Is your organization planning to create a leadership development program? Does your organization already have a program in place? If so, this is the second article in a two-part series designed to help you plan or quickly decide if you are on the right track. (Please review the first five crucial questions before proceeding.) If not, take a look and please provide feedback. Here are the final five (I added one more) questions to ask:

6. The Pause. How are we doing at this point in the process?

Before reviewing questions seven through 11, I suggest creating a document with five columns, each labeled with a title related to each of the first five crucial questions. An example of these headings would be Organizational Goals, Leadership Defined, Skills for Development, Sources of Learning, and Linkage to Organizational Systems.

List the major components for each on the document. This information should be placed in one location and program architects should review it prior to answering question six (How are we doing at this point in the process?). Additional questions may be: (1) Does our theory of action (map of how it is all supposed to work) work at face value? (2) What questions still exist for each of the first five categories?

7. How will we gain feedback from others in the organization?

At this point, individuals in the process need to take some time to float the draft program by others in the organization. This does not need to take a lot of time and may include feedback from three or fewer people per committee member.

Sample questions may include: (1) From your perspective, what do you see as potential challenges within our leadership development plan? (2) How should we think about implementing this program? What have you seen fail and why? (3) How should we approach marketing this program? What have you seen fail and why? (4) Does the organizational culture value what we hope to produce? If not, why?

8. How will the program be implemented/rolled out?

The implementation phase of building a leadership development program can be a challenge. We need to ensure that the strategy for implementation is realistic and manageable.

There are three primary ways to roll out the program: (1) The Pilot – A pilot study is one route for implementation and carries with it inherent benefits and drawbacks. One benefit is that it is relatively safe and manageable. On the downside, it takes extra time; (2) Gradual Implementation – A process of gradual implementation is another route for implementation and like “the pilot” carries with it inherent benefits and drawbacks. This approach gets more people involved quickly, but likely accentuates unforeseen “fires” that will need to worked through; (3) Full Implementation – A process of full implementation involves the entire organization. A number of people will be involved quickly but bugs and issues will also be more prevalent.