Developing internal leaders creates a business performance engine that drives up value. The fuel comes from linking leadership development to business goals.

Every business strategy needs people able to implement and manage it and who are who are capable of adapting as needed. There are questions all businesses should be asking themselves. For example, what happens when the baby-boomer generation steps aside and is ready to hand the corporate reins to the next generation of leaders? How will businesses manage new economic forces like the rise of Asia and India or other unforeseen changes? Is there leadership bench strength to ensure business continuation of strategies? There are two possible answers to these questions. In the worst case scenario, there are no developed leaders able to move the company forward now or later, and the talent gap equates to an inability to manage critical strategies, innovation that falls by the wayside, and lack of sustainability – all costly results. In the best case, internal leadership is developed in a way that brings measurable value to the company, the capability of adapting to whatever circumstances arise, and long-term success. >

Building leadership capabilities is a value proposition when training and development has clear relevance to business performance and sustainability. The development programs should bring a return on the investment in terms of real business improvement, capacity building abilities, and strategic flexibility. Embedded in the effective development programs is an important principle: leadership talent is developed at all levels of the organization, not just at executive and senior levels, to underpin quality performance. Clearly, this principle means that generic, off-the-shelf training programs are not likely to produce desired results, yet they are the most commonly used.