A Consulting Practice Area
Leadership Development That Actually Develops Leaders
Most leadership development programs are well-intentioned and underbuilt. They run people through content, collect survey scores, and call it done. What's missing is the infrastructure: a shared definition of what leadership looks like at each level, a system for applying what's learned, and a way to know whether it's working.
The Way I Approach It
Competency Modeling
Leadership development starts with a shared definition. Before you can develop leaders, you need to define what leadership looks like at each role and level in your organization. What behaviors matter here, in this culture, at this stage of growth? That answer becomes the foundation on which everything else is built.
Organizational Reach
Competency training should be introduced at every level, not just for people with "manager" in their title. The habits, mindsets, and skills that make great leaders don't appear overnight. They develop over time, with exposure and practice that starts well before someone's first direct report.
Leadership Sponsorship
Development programs without visible leadership support stall out. When senior leaders model the competencies, reference the language, and show up for the work, the signal is clear: this matters here. Without that, even a well-designed program becomes optional in practice.
Transfer
Training without follow-up is just content. What makes the difference is what happens after: structured practice, manager reinforcement, and check-ins that hold the learning in place long enough for it to become a habit. Skill transfer requires intentional design, not good intentions.
Accountability
Leadership development only sticks when it's tied to something that matters. When the competencies you define are woven into performance reviews, development plans, and promotion criteria, they stop being aspirational and start being operational. People develop the skills their organization recognizes and rewards.
An Interactive Example of A Competency Framework.
Select a leadership level to focus, or view all competencies at once. Each cell describes observable behaviors, not just traits.
| Competency | Individual Contributor | Supervisor | Manager | Regional | Director | VP |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CommunicationClarity, presence, listening | IC Communicates clearly in team settings. Listens actively and asks clarifying questions before acting. |
Supervisor Delivers clear direction to a small team. Adjusts tone and detail level for different audiences. |
Manager Translates organizational priorities into team-level language. Facilitates effective team meetings and feedback conversations. |
Regional Communicates across multiple locations with consistent messaging. Bridges field and home office perspectives. |
Director Sets communication standards for the function. Represents the department clearly to senior leadership and cross-functional partners. |
VP Shapes organizational narrative. Communicates strategy and decisions to large, diverse audiences with clarity and credibility. |
| Business AcumenContext, decisions, impact | IC Understands how their role connects to team and location goals. Makes decisions that consider the guest and operational impact. |
Supervisor Interprets basic performance data (labor, sales, completion rates) to guide daily decisions. |
Manager Uses operational and financial data to prioritize resources, identify trends, and build business cases for initiatives. |
Regional Analyzes multi-unit performance data. Connects L&D investment to measurable operational outcomes across a portfolio. |
Director Builds functional strategy aligned to business goals. Understands P&L implications of people and training decisions. |
VP Leads with enterprise-level business literacy. Connects people strategy to organizational performance, growth, and risk at the executive level. |
| CoachingDevelopment, feedback, growth | IC Receptive to feedback. Takes ownership of personal development goals and applies coaching in daily work. |
Supervisor Delivers in-the-moment feedback. Recognizes development opportunities and addresses performance gaps in real time. |
Manager Coaches team members through structured conversations. Creates individual development plans and tracks progress over time. |
Regional Develops supervisors and managers as coaches. Builds a culture of consistent feedback across locations. |
Director Designs coaching frameworks and infrastructure. Ensures coaching capability is embedded in leadership development programs. |
VP Models coaching as a leadership discipline at the senior level. Sponsors high-potential talent and builds succession depth across the enterprise. |
| Strategic PlanningVision, alignment, execution | IC Understands team priorities and aligns daily work accordingly. Anticipates how their decisions affect others downstream. |
Supervisor Plans team schedules and workflows to meet short-term operational goals. Identifies resource needs before they become problems. |
Manager Develops quarterly plans for the team. Balances short-term execution with longer-term capability building. |
Regional Translates district or regional strategy into location-level execution plans. Anticipates operational and people needs across a portfolio. |
Director Builds annual functional strategy. Aligns department roadmap to organizational priorities and manages across competing demands. |
VP Sets multi-year strategy for the function. Influences enterprise planning and allocates resources against long-term organizational goals. |
| Emotional IntelligenceAwareness, empathy, regulation | IC Manages their own reactions under pressure. Recognizes how their behavior affects the team around them. |
Supervisor Reads team dynamics and adjusts their approach. Creates psychological safety for honest conversation. |
Manager Navigates difficult conversations with composure. Builds trust through consistency between words and actions. |
Regional Manages change and ambiguity across teams without projecting anxiety. Holds space for field-level concerns while maintaining direction. |
Director Models emotional regulation in high-stakes situations. Builds a team culture where candor and vulnerability are safe. |
VP Leads with self-awareness at the executive level. Creates organizational conditions where emotional intelligence is recognized and developed as a leadership asset. |
This model is an example framework. Competency definitions should be adapted to reflect your organization's culture, values, and role expectations.