8 steps to create a leadership plan that delivers results

What is a leadership development plan?

A leadership development plan is a documented guide that spells out the skills, behaviors, and experiences employees need to be good leaders. It’s designed to bridge the gap between a person’s current capabilities and the demands of future leadership roles through specific goals, learning activities, and regular check-ins.

Such plans are typically developed by the individual leader, their direct manager, and human resources and leadership development teams and software. The plan identifies key competencies, quarterly actions, and progress tracking. Unlike a generic training program, a development plan is tailored for a specific employee and tied to the outcomes that matter most to your company.

Why leadership development strengthens your organization

Landmark Gallup research found that a boss’s behavior is the single biggest factor of how people feel about their jobs, explaining 70% of why one team is motivated while another is checked out. Yet according to another Gallup study from 2025, 59% of chief human resources officers (CHROs) say developing leaders is a top organizational struggle. Leaning into leadership development strengthens an organization by building a high-performance culture where managers have the specific skills needed to inspire teams and reduce costly turnover.

A structured plan also addresses several needs at once. You build your internal pipeline before critical roles open, which cuts the cost and risk of hiring externally. You turn strong individual contributors into capable leaders who can successfully coach and develop their teams. You show high performers a clear path forward, giving them a reason to stay and grow with you.

With Cornerstone Succession, you can develop competency-based talent pools for every critical area of your organization. Pairing succession planning with a structured leadership development plan means you're not scrambling when a senior leader leaves or a new role opens up.

8 steps to create a leadership development plan that drives measurable results

Every organization needs leaders who can guide teams through ambiguity, manage resistance, and build resilience to create a competitive advantage. Building a plan to create that workforce takes deliberate effort. Here's a step-by-step process of how any company can adapt.

1. Assess leadership talent and gaps

Run a skills gap analysis across your leadership levels using performance data and engagement scores to identify where talent is strongest and where the biggest risks are hiding.

Flag high-potential employees who are ready for accelerated growth. Deloitte's 2025 Global Human Capital Trends survey found that 66% of managers and executives say most recent hires were not fully prepared for their roles, highlighting the limits of relying on external hiring alone.

2. Secure executive and stakeholder buy-in

Leaders need to see the big picture and make sound decisions with complete information. Present a clear case linking leadership development to strategic goals like revenue growth, employee retention, or market expansion. Get commitment for budget, time, and executive sponsorship.

Assign a senior leader as the program champion who can remove obstacles and hold the organization accountable. Annee Bayeux, international workforce agility officer at Cornerstone, and Philip Moore, director of workforce research, make the stakes clear in the Build, Buy, Borrow, or Bot white paper: "Building talent internally is most effective when it's intentional, targeted, and aligned with business priorities."

3. Define leadership style and behaviors

Strong and supportive leadership development starts with clarity. Employees need a shared definition of what good leadership looks like. Articulate your organization's leadership philosophy in plain language, and name what great leaders at your organization do differently than your competition.

More permissive management styles, that trade rigid control for employee involvement and independence can help boost morale and spark innovation. Empowering employees with more autonomy also fosters deeper professional investment. Three styles include:

• Democratic: Decisions are made collectively by the group, with the manager facilitating a shared sense of responsibility.

• Persuasive: The manager retains final authority but uses logic and influence to gain team buy-in rather than issuing orders.

• Laissez-faire: A hands-off approach that grants maximum autonomy, allowing employees to lead themselves with minimal interference.

Define expected behaviors at each level, from first-time managers to senior executives, so everyone is on the same page. Document these behaviors and share them widely across your internal platforms.

4. Clarify scope and target audiences

Your organization needs to decide who is participating in the leadership initiatives. An executive development plan for senior leaders looks very different from a program for new managers. It’s also essential to be clear about the purpose of each group. For example, you might be preparing first-time managers, strengthening mid-level execution, or building a pipeline for future senior roles.

Once that’s determined, set cohort sizes, selection criteria, and time commitments upfront so expectations are clear. Be specific about what participation requires and what people can expect in return.

5. Set business-aligned goals and key performance indicators (KPIs)

To build a resilient leadership pipeline, organizations should look beyond gut feelings and track data-driven metrics. Here are some of the key indicators to monitor:

• Internal promotion rate: This measures the percentage of leadership roles filled by existing employees. A high rate demonstrates that your development programs are successfully preparing staff for advancement.

• Leadership bench strength: Assess the number of successors who are ready for critical positions to help mitigate the risk of sudden vacancies.

• Succession readiness: This KPI tracks how close high-potential employees are to being promoted, allowing for more targeted training to bridge skill gaps.

• Leader turnover rate: Monitor how many leaders are leaving the organization. High turnover in management often is a sign of workplace culture problems or a lack of engagement.

• Mentorship & Coaching Impact: This evaluates how effectively current leaders are developing their subordinates, which helps ensure that leadership growth is ingrained in the company culture.

But data is only useful if you have a starting point to compare it against. Establish baselines before the program launches, so you can measure real change. Without a baseline, you're just guessing if the plan worked.

6. Prioritize leadership competencies

Great leaders create psychological safety where every team member feels comfortable sharing ideas and taking risks. Select five to seven core competencies that matter most for your leadership development strategy. Balance current needs (like managing hybrid teams) with future requirements (like leading through AI-driven transformation).

Focus beats breadth every time. Trying to develop too many competencies at once dilutes your impact.

7. Assess current competency levels

Use multi-rater assessments (like 360-degree reviews) to establish baselines for each participant. Create a heat map to visualize where your leadership bench is strong and where skills are missing.

Your heat map should show you where to prioritize your development budget. You can see at a glance which specific areas, like conflict resolution or strategic planning, are missing the mark across your pool of leaders.

8. Design, deliver, and refine development experiences

The shift from doing the work yourself to coaching others through it is one of the hardest transitions new leaders can make. To help simplify the process, try to mix formal learning, mentoring, coaching, and experiential assignments into a blended program. Run a pilot cohort first to test the design, gather feedback, and iterate before scaling.

Different development methods serve different purposes:

• Formal training and courses – Build foundational knowledge through structured learning (2–4 hours per week, 1–3 month impact timeline)

• Mentoring and coaching – Apply skills to real situations with guidance from experienced leaders (1–2 hours per month, 3–6 month impact timeline)

• Stretch assignments – Develop judgment and confidence through challenging projects (varies by project, 6–12 month impact timeline)

Core components of an effective leadership development plan

Leaders who can guide teams through ambiguity and build resilience create a competitive advantage. A strong leadership development plan has several parts that work together as a system. Missing one weakens the rest.

Self-assessment and vision

Effective development starts with self-awareness. Use personality assessments, skills inventories, and manager feedback to help leaders understand their current style, strengths, and blind spots.

From there, define the kind of leader each employee is working to become. A clear vision makes it easier to prioritize competencies and identify the right stretch assignments.

SMART goals and success measures

Translate assessment insights into specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound (SMART) goals. Feedback such as, "improve communication skills" is too vague. "Lead three cross-functional project updates per quarter and receive a feedback score of 4 or higher from stakeholders" is a goal you can track.

Establish quarterly milestones to keep progress visible. Also consider bringing skills development into goal-setting by aligning each personal goal with an organizational priority, so development efforts help drive business results.

Skills and competency framework

Define the competencies required for target roles. A competency framework defines what a good employee looks like at each level, from emerging leader to senior executive.

Include behavioral indicators so expectations are actionable. For example, strategic thinking at a mid-level manager role might mean identifying connections between team goals and organizational strategy, while at a VP level, the same competency might mean shaping long-term organizational direction based on market and workforce data.

Action learning and stretch projects

Most leadership growth happens through experience, not classrooms. The 70-20-10 model suggests 70% of learning comes from on-the-job experiences, 20% from relationships like coaching and mentoring, and 10% from formal training. Build development plans around stretch assignments, cross-functional projects, and mentorship opportunities so leaders can apply new skills in real-world settings. Also identify projects that help build target skills, such as:

• Leading a cross-functional initiative

• Managing a budget for the first time

• Presenting to senior leaders

• Taking on a struggling team or project

Coaching and feedback loops

Pair each developing leader with a coach or mentor. Regular coaching conversations create an effective feedback loop that keeps development on track and helps you work through real challenges in real time.

Build in 360-degree feedback cycles, where peers, direct reports, and managers all provide input, at least twice a year. Multiple perspectives reveal blind spots employees may not see on their own.

Quarterly reviews and plan updates

A leadership development plan should evolve as leaders grow and as organizational needs shift. Schedule quarterly formal reviews to assess progress, celebrate wins, and adjust goals based on changing organizational needs. Document lessons learned along the way so the plan gets sharper and more effective over time.

Data and analytics that reveal what's working

Use learning management system (LMS) data to track course completions, assessment scores, and skill development trends. Powerful platforms like Cornerstone Workforce AI, use AI-powered workforce intelligence to surface skill gaps and recommend personalized learning paths, turning raw data into development insights you can act on.

Content, LMS, and AI support

Digital learning platforms give you access to on-demand content aligned to your competency goals. AI-powered recommendations match you with the right courses, videos, and practice exercises based on your specific gaps and career aspirations.

Measuring ROI so your leadership development plan earns continued investment

In a post-AI landscape, proving the continuous ROI of leadership development is essential to justify ongoing investment. Modern business environments require tracking both leading indicators, like engagement and completion rates, and lagging indicators, such as promotion and retention.

By establishing clear baselines and using 360-degree feedback, you move beyond "participation" to measure real behavioral change and business impact, allowing you to iterate on the program so every cohort outperforms the last.

Business impact stories

DHL Group

When DHL Group, the world's leading logistics organization, needed to align current skills with future business needs while adapting to rapid digital transformation, they turned to the Cornerstone AI-powered skills engine to identify capabilities within the organization, match them to jobs, and pinpoint potential skills gaps.

Read the full article.

DHL Group anticipates a drop of more than 10% in external recruiting resources, saving millions. DHL Group wants their people to grow, and for that to be celebrated. Internal mobility may feel hard on managers at first, but in the long term, people are engaged, their experiences improve, and the organization becomes more efficient and effective.

United Airlines

United Airlines implemented the Cornerstone Learning Management and Learning Experience platforms to significantly enhance their training capabilities. Maria Taylor, United’s Chief Learning Officer, emphasizes: "With the learning experience platform, we've been able to launch a leadership institute."

Read the full article.

United Airlines can now efficiently manage and deliver training to a vast workforce, including nearly 20,000 new hires over the past two years. The Leadership Institute, supported by the Cornerstone talent and learning platform, has developed new leaders within the organization.

FAQs

How long does a leadership development plan typically take to show results?

You may see early wins in 3–6 months through improved engagement and feedback scores. Deeper changes like promotion rates and retention improvements typically take up to a year to show up.

Can you create a leadership development plan for someone who isn't in a leadership role yet?

Yes. High-potential employees benefit from plans that prepare them for the shift from “doing” to “leading.” These plans should focus on building foundational competencies like communication, influence, and project leadership before a non-manager takes on direct reports.

What's the difference between a leadership development plan and a performance improvement plan?

A leadership development plan builds on an employee’s strengths to prefer them for future growth and higher-level responsibilities. A performance improvement plan is a corrective tool for when someone is missing the mark on their current tasks. Development plans tend to be forward-looking and aspirational, while performance improvement plans are focused on fixing potentially costly mistakes.

How often do you update a leadership development plan?

Update the plan at least quarterly to ensure the goals stay relevant as the business evolves. It should also be refreshed during annual reviews or whenever a high-potential employee takes on a new project or role. Regular updates ensure the plan remains a useful tool for growth rather than a tired checklist.