According to Chief Learning Officer magazine, a leading voice in the workforce learning and development industry, there are 6 best practices that are common to all highly successful leadership development efforts.

After two years of research, the best practices identified by CLO are:

• Strong executive engagement
• Tailored leadership competencies
• Alignment with business strategy
• Target all levels of leadership
• Apply a comprehensive and ongoing approach
• Integrate with talent management

1. Strong executive engagement

   The top leaders and managers need to be highly committed to the employee leadership development program for it to be taken seriously across the board and implemented successfully.

2. Tailored leadership competencies

   Effective leadership development programs are based on specific leadership competencies. The foundation for leadership development depends on successful identification of the leadership competencies that are vital for your business. The critical leadership competencies can be identified and tailored by utilizing cutting edge tools like employee assessments.

3. Alignment with business strategy

   Leaders are more than just managers. So the leadership development programs need to be heavily focused on the company-specific business strategies.

4. Target all levels of leadership

   Research shows that any effective leadership development program starts from the frontline. A program that is effected all across the organization has the greatest impact overall.

5. Apply a comprehensive and ongoing approach

   The finest leadership programs are heavily focused on experiential learning and are not just trainer-led education events. Successful programs provide a comprehensive experience that readies a leader for a variety of possibilities.

6. Integrate with talent management

   This involves building continuity in the leadership development process. Thus, the process must become a part of the corporate culture so that there are always effective leaders in the pipeline.

As exceptional talent grows scarce in the competitive marketplace of today, organizations that focus on comprehensive leadership development initiatives will be the most successful in the long run.

Organizations the world over are recognizing the benefits of offering career development and coaching to their employees.

It’s a smart move–such organizations measure the results in terms of  (1) better employee retention (2) enhanced talent management (3) and higher visibility as “an employer of choice“.

Online self-assessment tools are easy-to-use and offer employees a better understanding of their strengths and weaknesses–opening them up to opportunities they might have otherwise overlooked with their current employer–which benefits both the employee and the employer.

Here are 3 essential online developmental career development and coaching tools that can help you identify strengths your employees are underutilizing–which could impact their career path based on their interests, values, skills, personality, and work styles.

3 Indispensable Career Development and Coaching Tools

1. MBTI (Myers-Briggs Type Indicator)

The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) assessment is a questionnaire designed to measure psychological preferences in how people perceive the world and make decisions, and was designed to help people identify the jobs where they are the most comfortable and effective.  The MBTI helps individuals learn more about themselves and make more effective career choices.

2. Work Style Assessment Inventory

Most companies are good at screening for technical skills; the biggest area of improvement is in developing people with the right personality characteristics and behaviors (“Work Styles”).  A Work Style Assessment is an evaluation of a person’s behavior at work – how they interact with others, how they solve problems, how they get things done, and other personality characteristics. The idea here is to help you align an employee’s work style strengths with the requirements of their job. The greater the match between a person’s work style strengths and their job–the more likely they’ll make successful career choices.

3. MAPP Assessment (Motivational Appraisal of Personal Potential Assessment)

The MAPP Assessment is a personal assessment that provides individuals with valuable information about the type of work they enjoy most –helping them identify their true motivations toward work, and providing guidelines to match themselves to job categories where they best fit. 

Using these career development and coaching tools, you’ll get a better understanding of your employees’ strengths and weaknesses–and will be able to offer insights and recommendations for specific actions that will help them become better at what they do, and match them with other opportunities you might have available, (or you might want to create, at your company).

The key to creating an effective workforce is to develop the top talent in your organization.

‘Employee development’ initiatives help employees work better and smarter, create greater employee loyalty, and boost your bottom-line.

To develop the key talent in our organization, follow these six steps.

6 Steps to Developing Key Talent in Your Organization:

1. Determine the required outcomes – What are you trying to accomplish? Write down your key requirements so you can focus on the critical issues. Determine how your people can help you achieve your goals. Help your key employees get on the same page so that they can work towards a clear and common vision.

2. Identify the gaps in performance expectations – You need to find the gap between desired performance and actual outcomes. What aren’t employees doing what they are suppose to be doing? Do they not understand what they should be doing? Do they not have the necessary skills to do their jobs? Are they not motivated to meet the performance standards that must be met to stay competitive? Has the communication of these standards not been clearly spelled out? It is very important to identify the gaps and work towards solving these issues. A chain is only as strong as the weakest link, so this step is critical to identify and understand why certain individuals are no measuring up to the organization’s performance expectations.

3. Simplify organizational processes – Often, individual performance is hamstrung by unnecessary organizational processes. Find out how the processes can be simplified to make it easier for employees to deliver optimal performance. Make sure that all employees have the resources to do their jobs to the best of their abilities. Remove any obstacles and roadblocks that are slowing your employees down and hindering their performance.

4. Ensure the right job match – Your key talents can only shine if they are properly matched to their jobs. When an employee’s work style is not aligned with the requirements of his or her job then problems will eventually arise. Use employee assessments to assess employee’s key skills, interests, attitudes, work ethics, values, and work styles so that you can determine the best fit for every individual. This will result in a streamlined organization that can meet even the most difficult of challenges and still be successful.

5. Enhance individual performance – Organizational productivity is a sum of individual productivity. So focus on each individual’s development so that your organization grows as a whole. Key employee development contributes to individual effectiveness by providing each person with a comprehensive assessment of their strengths and weaknesses. Assessments can provide focus on employee developmental issues by building specific plans of action, creating a coaching relationship with a mentor, and providing an opportunity for follow-up evaluations of an individual’s progress in terms of continually improving performance levels.

6. Quantify the results – Measurement is a must. Unless you can measure your benefits, you cannot determine how much you’ve achieved or how much still needs to be done. It also shows what is working and what is not.

How you develop your human capital is the single greatest predictor of your organizational performance. The quality of employee talent directly contributes your organization’s ability to gain and maintain a competitive advantage.

Focus on these 6 steps and you’ll be well on your way to developing the key talent in your organization, and towards creating a competitive advantage in your marketplace.