage, clarifying mission and vision, and
supporting organizational change.
BENEFITS OF A CUSTOMIZED APPROACH
The primary benefit of a customized lead-
ership program is that it’s tailored to the
specific issues that affect an organization’s
growth and success. The format of the initia-
tive, as well as the specific concepts, tech-
niques, and tools, are chosen based
on the organization’s unique culture, objec-
tives, pace, and issues. Some other benefits
include:
❏ Large Payoff. According to the HR
research, the availability of ongoing
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Employment Relations Today
development is one of the top five factors
employees want to experience at work.1
The right development program provides
big payoffs in increased employee produc-
tivity, knowledge, loyalty, and contribution.
❏ Complementary to Other Programs.
Customized programs can complement
and heighten other core organizational
practices, such as performance appraisal,
customer service, mentoring, recognition,
and strategic planning. As you design your
leadership program, consider how it can
leverage organizational priorities. By tak-
ing an integrated approach early on, you’ll
be more likely to realize broader benefits
down the road.
❏ Shared Learning Experience. A large-
scale, custom-designed program can
Without the financial investment and visible par-
ticipation of executive leadership, programs fail
to gain traction, affect the culture in a meaning-
ful way, or compete for adequate funding.
accelerate change by leveraging a shared
experience among employees. A common
leadership framework and language help
to improve communication across depart-
ments or sites, create connections to the
whole, and implement change.
❏ High Degree of Flexibility. Custom pro-
grams enable organizations to adjust based
on results, needs, and stakeholder input.
As employees are ready for deeper learn-
ing, a custom program can match their
developing maturity.
TEN INGREDIENTS FOR SUCCESS
Once you’ve determined that a custom-
designed approach is right for your
44
organization, you need to design it. Let’s take
a look at ten ingredients that shape a success-
ful, fluid, and tailored approach that aligns
with your organization’s culture and goals.
1. Investment and Engagement by Senior
Leadership
This is absolutely critical to the success of
a program. Countless good programs wither
and die due to the lack of executive support.
Without the financial investment and visible
participation of executive leadership, pro-
grams fail to gain traction, affect the culture
in a meaningful way, or compete for adequate
funding. Top management must be engaged
before, during, and after the program’s dura-
tion to have any real chance at success.
The city utility program cited earlier had
such clear-cut investment by top leaders that
it was supported through three mayors, two
directors, two executive sponsors, and seven
budget cycles. A program at an assisted-living
community (Horizon House) partially owes
its success to the consistent cheerleading by
CEO Bob Anderson. While industry peers cut
or abstained from leadership programs due to
financial constraints over the past six years,
Bob provided funding, his personal atten-
dance, presentations at conferences, and vis-
ible embodiment of the core concepts of the
program, including Gracious Space (featured
in Employment Relations Today, Winter 2012).
The program recently won a state award for
excellence.
2. Engage Different Levels of Leader
Some organizations identify high-potential
leaders and invest in that group. Others
spread the leadership training across the
spectrum, believing a broad net will yield
Patricia Hughes
Employment Relations Today DOI 10.1002/ert

unsung heroes and “small l” leaders who oth-
erwise would go undeveloped. This second
approach is especially useful if you are trying
to spread culture change. The work has to
start from the top, but it also has to engage
the breadth and depth of an organization to
stick. A frequent complaint about leadership
programs is that they cater to the chosen few.
If your organization wants organizationwide
change and operates 24/7, with weekend or
night staff, employs English-language learn-
ers, or has secondary facilities that are seen
as the “other,” make real and equal efforts to
engage these people.
For example, the utility program ran three
concurrent tracks over six months: one for
directors, one for supervisors and manag-
ers, and one for emerging leaders. This
last group included shift leaders and crew
chiefs who exhibited the drive and capac-
ity for leadership. The tracks covered the
same content but in different formats: direc-
tors had facilitated dialogues to aim core
concepts toward strategic decision making;
managers and supervisors used the class-
room training for simulations and case stud-
ies to apply their learning; and the emerging
leaders got into small groups to hash out
how leadership translated into practical
terms for pipe fitters and truck drivers
working in the field.
Likewise, the assisted-living facility
required all staff with supervisory respon-
sibility or ownership of a function—from
the CEO to the greenest supervisor—to par-
ticipate in the monthly leadership program.
Then they invited board members to share
their perspectives, reached out to residents
who were former professors and experts on
leadership to serve as guest speakers, and
matched program participants with junior
staff members who were seeking mentorship.
Ten Ingredients of a Successful Customized Leadership Program
Employment Relations Today DOI 10.1002/ert
Spring 2013
3. Assess Leadership Type
At the beginning of a program, use an assess-
ment tool to identify each person’s leader-
ship and/or personality type. Some respected
assessments include the Myers-Briggs Type
Indicator, Emotional Intelligence (EQi),
Dependable Strengths, and the Conflict
Dynamics Profile. These assessments rep-
resent common ways that specific strengths
cluster and combine in individuals and can
be used to highlight an individual’s unique
leadership strengths and learning edges.
Several include a personal improvement plan
that can shape a growth agenda and be dis-
cussed with supervisors or mentors to com-
plement the leadership curriculum.
4. Identify Core Leadership Themes
The curriculum is the heart of the opera-
tion. Here you must commit to preparing
and developing a customized curriculum
that meets the needs of the organization and
doesn’t just copy the latest topics in busi-
ness magazines. Assess your culture and
training needs, and identify the specific
leadership competencies important to your
organization.
The real magic happens when program
participants start interacting with the cur-
riculum and design. The more real the con-
tent and approaches are, the more profound
and lasting the experience can be. Engaging
in self-awareness, honest communication,
crossing boundaries, courageous collabora-
tion, reflection-in-action, giving and receiving
feedback, adaptive leadership, and conflict
competence are all curricular doors that have
“broken open” the hearts and minds of some
recent leadership program participants. Iden-
tifying the curriculum that is right and true
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Employment Relations Today
can elevate the program from a routine train-
ing to a transformational experience.
Symbols or mascots can underscore the
core concepts, behaviors, and attitudes you
want employees to rally around. The Horizon
House program gave soft bowling pins (hand-
sewn by the HR director) to each participant
to encourage them to gently have difficult
conversations that might “bowl someone
over.” Later the group replaced the bowling
pins with small stuffed lions, which were
bestowed on a rotating basis to select mem-
bers who had demonstrated the capacity
to “run toward the roar,” and actually have
those difficult conversations. Another organi-
zation tossed out rubber cushy balls during
The real magic happens when program partici-
pants start interacting with the curriculum and
design. The more real the content and
approaches are, the more profound and lasting
the experience can be.
meetings to encourage innovation; another
gave out kudo cards to “catch people” doing
something right.
5. Enable Authentic Curricula
The authenticity of curricula means that the
content is relevant to participants where they
are. The key here is to scale concepts, not
techniques. Once you’ve determined the core
leadership themes, design ways for lead-
ers with different levels of experience and
diverse ways of learning and leading to make
these themes real in their worlds. First Break
All the Rules author Marcus Buckingham
calls this personalization of content delivery.
“Leadership concepts are scalable, because
concepts are easily transferable from person
46
to person. But in the hands of individual
leaders, concepts turn into a practice, a
sequence of behaviors, or a set of techniques.
A technique that’s perfectly natural when
used by one leader may look forced, fake and
foolish when used by another,” he writes.2
This means that “best practices” of executives
should not be expected to translate to front-
line staff.
For example, Joe, a manager at a large
children’s hospital, attended a mandatory
workshop on providing top service in difficult
situations. The facilitator was reviewing pos-
sible ways to start a difficult but necessary
conversation with peers or direct reports.
Sample language included “I’ve noticed. . .”
or “I’ve been wondering. . . .” Joe started to
laugh. “This may work for some of you,” he
said, “but I’m from Jersey. If I talk like this,
people will laugh in my face. I’m just going
to say, ‘Hey Jim, you’ve been late three times
this week, what’s up with that?’” The scalable
leadership concept here was being effective at
starting difficult conversations. The examples
given were techniques. Joe’s solution makes it
a perfect leadership tool—for him.
6. Blended Learning
Typical programs are heavy on classroom
learning, yet instructional design experts
at the Center for Creative Leadership advo-
cate the 70-20-10 Model.3 This model recog-
nizes the following:
❏ About 70 percent of learning is gained
through challenging assignments and on-
the-job experiences. These can include
new initiatives, feedback from superiors,
additional job responsibilities, and real-
time management application in existing
positions.
Patricia Hughes
Employment Relations Today DOI 10.1002/ert

❏ About 20 percent of learning is developed
through relationships. This includes coach-
ing, mentoring, shadowing, networking,
social media, and seeking feedback and
advice.
❏ About 10 percent of the learning is gained
through formal training processes, such as
reading and classroom learning.
These percentages are rough guidelines
and should be tempered with what you know
about how your people learn. Blended learn-
ing integrates classroom experiences with
e-learning, books, articles, videos, interac-
tive group exercises, case studies, webinars,
subject-matter experts, and feedback and
experiential learning to explore, develop, and
practice new skills. Classroom learning can
provide a foundation for the whole program
but is insufficient on its own to deliver per-
sonal growth and organizational change.
A synergistic cycle between formal and infor-
mal learning will generate more learning as
new concepts are tested in real situations.
The regional airline mentioned earlier knew
that supervisors would get restless sitting in a
classroom for too long. They designed a two-
day Supervisor Boot Camp, which focused on
universal supervisory-skills training (i.e., the
key tasks and responsibilities, how to triage
priorities, and on-site application). This was
complemented by a half-day shadowing their
managers for on-site, station-specific train-
ing. Participants also received a manual that
covered procedures and protocol, which they
discussed with their manager-mentors over the
next several months as thorny situations arose.
7. One-on-One Coaching or Mentoring
A regular means of feedback enables program
participants to identify strengths and areas
Ten Ingredients of a Successful Customized Leadership Program
Employment Relations Today DOI 10.1002/ert
Spring 2013
for development and, ideally, will be tied to
performance appraisal. Feedback can come
from a coach, internal mentor, peer mentor-
ing group, supervisor, a savvy friend, or any
combination of these.
Tony, the head of a small IT department,
reluctantly participated in a leadership-
development program for a year. Attendance
was mandatory, and his behavior conveyed
his desire to be anywhere else: he slouched,
he didn’t volunteer, and he spoke negatively
about his peers and the organization’s cul-
ture. After a year, participants were invited
to work with an external coach, and Tony
agreed. A few months later, there was a
A synergistic cycle between formal and informal
learning will generate more learning as new
concepts are tested in real situations.
marked difference in Tony’s presence. He sat
straighter, spoke up frequently in class, and
was constructive and optimistic about the
organization’s future. What happened?
Tony said the time he spent with a coach
was life-changing. The coach noticed his per-
sistent negativity and mirrored it back to him.
She suggested that he end his day with a list
of things he was grateful for. As he attempted
this, he, too, noticed the negativity of his
mind-talk and how it affected his attitude
and others he worked with. He started to
notice instead what was going well and spoke
up about that. He shared this story with the
leadership cohort and choked up as he told
people how profoundly he had changed. The
cost? Three hours and three hundred dollars.
The impact on Tony and the team? Priceless.
Tony’s experience was intense but not
completely unusual. According to Manches-
ter, Inc.,4 training alone can generate about a
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Employment Relations Today
22-percent improvement in performance, but
training plus coaching can yield as much as
an 88-percent improvement in performance.
And, with application over time and owner-
ship by the participant, return on investment
has been measured at up to 570 percent.
8. Give It Time
Make a significant, visible, and sustained
commitment. A program shorter than one
year will probably lack the depth to make
lasting change. A commitment of at least
two years demonstrates the importance of
the leadership-development effort, and many
organizations find that harvesting sustained
results takes upward of five or more years.
At the city utility, the initial program
engaged more than 250 employees over five
years and met its goal of increasing leader-
ship capacity within the utility. Rather than
stop, program sponsors decided to evolve the
program into a succession-planning effort.
Measurement allows the organization to track
changes, make adjustments to future programs,
and demonstrate the impact of the program.
This “second-generation” program built on the
leadership capacity of employees by providing
them strategies and opportunities to declare
their growth and career intentions to hiring
managers and senior decision makers. The
program also helped the utility plan for antic-
ipated skill and institutional memory loss due
to the aging workforce.
9. Track Outcomes and Measure ROI
The “soft skills” of leadership can be difficult
to measure, but progress must be evaluated
48
every meeting, every year. Measurement
allows the organization to track changes, make
adjustments to future programs, and demon-
strate the impact of the program. Program
impact can be measured by the following:
❏ Reaction. How do participants feel about
the program? What’s the buzz? If they
don’t like the program, chances are partic-
ipants won’t act on the concepts or skills.
If they do, stories will emerge from the
grapevine of how people tried this or that
technique and what happened as a result.
❏ Learning. What did participants learn?
Have they improved on the desired skills
and goals? You can best measure this
through pre- and post-assessments, as
well as by getting feedback from manag-
ers, coaches, customers, and other
stakeholders.
❏ Individual Performance. Is there a notice-
able difference in how the person is
behaving? Is the new behavior consistent
with the performance goals? Surveys or
360-degree assessments can be used to
measure key behaviors. After the training,
a second assessment should be adminis-
tered to see how behaviors and percep-
tions have changed.
Additional sources of measurement are
employee engagement scores, performance
appraisals, and retention and promotion data.
But what about ROI—the financial return
on investment? In the case of leadership
development, this is difficult if not impos-
sible to prove. Organizations need to consider
the cost of the training, the cost of salaries of
people attending the training, and the amount
of lost production during training. Then
you’ll need to weigh these against factors
such as employee turnover, lost revenue from
Patricia Hughes
Employment Relations Today DOI 10.1002/ert

dissatisfied customers, employee and cus-
tomer legal action, absenteeism, and substan-
dard work (compared with what would be
happening if everyone were proficient, com-
mitted, and proactive). And finally, you need
to place a financial value on better commu-
nication, fewer conflicts due to better skills,
commitment to professional standards, and
an overall more mature, happy, committed,
and skillful group of employees. Not such an
easy task, but if you set goals for learning,
establish a baseline to measure against,
and see positive results from the post-
assessments, you can make reasonable cor-
relations that the program is yielding positive
financial results to the company.
10. Get the Right Consultant and
Design Team
Secure an effective consultant with the exper-
tise to support and guide—someone who has
design experience and can be the architect of
the overall program. The consultant does not
need to be expert in every skill you want to
train but should have access to finding outside
speakers and aids to enhance the program.
Utilize an in-house design team of highly
invested members to guide the program. This
can be a small group of people who repre-
sent the diversity of the organization, have
decision-making and budget authority, and
are excited about leadership. Members of
the team should be excellent listeners, good
inquirers, and quick synthesizers, with an
interest in instructional design and large-scale
change in human systems. A sense of humor
helps, too! The design team always learns
more than the average participant because of
the time they spend on the balcony as plan-
ners, in addition to being on the dance floor
as program participants.
Ten Ingredients of a Successful Customized Leadership Program
Employment Relations Today DOI 10.1002/ert
Spring 2013
WHAT IS THIS CUSTOMIZED EFFORT GOING
TO COST?
Customized doesn’t necessarily mean more
expensive. A study5 by the American Society
for Training and Development (ASTD) found
that the average annual learning expenditure
per employee for all companies surveyed was
$1,081 in 2009. The ASTD recommends a
minimum of 40 hours of training a year for
every employee. The programs I’ve facilitated
cost from $500 to $1,600 per person.
Secure an effective consultant with the expertise
to support and guide—someone who has design
experience and can be the architect of the over-
all program.
And remember, a financial benefit of
longer-term programs is maximizing returns:
as the capacity of participants grows, they can
take more ownership over their own learn-
ing, becoming mentors, coaches, and doing
most of their learning on the job. Their active
involvement decreases the need for external
“experts” and resources. For example, the util-
ity program initially cost $56,000 for 35 partic-
ipants, equating to $1,600 per person. In the
second year, directors and managers served
as mentors to new participants. With other
design efficiencies, the overall cost dropped
to $50,000, at $1,400 per person, and dropped
again to $1,000 per participant the third year.
A customized leadership program is often
the most cost-effective way to meet your
organization’s unique growth needs. By fol-
lowing these ten ingredients for a successful
program, the adventure of leadership devel-
opment should be more manageable, benefi-
cial, and filled with unexpected learning—for
everyone!
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NOTES 3. The Center for Creative Leadership, 2011.

1. Heathfield, S. M. (n.d.). Five factors every employee wants
from work. Business management success tips. About.com
HR guide. Retrieved from http://humanresources.about
.com/od/managementtips/qt/four_factors_b4.htm (the other
four factors are respect, access to information, influence
on decisions, and trustworthy leadership).
2. Buckingham, M. (2012, June). Leadership development
in the age of the algorithm. Harvard Business Review,
pp. 86–94.
4. McGovern, J., Lindemann, M., Vergara, M., Murphy, S.,
Barker, L., & Warrenfeltz, R. (2001). Maximizing the
impact of executive coaching: Behavioral change, organiza-
tional outcomes and return on investment. The Manches-
ter Review, 6(1), 1–9.
5. ASTD study quoted by Heathfield, S. M. (n.d.). Training:
Your investment in people development and retention.
About.com HR guide. Retrieved from http://human
resources.about.com/od/educationgeneral/a/training
_invest.htm.

Patricia Hughes has designed many customized leadership programs ranging from
two to seven years for profit, nonprofit, and government agencies. All were low-budget
and sustained for maximum behavioral and cultural impact, and several won recogni-
tion in their industries. She owns Trillium Leadership Consulting in Seattle, Washington.
She can be reached at www.trilliumleadership.com or pathughes@trillium
leadership.com.

50 Patricia Hughes
Employment Relations Today DOI 10.1002/ert
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