Leadership training: getting leader development right with elearning

Focusing on developing leaders has paid dividends for organizations in a number of sectors. Research has shown that leadership training for companies is linked to improved culture, employee engagement, and overall business results. Sounds like a no-brainer, right? Elearning can play a vital role when it comes to implementing training for leaders. Read on to explore some of the key leadership training topics and gain insightful ideas for online leadership training creation.

What is leadership training?

Leadership training is a form of learning program designed to teach competencies that are essential for leading projects for teams. The wide scope of leadership training for companies allows it to be offered to everyone from existing supervisors and managers to low-rung employees who show leadership potential. 

Leadership training develops a number of key skills, including soft skills such as communication and delegation, as well as more technical skills like data analysis and project management. 

Elearning leadership training is commonly used in both remote and in-house teams and can also form part of a blended learning program. 

What are the benefits of leadership training?

Reduced turnover

Poor line management and leadership ranks among the top causes of high staff turnover. Investing in the development of your leaders is a knock-on investment in the wider team. Leaders who know how to motivate and empathize with their team members can save resources and time for the business by improving the turnover of staff.

Better decision-making

Armed with quality training, leaders are better equipped to tackle tough questions. Leaders have all the confidence they need to make strategic business decisions and own their results, in turn improving the fortunes of the organization. 

Improved communication and collaboration

The most powerful changes start at the top. Leadership training helps build communication skills and cross-department collaboration. This has a trickle-effect throughout the business, with leaders bringing new ideas for better communication and encouraging improved teamwork.

Encourages an autonomous workforce

Delegation is another key skill developed during leadership training. Strong leaders don’t do the work for their team, but rather facilitate them to carry it out to the best of their abilities. Good delegation skills empower team members to take ownership of their work.

Why is leadership training important for businesses?

Leadership training is important for businesses for several reasons. For one, the importance of leaders means that their development can’t be ignored. Leaders hold the success of a business in their hands, and training helps develop the competencies they need. 

Often, L&D focuses on developing those in more junior positions, but leaders and senior team members require just as much attention. 

It’s also crucial for improving morale. Leaders set the tone when it comes to creating a positive work environment and inspiring employees. Harnessing these skills can lead to increased productivity due to the focus placed on motivation and employee improvements. 

By investing in leadership training, businesses can send a message to the wider organization that there’s significant value placed on professional development. This evident commitment to helping employees grow can lead to a culture of continuous learning and improvement.

Finally, leadership training is also powerful when it comes to improving bottom-line results. With strong leaders at the helm, you can expect better results and overall performance. Companies with effective leadership typically have lower turnover rates, higher engagement, and better customer satisfaction; all the key ingredients in the recipe for results.

Types of leadership training

Leadership isn’t a binary concept. There are numerous different types of leadership that work in some situations but may not be as effective in others. To match this, there’s also a variety of leadership training types. It stands to reason that training will look different at a start-up than it will at a multi-national enterprise, for example.

Here’s a look at some leadership training examples based on different industries, experience levels and situations. 

New leader training

This type of training helps to mold new leaders and provide the competencies they need to succeed. Typically, it will cover everything from conflict resolution and how to measure performance to more technical skills that are relevant to the industry. This also acts as an introduction to the overall leadership culture and structure that’s specific to the business.

Executive leadership training

Mid-level executives ready to make the jump up to a leadership position are likely to undergo this form of training. It will include skill development around core topics like negotiation, decision-making, and leading on strategy. 

Hospitality leadership training

Hospitality leaders will commonly encounter awkward customers, high turnover, and the pitfalls associated with a fast-moving work environment. Efficient leadership training is essential to navigating these obstacles. Soft skills form a large focus here, with communication skills, empathy, and decision-making critical to success in the role. 

Healthcare leadership training

In an industry where life-or-death decisions are made every day, leadership training is key to handling high levels of pressure. Heading up a healthcare team requires many skills, including critical thinking, strategizing, decision-making and communication.

Leadership training for NPOs

Non-profit organizations are built on a foundation of volunteer contributions. As such, it’s a slower paced environment where leaders need to drive for maximum change and impact while motivating a team who are contributing out of passion rather than financial motivations. 

Training, therefore, focuses heavily on motivation skills, as well as technical skills around building financial capital. 

What tools are needed to build leadership development elearning programs?

If you’re interested in building your own elearning leadership program, there are two training tools you’ll need. You’ll need a robust learning management system, for tracking results and delivering content, alongside a content authoring tool, such as Elucidat.

However, for a blended learning model, you can add a video conferencing tool to the shopping list. There are a number of quality tools on offer that can host webinars and in-person meetings while integrating with your LMS.

How to create an online leadership training program

Creating elearning leadership training isn’t as difficult as it may appear. Much like regular elearning courses, designing the training comes down to a few straightforward steps. Here, we’ve outlined the steps needed for a simple leadership elearning program.

1. Define goals and objectives

Any L&D professional will tell you clear goals are the bedrock of successful training. Setting learning goals and objectives steers the direction of the training content, as well as identifying the reasons learners are taking the training. 

An online leadership development program example that embodies this is Deltek’s leadership models. Prior to creating their program, the goal and objectives of developing leaders have been set firmly in place, with sub-programs tailored to achieving each different step. Each stage is always built with the overarching goal in mind.   

2. Outline the training program

With the goals set, the next step is to plan out the program. It’s all about the big picture at this stage, focusing on which leadership training topics you’ll cover and mapping out how they connect with each other. 

Be sure to circle back to your goals during this part of the process, with every activity you choose has an intrinsic link to your objectives. 

3. Author training content

Following the planning, the fun bit comes next. Whichever training modules you’ve planned out, you’ll need to bring them to life with the aid of an authoring tool. Elucidat’s authoring tool allows users to create online leadership courses, with modules such as quizzes, interactive activities, webinars, microlearning, and much more. As user-friendly as they come, our authoring toolkit comes with everything you need to create leadership elearning content. 

Read more: The best elearning authoring tools

4. Deliver with an LMS

You’ve planned and built your leadership content, now it needs to be launched. Using a learning management system is the easiest way to deliver your content to the workforce. 

With an LMS, you can simply upload the course content and provide seamless access to employees on all devices. 

As an added cherry on top, all the insights, progress tracking, and results will also be centralized here.

Read more: Top 10 LMS platforms

5. Results measurement

The final step is to evaluate success. Elucidat’s analytics can help make this much easier, with built-in data dashboards that are bespoke to your organization. Tracking key training data is made simple and you can get an instant snapshot of metrics to allow you to make tweaks to content, if needed. 

Create effective leadership training with Elucidat

Eager to find out how Elucidat can help you achieve all the above and more? Book a demo today to see how the tool can help you create engaging online leadership training.