The top 3 ways to develop leadership training topics
There are many ways to develop a list of ideas for leadership training topics.
To simplify your job, I will show the 3 top ways to quickly generate a strong list of leadership development training topics.
Unfortunately, the most overlooked and neglected leadership training ideas are also the most important. That’s why, as a leadership training course creator, the number one training topic I recommend are leadership skills and soft skills.
Skills training topics should be high on your list, as they are the key building blocks of any leadership training program.
(Find out more about the 3 phases of leadership training and development here.)
Leadership development topics - a starter list
Here is an excellent starter list of leadership training topics for you to develop some ideas.
These are some of the leadership skills training topics that I feature in my training courses. They include:
- Taking charge
- Developing a leader’s presence and center of gravity
- Soft skills training
- Building emotional intelligence skills
- Leadership communication skills training
- Interpersonal skills
- Team leadership skills
- Influencing without formal authority
- Dependability
- Judgment
- Leadership goals
- Work ethic
Keep in mind, the list of leadership topics you should consider for training largely depends on who they are for.
Let’s look at the 3 step leadership development strategy to do this. But first a bit about my background and credentials.
About the Author and Course Creator
Larry LaFata is a talent development specialist and the founder of modernleadershipcenter.com and defineyourcareer.com.
He has a unique ability to synthesize research and innovation into organized, usable concepts. This provides clients with streamlined leadership skills training and employee development solutions they can implement quickly.
After 30 years experience working with Fortune 500 companies, Larry turned to his passion: leadership development and talent development. The core of his course creation approach is customized self-assessment and skills development templates. No psychometric tests or psychology assessments are ever used.
Larry has authored: Employee Development Plans, Employee Rewards Programs, Career Planning, and a new Leadership Development Program. All with the mission to better humanity through innovative talent development strategies. His continuing efforts in this field keeps him in the forefront of thought leadership in the industry.
Leadership training topics should follow this 3 step leadership development strategy
Since the topics you can cover are literally endless, it is best to take a step back, and determine your leadership development strategy. Then your leadership training will make more sense.
There are three top elements of your leadership strategy. These determine what leadership training topics you should develop.
These are the three top ways to generate leadership training topics:
- What role are we training?
- Who are their audiences?
- What leadership skills does the role need to effectively lead their audiences?
Leadership roles to develop training and development
Let’s look at the first way to develop leadership topics as part of your leadership strategy.
You’ll need to determine “What leadership role do we want training for?”
Start by narrowing down to any of these roles:
For example do you need:
• CEO training
• Executive leadership training
• Leadership training for managers
• Office manager training
• Leadership training for employees
• Team leadership development
• Operations leadership development
Look closely at how you currently structure your leadership roles to determine training topics.
The reason for this is your leadership role establishes your boundaries of action, how you fit into the leadership hierarchy and where you need to operate.
Once you have zeroed in on what role you are developing training for, next is analyzing who are the leaders relevant constituent audiences?
Because your audience is what determines your leadership approach.
The six constituent audiences that executive leadership training must address
The second of the top three ways to develop leadership training ideas is to determine the leaders constituent audiences.
As the author of several employee development and leadership training courses, I’ve researched this far and wide.
I’ve identified the six constituent audiences that every executive leader must address, in order to avoid leadership vacuums:
- Customers/clients/subscribers
- Peers/cohorts
- Employees/subordinates
- Suppliers, contractors
- Shareholders/owners/ stakeholders/regulators
- Media/social media
A smart way to develop executive leadership training topics would be to include the cultivation of these 6 constituents.
Venn: The 6 constituent audiences every leader must address.
Leadership training for managers
Management leadership skills training doesn’t require covering the same topics as executive leadership.
For example, a line manager or department manager might not interface with all 6 constituent audiences. Leadership training topics for managers in this case would depend on the audiences they interface with in their leadership role:
The four components of all leadership skills
The third of the three top ways to develop training ideas is to draw from the four components of all leadership.
I have identified these four components of leadership skills that are the core building blocks of leadership.
These skills work hand in hand to maximize your effectiveness in managing your audiences.
The four components of all leadership skills are:
- Position power, also known as title power
- Influence
- Mentoring
- Vision – creating a mission that your audience embraces
Mastering these skills enables a leader to become like a martial arts sensei.
You maintain a confident mindset, with the skills to handle any leadership scenario that comes your way.
Developing training topics in these four components, will provide you with the most effective leadership skills training possible.
Summary of the three top ways to develop leadership training topics
You now have a 3 step leadership development strategy to generate effective leadership training topics:
- Identifying the leader’s leadership role will determine what leadership topics are relevant.
- Establishing that role’s constituent audiences will zero in on topics you can train in to avoid a leadership vacuum.
- Training in the four components of all leadership skills is the most effective leadership training possible.
Of course you can’t just pick and choose from these lists of leadership topics for leadership training.
All three ways work together to develop a well-rounded, effective leadership strategy.
Rather than figure out which topics to choose by yourself, my new leadership program offers step-by-step templates that make it easy. You can develop effective leadership skills and emotional intelligence in only 3 minutes a day.
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