An important area in development activities involves leadership development. In fact, we can argue that the main goal is to develop employees so they can become leaders. This central part of organizational development activities creates a good basis for the organization’s succession plan. 66% of executives recently surveyed engaged in leadership development activities but only 24% of them believed their programs were successful.

To create leadership development opportunities, organizations need to determine the most important competencies for leadership roles in their organization. Then, they must assess employee potential. There are five key predictors of leadership success: motivation, curiosity, insight, engagement, and determination. Upon assessing how leaders score on these five predictors, it is important to map leadership potential to the competencies required on the job, and assess the extent to which the employee exhibits those competencies.

Where a gap exists between the competency needed and what the employee exhibits, emerging leaders should be provided with development opportunities.