How to Select Candidates for a Leadership Development Program

With roughly 17 million new businesses being created each year, according to Intuit, you’ll need to distinguish your organization from the pack. And that starts with good leadership. Good leaders can help shape the vision for your company while working with a greater sense of intensity.

But you need to invest in training to help your employees grow into better leaders. What should you look for when selecting candidates for a leadership development program at your organization? Read on to find out!

Consider Your Goals

The goals you articulate may be the best place to start when choosing candidates for a leadership program. What are you hoping to achieve with leadership training, and why? Consider priorities such as:

• Retaining top talent
• Promoting from within
• Enhancing quality of work
• Building better emotional intelligence
• Improving communication

Depending on your goals, you may want to reserve training opportunities for those individuals in managerial roles. An executive leadership program, for instance, could be the most appropriate way to hone skills for bigger roles.

And if you want to keep your best employees, including them in a leadership program signals your commitment — and the potential for a promotion. With nearly two-thirds of employees on the hunt for other jobs, you want to do everything you can to keep the best people at your organization.

On the other hand, a more selective experience might not be your goal. You can broaden the applicant pool by opening up the opportunity to everyone, regardless of their organizational rank. Everyone can benefit from learning skills that boost emotional intelligence and adaptability.

When setting goals for the program, communicate those goals to your applicants. They may be able to self-select and determine if the program is a good fit.

Determine Eligibility

When announcing your leadership development opportunity, establish eligibility criteria upfront. That way, you can limit applications and save time. In determining eligibility, you may want to consider criteria such as:

• Tenure at the organization
• Department or position
• Management responsibilities
• Availability

Maybe you only want individuals with at least two years of work experience at your organization. Employees with longer tenure may show a level of investment that is important.

On the other hand, newer employees may be hungry to prove themselves. Focusing on individuals with limited experience may help encourage professional development.

These newer employees may have better availability, too. They could have fewer recurring meeting commitments. Adding training to their weekly workload will improve time management, too.

Or maybe you want to limit the opportunity to front-line managers or individuals from a specific department, like marketing. Focusing on a certain group for applications can offer targeted support that may boost morale. Just be sure to clarify why you’re inviting applications from select individuals as opposed to all employees.

Identify Criteria for Strong Candidates

While all of your employees could benefit from training, not all of them may be ready – or you might prefer to work with a smaller group. Whatever the case may be, you’ll need to determine what makes an applicant to leadership training excellent versus average.

Write down your criteria. Then consider creating a rubric to score applications using established criteria. For instance, you may think a good candidate should:

• Demonstrate potential
• Show organization commitment
• Be easy to work with
• Show interest in advancement

Ultimately, you want a leadership training program to propel your strongest talent toward even bigger roles. That’s why it’s critical to identify the candidates who show the most potential. Such individuals ask good questions in meetings and earn the trust of customers and team members.

Strong candidates will show loyalty to the organization, too. Commitment can take the form of attending company functions outside of work hours. It can mean participating in additional teams or committees.

Commitment also can manifest itself in an applicant’s collegiality. You want team members with a reputation for being easy to work with at your leadership training. Avoid choosing individuals known to be standoffish or reclusive.

Individuals should indicate interest in wanting to move up in the organization, too. They may reveal this interest in their applications. But if they don’t, it’s worth asking their manager for input.

Conversations with managers can be a time when individuals engage in goal-setting. Ambitious workers stand to gain the most from leadership development practices. Make sure a manager can verify that an applicant has the drive to commit to the training and do well.

Map Out the Selection Process

How competitive or not competitive do you want the selection process to be for leadership training? Regardless of your answer, there’s one thing your process should definitely be: transparent. You want to provide clear instructions and update applicants as decisions are made. 

Make a list of steps involved. Set deadlines for submissions and create a timeline with dates for the entire process. For instance, you can:

• Ask applicants to submit an application
• Request nominations from managers
• Create a committee to review applications
• Conduct interviews

Applications should provide word counts for any short response questions. Questions should be clearly worded and succinct.

Be sure to have another upper-level employee read the application drafts. They can catch problems before disseminating the final version.

Applicants should be allowed to upload CVs or other documents to support their case. Managers who want to add written endorsements should be able to do so, as well.

Work with a committee of individuals as a selection committee. Having multiple people review applications creates a less biased process. It also allows for multiple perspectives that can weigh in on the final decisions.

You can do interviews much like you would a job interview. Have a predetermined list of questions that you ask every applicant. Doing this keeps the process fair for everyone and limits the potential for favoritism.

Consider Other Ways to Attract Candidates

Yes, candidates can submit applications for themselves as a form of self-advocacy. But that doesn’t have to be the only way of building a candidate pool. And in some cases, employees may feel reluctant to apply.

Some employees might think leadership training is above them, or even too time-consuming. You’ll need to find other ways to attract applicants. You can:

• Request nominations from managers
• Accept nominations from peers
• Require applications for individuals at certain experience levels

Consider reaching out directly to managers. Ask them which team members would benefit the most from harnessing stronger leadership skills. They should be able to offer a few names.

Send an email directly to these nominated individuals with an application attached. Knowing that a manager has voiced support can be enough of an impetus for an individual to apply. Have managers follow up with their team members to ensure that they have done so.

As another option, you can solicit nominations from peers. Employees engaged in regular cross-functional work may have strong opinions on which individuals step up and do strong work. Empower your employees to endorse their favorite team members for a leadership learning opportunity.

Do you have a talented senior-level employee with the capacity to be a manager? If the likely next promotion for an employee involves managerial work, require an application from them.

Yes, requiring an application can feel heavy-handed, but it also recognizes that not everyone is a born leader. Individuals with the potential to hold a management role should have some preliminary training to build leadership skills. 

Identify a Balanced Training Group

Remember that leadership training at your organization should be a group endeavor. Maximize the potential of this opportunity by being attentive to the types of individuals you choose. You’ll want to establish a positive group dynamic that makes the process more fruitful for everyone. 

As such, you’ll want a cross-section of individuals with talents that complement each other. Assemble a leadership training program that:

• Includes proven communicators
• Values diversity and inclusion
• Draws from different departments

Remember that a more diverse assortment of individuals can result in richer conversations. Draw from departments like sales and marketing, for instance. But also include individuals from your product teams or HR.

If you’re inviting a broad pool of applicants, choose individuals at different points in their careers. During breakout sessions, seasoned workers can be a source of wisdom. And younger participants will bring fresh ideas.

Avoid Common Mistakes

When pursuing a leadership development program, it’s easy to make common missteps. A few missteps won’t derail your program. However, several can leave a bad impression and might prevent future programs from happening.

If you know what pitfalls to sidestep, you’ll stay on the path toward a successful program and outcome. Avoid doing the following:

• Focusing on a narrow candidate pool
• Failing to consider diversity and inclusion
• Dwelling on a candidate’s mistakes
• Running a selection process that is not transparent
• Being too exclusive

Opening up the opportunity to your entire organization may be the best way to keep the applicant pool broad. Ask managers to nudge their best team members to apply, if needed. And aim to select a range of individuals from different backgrounds and teams.

If you have an otherwise great candidate with a few blemishes on their record, don’t dwell on the problems. A leadership training program might just help an employee who struggled with time management or missed the mark on a recent report.

Inevitably, you’ll have some candidates not selected to participate. Shape the selection process in such a way as to not make these candidates feel stressed and unmotivated as a result. Let them know that there will be future opportunities and that you value the effort they made.

Don’t forget about transparency in the process, either. Abide by all established dates on the application timeline. Although you don’t have to detail why an applicant was not selected, make yourself available to them if they have questions or concerns.

Those who complete the program should be able to offer feedback, too. Ideally, the program would have been an enriching experience. But if it fails to address certain topics thoroughly, for instance, you can make adjustments to its next iteration.

Build Momentum for Future Programs

If you haven’t hosted a leadership development program at your workplace before, the concept may be unfamiliar to team members. As such, they may not be as quick to apply. But once you’ve hosted a successful training, you can capitalize on that momentum to build interest for future programs by:

• Sharing the results with the entire organization
• Promoting the program through the company newsletter
• Holding informational sessions on programs
• Letting past participants share testimonials
• Using social media or internal messaging systems to spread the word

Talk about how training can be an excellent form of professional growth during team or company meetings. Share details of the methods, like role-playing, that helped create breakthrough moments. Frame leadership training as one component of a growth mindset that will help employees move up in their careers.

Use company newsletters as a platform to offer more specifics, too. Similarly, emails embedded with links to informational websites or handouts can be another effective way to reach prospective applicants.

Let past program participants have the floor at in-person or virtual meetings to share their experiences. Firsthand accounts of an experience often are the best way to entice others to give the experience a try. Holiday parties or other informal events can be a great place to do this kind of sharing, as well.

And, of course, don’t forget about social media. Posting about leadership training on sites like LinkedIn can help generate buzz. When industry colleagues chime in, any employee with whom you’re connected will see it — and they might just be more eager to apply next time.

Make Your Leadership Development Program a Success

A strong leadership development program will have a broad pool of applicants eager for development. Establish clear criteria for selecting participants, and create a transparent selection process. Avoid common pitfalls and use marketing techniques to build interest in future programs.

At Results Driven Leadership, we partner with organizations to support leadership development in team members. We use in-person and virtual learning programs to tackle everything from sales training to conflict navigation. Contact us today to learn more!