Leadership Program Development

The design and implementation of multidimensional programs, including a range of leadership optimization elements.

Our customized offerings include solutions focusing on single leadership applications and more encompassing solutions focusing on creating an entire leadership program incorporating elements such as the following.

  • Succession planning
  • Career development
  • High-potential leader program development
  • Talent pipelining
  • Hiring and selection
  • Curriculum development and rollout, including customized sessions, most often based on existing best practice materials, ranging from half-day overview modules to complete courses encompassing diverse leadership topics
  • Creation of organization learning capabilities through web portals, self-directed learning modules, developmental assignments, or on-the-job learning
  • Integration with performance management, goal management, and compensation.

Schoonover Associates applies a similar engagement process for leadership, career planning and talent management program design. Our approach to program design and implementation always includes a current state assessment, a definition of purposes and outcomes, and creation of guiding principles as a starting point. This initial phase is important to avoid ineffective point solutions and clarify realistic requirements for long-term success. The second phase of engagements for building a consistent program focuses on a detailed design, including a defined program scope, kinds of participants, the level of integration with other leadership and talent management initiatives,  and specification of activities and supports required to deliver target objectives. This phase is most often done in close collaboration with an internal team and entails engaging stakeholders to provide input about the design. While the nature of testing and implementation phases vary widely, they most often include clarifying and documenting support materials and methods, piloting program elements, creating roll out communications and plans, and instituting a change management plan to create sustainable outputs integrated into an organization’s practices.

In some situations, we provide our tools and training as part of program design; in others we incorporate existing internal materials or materials from other vendors into the overall program framework.