leadership program assignments

39 best leadership activities and games

Good leaders can make or break a team. While more and more people are being asked to step into leadership roles, the path to becoming a good leader is long and not always straightforward . This is where leadership activities come in.

Leadership activities are a great way of developing the skills and competencies needed to be an effective leader . It's not easy to learn these skills, especially when so many leaders don't receive effective training or support. In this article, we'll explore the leadership activities you should master in order to lead a high-performing team and become a better leader!

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What are leadership activities?

Leadership activities are exercises designed to help develop leadership skills and enable leaders to be more effective in their roles. They can include activities that help train new leaders and improve core leadership skills like problem-solving, active listening, or effective group management.

You’ll also find that the best leadership development activities give leaders tools and techniques they can use on the job. It’s one thing to know that leaders need to be good listeners, but quite another to be given a framework and toolkit that means you are a great listener who always helps their team feel heard and understood.

The exercises below are not only great to use when training leaders, but they are practical techniques leaders can use with every team member immediately, whatever their leadership style.

What are leadership activities used for?

While managers might approach tasks differently based on their leadership style, there are skills and competencies that all leaders should learn in order to best service their team. Learning how to be a good leader can be difficult, so using exercises and activities to improve leadership skills in a safe, experiential environment can help leaders be more effective in their role.

If you’re running a leadership development program, you might use these activities during the training program. For example, after conducting a self-assessment and deciding how they want to develop as a leader, participants might work on improving their leadership skills with these activities.

Whether you’re running such a program and developing managers internally with workshops or simply want to brush up on your own leadership skills, these exercises are a great place to begin.

A bespoke leadership development workshop (like the one featured in this leadership template! ) is also a natural place to include these activities.

In SessionLab, it’s quick and easy to design a leadership workshop fit for your needs. Start by dragging and dropping blocks to design your outline. Add minute-perfect timing and instructions to each activity to refine your agenda.

When you’re ready to share with collaborators or participants, export your workshop agenda in PDF, Word, Powerpoint or invite them directly to the session.

A screenshot of a leadership development workshop designed and built in SessionLab.

Leadership training activities for building a positive work climate

Leaders are role models to their colleagues and organization. Their leadership styles, principles, and values determine the culture that drives their organization’s behavior.

That is why a competitive, paranoid leader can easily create an organization where team members are similarly competitive and less open to collaboration. While a leader who is open and inclusive will create a climate of openness and inclusiveness. How they behave, and what they consider the norm, also affects which kinds of behaviors are enforced and celebrated and which behaviors are punished.

The following leadership activities can help you in recognising important leadership behaviors that result in a productive workplace. They can also be used by leaders to set the stage for team bonding and a great workplace environment with their team. A must for all leaders!

Leadership Envelopes

Leadership games like this help groups translate abstract leadership principles into practical on-the-job behaviors. Participants work in groups to come up with real-life applications of different leadership principles.

The groups conduct multiple rounds of discussion to build upon each others’ ideas, and in the end, evaluate the best ideas to identify the most useful behaviors. This is also a great activity to run with all your team members. Seeing how they consider and respond to different leadership styles can help you focus on the right approach as a leader!

Leadership Envelopes #leadership #issue analysis #thiagi Leadership exercise in groups, working with practical leadership principles. This activity helps groups to translate abstract leadership principles into practical on-the-job behaviours. Participants work in groups to come up with real-life application of leadership principles. The groups take multiple rounds to build upon the ideas of each other, and in the end, evaluate the best ideas to identify the most useful behaviours.

Your Favourite Manager

In this activity, participants take on three different employee personas and list the behaviors of a positive leader or manager and a negative one from the perspectives of those employees. After some individual reflection, participants compare their lists, first in pairs and then in groups. Finally, they collect the ultimate do’s and don’ts for managers and leaders.

Any activity that encourages deep reflection on your own leadership style and those of your role models is a wonderful way to grow. I’ve been especially inspired by how some of my old bosses approach problem solving while I was a team member working beneath them.

My Favourite Manager #management #leadership #thiagi #teamwork #remote-friendly Participants work individually, assuming the roles of three different people and brainstorming their perceptions of three most favourite managers and three least favourite managers. Later, they work with a partner (and still later, in teams) to prepare a list of dos and don’t-s for improving employees’ perception of a manager’s style.

Leadership Pizza

This leadership development activity offers a self-assessment framework for people to first identify the skills, attributes and attitudes they find important for effective leadership, and then assess their own development in these areas. This framework is also a great tool to set individual leadership development goals in a coaching process.

We love activities that allow team members to reflect on different leadership styles and assess their own skills and preferences. The visual format makes it easy to share and reflect on leadership styles later too!

Leadership Pizza #leadership #team #remote-friendly This leadership development activity offers a self-assessment framework for people to first identify what skills, attributes and attitudes they find important for effective leadership, and then assess their own development and initiate goal setting.

Playing with Status

The best leadership training activities often allow managers to work on their leadership skills while also providing an opportunity to reflect on their leadership style and how it might affect other employees.

Playing with Status is a role playing game where pairs enact a job interview or coaching session and enact different versions of the conversation based on whether each person has high or low status. By experiencing the effect of status on the relationship, would-be leaders can consider how they interact with other members of their team and create a more positive workplace culture.

Playing with Status #teambuilding #communication #team #thiagi Participants are given a short script of 8-10 lines of neutral dialogue. The scene may depict a job interview (see the sample below) or a coaching session. Pairs take turns enacting the scene, playing with the status relationships through non-verbal behaviours.

Heard Seen Respected

Standing in the shoes of others, practicing empathy and ensuring that everyone on a team is able to be heard is a necessity for great leaders and your team in general. In this activity, participants shift between telling stories where they were not heard, seen or respected and then being listeners who do not pass judgment.

Remember that leadership training should often start with the fundamentals of respect and empathy. If you can’t respect and empathize with your team members, how can you expect them to do the same for you? Keeping things simple with an activity like Heard Seen Respected can be an especially effective option whether you’re working online or offline.

Heard, Seen, Respected (HSR) #issue analysis #empathy #communication #liberating structures #remote-friendly You can foster the empathetic capacity of participants to “walk in the shoes” of others. Many situations do not have immediate answers or clear resolutions. Recognizing these situations and responding with empathy can improve the “cultural climate” and build trust among group members. HSR helps individuals learn to respond in ways that do not overpromise or overcontrol. It helps members of a group notice unwanted patterns and work together on shifting to more productive interactions. Participants experience the practice of more compassion and the benefits it engenders.

Team building leadership activities

Every leader has an integral role in the formation of the teams they work with. Whether you are consciously working on it or not, your attitude and actions as a leader will significantly influence team cohesion, communication and the team spirit of the people you work with.

This comes through in small everyday actions, the way you share responsibilities, the way you empower colleagues, and the way you foster a cooperative work environment as opposed to a competitive one.

Sometimes, it can also be effective to run team building activities with your company that are expressly focused on helping teams come together and bond. Try using the following leadership team building activities with new teams, or groups that need to spend a little time getting to know each other better.

Marshmallow challenge

The Marshmallow Challenge is a team-building activity in which teams compete to build the tallest free-standing structure out of spaghetti sticks, tape, string, and the marshmallow that needs to be on the top. This leadership activity emphasizes group communication, leadership dynamics, collaboration, and innovation and problem-solving.

It’s a wonderful game that allows participants’s natural leadership qualities to shine through, and it helps teams have a lot of fun too!

Marshmallow challenge with debriefing #teamwork #team #leadership #collaboration In eighteen minutes, teams must build the tallest free-standing structure out of 20 sticks of spaghetti, one yard of tape, one yard of string, and one marshmallow. The marshmallow needs to be on top. The Marshmallow Challenge was developed by Tom Wujec, who has done the activity with hundreds of groups around the world. Visit the Marshmallow Challenge website for more information. This version has an extra debriefing question added with sample questions focusing on roles within the team.

Blind Square Rope Game

This activity is a tried and tested game that asks teams to communicate well and solve a problem as a team. Not only is this a fun team building activity, but it’s a great way for potential leaders to step up and help their team win! Start by tying a length of rope into a circle and then instruct participants they will have 20 minutes to turn it into a square, with fifteen minutes to plan their actions and five minutes to implement. Here’s the catch – no one may touch the rope until you begin, and every team member is blindfolded during implementation. This is an effective leadership game that is great with both small groups and larger teams separated into breakouts.

Blind Square – Rope game #teamwork #communication #teambuilding #team #energiser #thiagi #outdoor This is an activity that I use in almost every teambuilding session I run–because it delivers results every time. I can take no credit for its invention since it has existed from long before my time, in various forms and with a variety of names (such as Blind Polygon). The activity can be frontloaded to focus on particular issues by changing a few parameters or altering the instructions.

Tower of Power

All leaders need to work closely with other members of their organization in order to succeed. This leadership game encourages groups to work together in order to build a tower with specific (and sometimes tricky!) rules before than reflecting on what worked, what didn’t and what they would do next time.

It’s a wonderful activity for leadership training, as it provides an experiential way to explore leadership concepts, all wrapped in a fun game!

Tower of Power #team #teamwork #communication #leadership #teambuilding #skills This teamwork activity requires participants to work closely together to build a tower from a set of building blocks. The players need to coordinate their actions in order to be able to move the wooden blocks with the crane they have, and this can only be solved by precise planning, good communication and well-organised teamwork. You may use this exercise to emphasise the following themes and outcomes: In Leadership training : identifying interdependencies in systems, leadership communication, dealing with risk, giving feedback In Team building : communicating effectively, cooperating, being an active listener, maintaining the balance, working with values In Project management : simulating strategic planning, working under time pressure In Communication training : meta communication, facilitating, dealing with different perspectives

When teams work together well, something magic happens. But what elements constitute a high performing team? As a leader, how can you help ensure those conditions are met? In this leadership game, participants must work together to get every team member across an obstacle while blindfolded.

It’s a simple concept that creates a perfect space for exploring how teams operate and the role leaders have within them. Bring plenty of fun obstacles (squeaky toys are best) and encourage groups to think strategically for best results!

Minefield #teampedia #teamwork #action #team #icebreaker A fun activity that helps participants working together as a team while teaching the importance of communication, strategy and trust.

Crocodile River

The Crocodile River is a team-building activity in which group members need to support each other in a task to move from one end of a space to another. It requires working together creatively and strategically in order to solve a practical, physical problem. It tends to emphasize group communication, cooperation, leadership and membership, patience and problem-solving.

Crocodile River #hyperisland #team #outdoor A team-building activity in which a group is challenged to physically support one another in an endeavour to move from one end of a space to another. It requires working together creatively and strategically in order to solve a practical, physical problem. It tends to emphasize group communication, cooperation, leadership and membership, patience and problem-solving.

This is a simple game to help team members learn how to work together (better). It can also focus on the group’s understanding of communication, leadership, problem-solving, trust or persistence. Participants stand in a circle, close their eyes and put their hands into the circle to find two other hands to hold. Then they open their eyes and the group has to try to get back into a circle without letting go, though they can change their grip, of course.

Human Knot A physical-participation disentanglement puzzle that helps a group learn how to work together (self-organize) and can be used to illustrate the difference between self-organization and command-control management or simply as a get-to-know-you icebreaker. Standing in a circle, group members reach across to connect hands with different people. The group then tries to unravel the “human knot” by unthreading their bodies without letting go of each other people’s hands. As a management-awareness game to illustrate required change in behavior and leadership on a management level (e.g., illustrate the change from ‘task-oriented’ management towards ‘goal/value-oriented’ management).

Who are you? The pirate ship exercise

Every member of a group occupies a different position in the team. An effective team leader is one who considers their role and is aware of where employees also stand.

This leadership training activity is an effective method of getting a group to consider their roles with the metaphor of a pirate ship. Start by sharing the image and invite each person to consider which person on the deck they most identify with. Is it the captain, or perhaps is it the person repairing damage to the hull? What follows is an effective conversation on roles within a team.

Who are you? The pirate ship exercise (dinámica del barco pirata) #team alignment #team #remote-friendly #teamwork #warm up #icebreaker This an easy but powerful exercise to open a meeting or session and get participants to reflect on their attitudes or feelings about a topic, in the organization, team, or in the project.

Collaborative leadership activities

Whether you’re leading a small group or working across a massive organization, part of your role of a leader is to help their team work together more effectively. Removing obstacles to effective collaboration and creating frameworks for better teamwork is something you’ll be doing as a leader.

Use the activities below to develop the skills necessary to facilitate better collaboration and working habits between team members.

Circles of Influence

Effective teamwork is often about identifying where each member of a team can have the most impact and use their skills best. Leaders often need to find ways to identify where to direct their team and consider how different skills and working styles fit together to make a cohesive team. This activity makes it easy to facilitate this process and encourage employees to reflect and be proactive too!

We love that this leadership exercise encourages every team member to take responsibility and action. When looking for leadership qualities in a group and considering who you might want to develop into a future leader, this is also a great place to start!

Circles of Influence #hyperisland #team #team effectiveness A workshop to review team priorities and made choices about what to focus on individually and collectively. The workshop challenges members to reflect on where they can have the most impact and influence. Use this workshop to refine priorities and empower ownership among team members.

Team of Two

Whether you’re leading a team of just a few people or hundreds, the reality is that many of your discussions and interactions with the people you will lead will be interpersonal and one-on-one in nature. Developing the skillset you need to solve issues in your team when they arise and finding ways to ensure these conversations are productive is one of the most important things you can do as a leader.

Use Team of Two whether working online or as part of an in-person session to help your working pairs and interpersonal relationships go from strength to strength. By articulating needs and consequences clearly, this leadership exercise helps people communicate efficiently and see the results they need – a must for anyone in a leadership role!

Team of Two #communication #active listening #issue analysis #conflict resolution #issue resolution #remote-friendly #team Much of the business of an organisation takes place between pairs of people. These interactions can be positive and developing or frustrating and destructive. You can improve them using simple methods, providing people are willing to listen to each other. “Team of two” will work between secretaries and managers, managers and directors, consultants and clients or engineers working on a job together. It will even work between life partners.

What I Need From You

One of the most important leadership skills to cultivate is clarity: being clear in what you expect and need from others in your organisation or group is an integral component of high-functioning teams. With What I Need From You, each team member involved in the exchange is given the chance to articulate their core needs to others and respond in a structured way.

This kind of clear, direct action is great at unblocking conversational roadblocks in both large and small groups, and is something all leaders should have in their toolkit.

What I Need From You (WINFY) #issue analysis #liberating structures #team #communication #remote-friendly People working in different functions and disciplines can quickly improve how they ask each other for what they need to be successful. You can mend misunderstandings or dissolve prejudices developed over time by demystifying what group members need in order to achieve common goals. Since participants articulate core needs to others and each person involved in the exchange is given the chance to respond, you boost clarity, integrity, and transparency while promoting cohesion and coordination across silos: you can put Humpty Dumpty back together again!

Generative Relationships STAR

The relationships between the members of a team can make or break the work you do together. In this leadership training activity, leaders learn how to help a group understand their current working patterns and identify possible changes.

Each participant will individually rate the current performance of the group on the 4 points of the STAR compass tool included. Next, small groups will discuss their choices and find points of alignment and disagreement. Finally, the whole team will discuss the first steps they can take to improve relationships and performance for the group.

Generative Relationships STAR #team #liberating structures #teamwork You can help a group of people understand how they work together and identify changes that they can make to improve group performance. All members of the group diagnose current relationship patterns and decide how to follow up with action steps together, without intermediaries. The STAR compass tool helps group members understand what makes their relationships more or less generative. The compass used in the initial diagnosis can also be used later to evaluate progress in developing relationships that are more generative.

Team Canvas

When it comes to enabling true collaboration throughout your organization, it pays to involve your team members in helping shape the way you want to work together. Different leadership styles may call for a different approach to this process, but it’s always helpful to see a complete example of how you might define your team culture and working processes.

In this workshop template, you can see a complete agenda for a team canvas workshop. This will take a team through a process of co-creating and defining everything from your goals, values, assets, and rules. Effective leadership often means tapping into group intelligence and enabling your team to take shared ownership of their success. Team Canvas great way of achieving this!

Team Canvas Session #team alignment #teamwork #conflict resolution #feedback #teambuilding #team #issue resolution #remote-friendly The Team Canvas is Business Model Canvas for teamwork. It is an effective technique to facilitate getting teams aligned about their goals, values and purposes, and help team members find their role on the team.

Inspirational leadership activities

Great leaders inspire others. However, there are many different reasons why someone will find a leader inspirational. Developing the skills to inspire team members and lead with this energy is important, whatever your leadership style.

In order to grasp what facilitates inspiring leadership, try the following exercises. You’ll be surprised at how thinking more deeply about your own role models or what your values can help you in all of your leadership interactions!

Leadership Advice from your Role Model

Everyone is asked to think of a role model they look up to and ask themselves: If a young person would ask these role models for leadership advice and what kind of advice that would be.

Facilitate a group conversation where these pieces of advice are shared and contradicting points are discussed and reconciled. Given diverse enough responses, this structured sharing activity might be a good introduction to the concept of situational leadership.

Leadership Advice from Your Role Model #skills #leadership #thiagi #role playing This structured sharing activity provides a faster, cheaper, and better alternative to buying and reading a lot of books: You tap into the wisdom of the group—and of their role models.

Living Core Values

The core values of your organization are a great place to look when you want to inspire your team members. Leaders should be involved in defining and exemplifying their core values and also helping create space for the team to share how they’re living those values. The result is an inspiring leadership exercise that allows a leader to help the group celebrate their wins and also suggest places for improvement.

Start by choosing one of your core values and asking activity participants to share a story of how they have been practicing this core value. After sharing, ask the team to reflect on what inspired them from the story. As with any leadership development game, be the first one to share a story to help guide the discussion. Running this exercise will not only help inspire a team to greater heights but also surface any areas that need improvement – it’s a great method to have in your leadership toolbox!

Living Core Values #culture #values #core values, #connection #inspiration #virtual_friendly #team #team alignment #energizer #remote-friendly For use with a team, organization or any peer group forum. Can be done in person or virtual This is designed to create a conversation that brings Core Values alive. This is great for a team that knows what values they stand for. Through this exercise they will celebrate their values in action and therefore be energized to magnify them further. It will also help bring along anyone that is new so they can understand that the group really walks the talk

Throughout human history, stories have been a consistent source of inspiration. Whatever your leadership style, finding time to share more about your own story and create space for others to share theirs can be massively useful as a leader.

In Campfire, start by creating a selection of 10-20 sticky notes relating to a concept you wish to explore with the group. Put these on the wall and then invite your group to review them and consider stories they might tell related to one of those words. Start the storytelling session yourself and think about how you might inspire and elicit further stories from the rest of the team before passing the torch to the next person around the campfire!

This is a great activity to run during leadership training or when team building. Creating safe spaces for people to share their experiences is a leadership skill you absolutely want to cultivate and practice!

Campfire #gamestorming #team #remote-friendly #storytelling Campfire leverages our natural storytelling tendencies by giving players a format and a space in which to share work stories—of trial and error, failure and success, competition, diplomacy, and teamwork. Campfire is useful not only because it acts as an informal training game, but also because it reveals commonalities in employee perception and experience.

Letter from the Future

Leaders are often called upon to inspire their team members about the future of their product or organization. Employees who are excited about where you’re going are more likely to work together well and be energized to see results. This activity is useful for helping inspire a team, or even just to inspire yourself as a leader and get your vision for the future down on paper!

Begin by asking your team to speculate on what the world will look like in five years. Next, ask them to write a letter from the future detailing what the group has accomplished in that time and how they overcame any challenges.

Share the results to inspire the group for what you might accomplish and also start creating plans for how you’ll create your desired future. You might even find that running this activity solo is effective when thinking about how you want to develop as a team leader!

Letter from the Future #strategy #vision #thiagi #team #teamwork Teams that fail to develop a shared vision of what they are all about and what they need to do suffer later on when team members start implementing the common mandate based on individual assumptions. To help teams get started on the right foot, here is a process for creating a shared vision.

Leadership activities for personal development

A good leader is one who helps uplift and upskill the members of their team. These leadership activities are designed to help you encourage participants to be more autonomous, take initiative and work on their personal development.

If you’re new to a leadership role or trying on various leadership styles, these can also be great activities to practice on the road to leading a team. Growth and development is a vital aspect of employee happiness and fulfilment – be sure to bring ideas for enabling others to your leadership role.

Roles in a meeting

Learning by doing is an important aspect of effective leadership. Sometimes, you have to try something new and approach the task with an open mind while working to the best of your ability. This simple method is a great way of encouraging participants to take an important role during a meeting and also take part in developing and refining those roles.

If you’re running a leadership development program and want to start upskilling participants, this is a great way of delegating some simple leadership roles. Plus, it helps encourage the group to contribute and engage with how a successful meeting is put together too!

Roles in a meeting #meeting facilitation #remote-friendly #hybrid-friendly #skills Organize the day’s meeting by co-creating and assigning roles among participants.

Alignment & Autonomy

One of the most impactful things a leader can do is get out of a team’s way and allow them to perform more autonomously. Doing so effectively means people can take ownership of their work, be more invested, and develop their skills too. But how can you do this without creating chaos or misalignment?

In this activity, you first help every team member align on your goals and then reflect on where they can take more ownership and be more autonomous in their work while still contributing to the goals of the team. Not only is this a great way to help your team develop, but it also takes work off your plate as a leader and can enable you to get out of the trenches if necessary.

Alignment & Autonomy #team #team alignment #team effectiveness #hyperisland A workshop to support teams to reflect on and ultimately increase their alignment with purpose/goals and team member autonomy. Inspired by Peter Smith’s model of personal responsibility. Use this workshop to strengthen a culture of personal responsibility and build your team’s ability to adapt quickly and navigate change.

15% Solutions

One of the biggest barriers to personal development is being overwhelmed by what you need to do to achieve your goals. As a leader, you can help your team by enabling them to take the small, important actions that are within their control.

Start by asking participants to reflect on where they have the discretion and freedom to act and how they might make a small step towards a goal without needing outside help. By flipping the conversation to what 15% of a solution looks like, rather than 100%, employees can begin to make changes without fear of being overwhelmed.

15% Solutions #action #liberating structures #remote-friendly You can reveal the actions, however small, that everyone can do immediately. At a minimum, these will create momentum, and that may make a BIG difference. 15% Solutions show that there is no reason to wait around, feel powerless, or fearful. They help people pick it up a level. They get individuals and the group to focus on what is within their discretion instead of what they cannot change. With a very simple question, you can flip the conversation to what can be done and find solutions to big problems that are often distributed widely in places not known in advance. Shifting a few grains of sand may trigger a landslide and change the whole landscape.

The GROW Coaching Model

The best leaders are often great coaches, helping individual team members achieve their potential and grow. This tried and test method is a wonderful way to help activate the development of everyone from a new start to an established leader.

Begin by teaching your mentee or group the GROW acronym (Goal, Reality, Obstacles/Options, and Will.) and guide them through a process of defining each section and collectively agreeing on how you’ll make progress. This is an effective leadership activity that is great for leadership training and is equally useful when it comes to help any team member grow.

The GROW Coaching Model #hyperisland #coaching #growth #goal setting The GROW Model is a coaching framework used in conversations, meetings, and everyday leadership to unlock potential and possibilities. It’s a simple & effective framework for structuring your coaching & mentoring sessions and great coaching conversations. Easy to use for both face-to-face and online meetings. GROW is an acronym that stands for Goal, Reality, Obstacles/Options, and Will.

Decision-making leadership activities

An important aspect of leadership development is learning how to make informed and intelligent decisions while also ensuring you listen to your team. A leader who bulldozes their team into a decision without first listening to their expertise is not going to make their team feel valued.

The outcomes of uninformed decisions are often poor or frustrating for those involved too. While leaders are justifiably responsible for making final decisions, it’s integral to find methods to do so in a well-reasoned way.

These leadership activities are useful when it comes to making good decisions while involving your team members in the process and developing a leadership style that creates space for others.

When solving problems as a team, it’s common to have various options for moving forward. As a leader, it often falls to you to make the decision for which solution or direction to pursue. But how can you do that while also creating space for the opinions of your team to be heard?

Dotmocracy is a tried and tested facilitation method for making informed decisions with the help of your team. After presenting the available options, give everyone on your team a number of dots to indicate which option they prefer. You’ll want to adjust the number of votes based on the number of options there are to choose from. A good rule of thumb is to have fewer dots than there are options, giving just a few for every team member.

Leaders want to be on hand to break any ties and to facilitate discussion around what is chosen, but when it comes to making decisions with your team, this method is hard to beat.

Dotmocracy #action #decision making #group prioritization #hyperisland #remote-friendly Dotmocracy is a simple method for group prioritization or decision-making. It is not an activity on its own, but a method to use in processes where prioritization or decision-making is the aim. The method supports a group to quickly see which options are most popular or relevant. The options or ideas are written on post-its and stuck up on a wall for the whole group to see. Each person votes for the options they think are the strongest, and that information is used to inform a decision.

Impact and Effort Matrix

The hallmark of a good decision making process is transparency. Leaders should know why a decision is made and should be able to clearly explain their thinking to team members. As such, the best decision making activities make the process open and easy to understand.

Start this activity by creating a 2×2 matrix and then place possible options on the matrix based on the expected impact and effort it would take to achieve them. This makes it easy to prioritize and compare possible decisions while also including team members in the process.

An inclusive leadership style means bringing your own knowledge to the table while also listening to the opinions of the team. When running this activity, be sure to combine these aspects to ensure items are placed in the appropriate place on the matrix.

Impact and Effort Matrix #gamestorming #decision making #action #remote-friendly In this decision-making exercise, possible actions are mapped based on two factors: effort required to implement and potential impact. Categorizing ideas along these lines is a useful technique in decision making, as it obliges contributors to balance and evaluate suggested actions before committing to them.

Level of influence

Making the right decision is often a process of weighing up various factors and prioritizing accordingly. While there are many methods for doing this, being an effective leader often means making this as simple as possible.

We love this decision making activity because it asks the group (and its leader!) some simple questions to narrow down possible options and makes it easy to prioritize too. Start by asking the level of influence a team has to make possible actions happen and ranking them accordingly.

Next, choose those items that you have the most influence on and then prioritize the ones you really want to happen. This simple, two-step process is a great activity for leadership development as it is something any leader can use with ease!

Level of Influence #prioritization #implementation #decision making #planning #online facilitation This is a simple method to prioritize actions as part of an action planning workshop, after a list of actions has been generated.

Fishbone Analysis

Making good decisions requires a complete knowledge of the problem at hand. For leaders who may no longer be on the frontlines of their department, it’s important to surface insights from their team and understand the root cause of any problem before making a decision.

In this leadership activity, start by choosing a problem area and adding it to the head of the fish. Next, brainstorm ideas that might cause the problem and add these as categories to the skeleton. Brainstorm on each of these categories and ask why is this happening in order to dive deeper and fully understand the issue at hand before making an informed decision as a group.

Fishbone Analysis #problem solving ##root cause analysis #decision making #online facilitation A process to help identify and understand the origins of problems, issues or observations.

Leadership exercises for setting team values

Usually, the values of a leader are mirrored in the organization. If shortcuts are common practice for the leader, then she will see shortcuts made by her team members all across their projects. But if learning and self-improvement are important to the leader, then this will be a good foundation for these values in the whole organization, too.

To be more aware of your own values as a leader and then bring these ideas to your team, try these leadership exercises!

Explore Your Values

Explore your Values is a group exercise for thinking on what your own and your team’s most important values are. It’s done in an intuitive and rapid way to encourage participants to follow their intuitions rather than over-thinking and finding the “correct” values.

It’s a good leadership game to use to initiate reflection and dialogue around personal values and consider how various leadership styles might chime with some values more than others.

Explore your Values #hyperisland #skills #values #remote-friendly Your Values is an exercise for participants to explore what their most important values are. It’s done in an intuitive and rapid way to encourage participants to follow their intuitive feeling rather than over-thinking and finding the “correct” values. It is a good exercise to use to initiate reflection and dialogue around personal values.

Your Leadership Coat of Arms

In this leadership development activity, participants are asked to draw their own coat of arms symbolising the most important elements of their leadership philosophy. The coat of arms drawings are then debriefed and discussed together with the group.

This activity works well with equally well with leadership and team members. Creating a visual representation of what you stand for in the form of a coat of arms can help create a memorable asset you can refer to and rally behind in the future.

Your Leadership Coat of Arms #leadership #leadership development #skills #remote-friendly #values In this leadership development activity, participants are asked to draw their own coat of arms symbolising the most important elements of their leadership philosophy. The coat of arms drawings are then debriefed and discussed together with the group. After the exercise you may prepare a coat of arms gallery, exhibiting the leadership approach and philosophy of group members

Team Purpose & Culture

Ensuring all group participants are aligned when it comes to purpose and cultural values is one of the jobs of a leader. Teams and organizations that have a shared and cohesive vision are often happier and more productive and by helping a group arrive at these conclusions, a good leader can help empower everyone to succeed. Even with multi-discipline teams and organizations with different leadership styles, this method is an effective way of getting everyone on the same page. This is a framework you’ll likely use again and again with different teams throughout your career.

Team Purpose & Culture #team #hyperisland #culture #remote-friendly This is an essential process designed to help teams define their purpose (why they exist) and their culture (how they work together to achieve that purpose). Defining these two things will help any team to be more focused and aligned. With support of tangible examples from other companies, the team members work as individuals and a group to codify the way they work together. The goal is a visual manifestation of both the purpose and culture that can be put up in the team’s work space.

Leadership communication activities

Leaders are usually viewed as the parents of the organization. It is expected from them that they take care of their people and make sure that proper norms and rules are followed. One of the key areas where a leader has a large influence is the style and amount of communication between people.

Active Listening and giving effective feedback are critical skills to have as a leader but are also crucial for your team members. In fact, the issue that leaders rank as one of the biggest barriers to successful leadership is avoiding tough conversations, including giving honest, constructive feedback .

Develop good communication practices with the following leadership games and activities.

Active Listening

This activity supports participants in reflecting on a question and generating their own solutions using simple principles of active listening and peer coaching. It’s an excellent introduction to active listening but can also be used with groups that are already familiar with this activity. Participants work in groups of three and take turns being “the subject” who will explore a question, “the listener” who is supposed to be totally focused on the subject, and “the observer” who will watch the dynamic between the other two.

Active Listening #hyperisland #skills #active listening #remote-friendly This activity supports participants to reflect on a question and generate their own solutions using simple principles of active listening and peer coaching. It’s an excellent introduction to active listening but can also be used with groups that are already familiar with it. Participants work in groups of three and take turns being: “the subject”, the listener, and the observer.

Trust battery

Every time you work together with someone, your trust battery – the trust you have towards a certain person, or the ‘emotional credit’ that person has in your eyes – either charges or depletes based on things like whether you deliver on what you promise and the social interaction you exhibit. A low trust battery is the core of many personal issues at the workplace.

This self-assessment activity allows you and your team members to reflect on the ‘trust battery’ they individually have towards each person on the team and encourages focus on actions that can charge the depleted trust batteries. It also works great when promoting virtual leadership and working with online teams!

Trust Battery #leadership #teamwork #team #remote-friendly This self-assessment activity allows you and your team members to reflect on the ‘trust battery’ they individually have towards each person on the team, and encourages focus on actions that can charge the depleted trust batteries.

Feedback: Start, Stop, Continue

Regular and constructive feedback is one of the most important ingredients for effective teams. Openness creates trust, and trust creates more openness. This is an activity for teams that have worked together for some time and are familiar with giving and receiving feedback. The objective of Start, Stop, Continue is to examine aspects of a situation or develop next steps by polling people on what to start, what to stop and what to continue doing.

For those in charge of online leadership, it’s vital to find ways of having difficult conversations in constructive ways virtually – try this method when working to resolve issues with your distributed team!

Feedback: Start, Stop, Continue #hyperisland #skills #feedback #remote-friendly Regular, effective feedback is one of the most important ingredients in building constructive relationships and thriving teams. Openness creates trust and trust creates more openness. Feedback exercises aim to support groups to build trust and openness and for individuals to gain self-awareness and insight. Feedback exercises should always be conducted with thoughtfulness and high awareness of group dynamics. This is an exercise for groups or teams that have worked together for some time and are familiar with giving and receiving feedback. It uses the words “stop”, “start” and “continue” to guide the feedback messages.

Reflection: Team

All leaders know the value of structured and considered reflection. Teams that take the time to reflect and improve are those that can grow and by creating an environment of reflection, team leaders and managers can help their group move forward together. This method is effective for both offline and virtual leadership development. It helps a group progress from individual reflection through to full group discussion in a way that encourages constructive thought and minimizes potential frustration or antagonistic conversation.

Reflection: Team #hyperisland #team #remote-friendly The purpose of reflecting as a team is for members to express thoughts, feelings and opinions about a shared experience, to build openness and trust in the team, and to draw out key learnings and insights to take forward into subsequent experiences. Team members generally sit in a circle, reflecting first as individuals, sharing those reflections with the group, then discussing the insights and potential actions to take out of the session. Use this session one or more times throughout a project or program.

Leadership conflict resolution activities

One of the most important leadership skills you’ll want to develop is the ability to mediate and resolve team conflicts. Even the most connected and effective teams can run into conflict and it will fall to managers and team leaders to help get things back on track.

Even for established leaders, navigating conflict can be difficult! These leadership development activities are designed to help groups manage and resolve conflicts more effectively.

Giving leaders a framework they can trust and use with their team right away is always a good use of time, and we’d recommend teaching these methods to all new leaders!

What, So What, Now What?

It’s easy to get lost in the woods when it comes to managing conflict. Helping a group see what happened objectively and without judgment is an important leadership skill, and this framework helps make this process easy.

Start by working with the group to collect facts about what happened before moving towards making sense of them. Once everywhere has been heard and given space to process these facts, you can then move towards suggesting practical actions. By following this kind of framework, you can manage a conflict in a pragmatic way that also ensures everyone in a group can contribute.

W³ – What, So What, Now What? #issue analysis #innovation #liberating structures You can help groups reflect on a shared experience in a way that builds understanding and spurs coordinated action while avoiding unproductive conflict. It is possible for every voice to be heard while simultaneously sifting for insights and shaping new direction. Progressing in stages makes this practical—from collecting facts about What Happened to making sense of these facts with So What and finally to what actions logically follow with Now What . The shared progression eliminates most of the misunderstandings that otherwise fuel disagreements about what to do. Voila!

Conflict Responses

All of us can be guilty of handling conflicts in a less than ideal manner. Part of developing as a leader is identifying when something didn’t go well before finding ways to do things better next time.

In this leadership activity, ask the group to provide examples of previous conflicts and then reflect on how they handled them. Next, ask everyone to reflect on how they might change their behavior for a better outcome in the future. As a leader, use this opportunity to lead the way and be honest and vulnerable. It’s your role to provide a model for interaction and its always worthwhile to see how you can do better as a people manager dealing with conflict too!

Conflict Responses #hyperisland #team #issue resolution A workshop for a team to reflect on past conflicts, and use them to generate guidelines for effective conflict handling. The workshop uses the Thomas-Killman model of conflict responses to frame a reflective discussion. Use it to open up a discussion around conflict with a team.

Bright Blurry Blind

Finding opportunities to reframe conflict as an opportunity to solve problems and create clarity is a very useful leadership quality. Often, conflict is a signifier of a deeper problem and so finding ways to surface and work on these issues as a team is a great way to move forward and bring a group together too.

In this leadership activity, start by asking the group to reflect on the central metaphor of bright to blind issues or topics, based on whether the problem is out in the open or unknown. Next, invite small groups to ideate on what issues facing the team are bright, blurry, or blind and then discuss them as a group. By working together to illuminate what is blurry or blind, you can create a one-team mentality and start resolving problems that can lead to conflict too.

Bright Blurry Blind #communication #collaboration #problem identification #issue analysis This is an exercise for creating a sense of community, support intra and inter departmental communication and breakdown of “Silos” within organizations. It allows participants to openly speak about current issues within the team and organization.

The Art of Effective Feedback Workshop

All leaders will need to give effective feedback in order to help their team develop and do great work. The best leaders also solicit feedback from their direct reports and use this is an opportunity to grow. But how can you teach these feedback skills and help leaders develop this important skill?

Check out our Effective Feedback Workshop template for a complete agenda you can use to develop this leadership skill. You’ll find a ready-to-go workshop with a guide and PowerPoint presentation you can use to help anyone in a leadership role give and receive better feedback.

Workshop design made easy

Designing and running effective workshops and meetings is an important leadership skill; whether it’s staying organized and on time during your daily stand-ups or planning more involved sessions.

With SessionLab, it’s easy to create engaging workshops that create impact while engaging every member of your team. Drag, drop and reorder blocks to build your agenda. When you make changes or update your agenda, your session timing adjusts automatically , saving you time on manual adjustments.

Collaborating with stakeholders or clients? Share your agenda with a single click and collaborate in real-time. No more sending documents back and forth over email.

Explore how you and your team might use SessionLab to design more effective sessions or watch this five minute video to see the planner in action!

Now over to you…

I hope you have found some useful tips for leadership development workshops above. Now we’d love to hear from you!

What are your favorite leadership workshop ideas and training exercises for leadership development? Did you incorporate any of them into your facilitation practice?

Have you tried any of the activities above? Let us know about your experiences in the comments.

23 Comments

Thank you for sharing such great activity ideas. It is greatly appreciated and a perfect example of how the internet can and does serve the greater good!

Thank you, Jeanne! Great to see that you have found some useful ideas here!

Thank you this is very helpful in building new activities and revitalising teaching.

You’re welcome, Christine! Great to see that you’ve found the post helpful!

Thank you for the magnanimity of sharing these activities. We will choose and run and I am sure they will be very effective.

You are welcome, Roofi – enjoy using these activities at your sessions!

Thank you for sharing such great activity ideas. I will use in my leadership training programme

You are welcome man, happy to see that you’ve found some useful inspiration in this post!

Awesome resources for leadership coaching. Thank you so much! Cheers Marion (From Australia)

You’re welcome, Marion! I’m happy to hear you’ve found interesting the techniques above :-)

Thank you so much . I am really having a hard time thinking about what activities to include for my leadership training talk . This is of great help .

That’s nice to hear – I hope your training talk with go great! :-)

These exercises sound great. Does anyone have any feedback as to how these exercises have worked with their teams? Thanks!

Thank you for the question, Jennifer. We’ve used some of these activities at our own team meetings at SessionLab, and I’ve used other ones earlier on at different training workshops. Which one would you be interested to hear more about?

Thank you for these activities, I have used some of them already in my classes when teaching about leadership and leadership styles. Köszönöm!

That’s great to hear, you’re welcome, Réka! If you have any suggestion on how to tweak or run better these activities, we’d love to hear your thoughts :-)

Thank you for these activities. I was struggling to find activities to work on with groups as small as 1-5, but this should work well.

You’re welcome, Albert – Indeed, most of these activities do work well in small groups as well. Wishing best with your next sessions!

wow! this great! very helpful for trainers like me…. thanks you for sharing …

You’re welcome, I’m happy you’ve found these activities useful!

Hi I am trying to find an online simulation for a course I am designing for a college in Ontario, Canada. I am hoping to find something like your Leadership Envelope but in a virtual format or game. The ’rounds’ aspect is particularly interesting as I would like the students to work with one team over 14 weeks and then submit assigned work based on their experiences related to the course concepts.

Please let me know if you provide something like this or can help in any way.

Hey Rick! Thanks for your comment :)

Leadership Envelope is a great method! Sadly, there’s nothing quite like it in our remote-friendly section of the library currently, though there are a heap of virtual team building activities that could be adapted to go for multiple rounds.

We did have some thoughts on how you might perform the Leadership Envelope in a remote format, which I hope will help!

– Use breakout groups in Zoom for each group. – Have each team pass their virtual “envelope” with responses to the facilitator, either over Slack, PM or email – The facilitator then “passes” the leadership principle to the next team, though keeps the responses back – Play continues, with the facilitator collecting the responses under each leadership principle for later distribution – we’d recommend setting these up in an online whiteboard such as Mural or a Google Doc so teams can review them during the evaluation round – In the evaluation round, share the online whiteboard/Google Doc with the teams – they can then score them in the shared online space and present back to the group from there :) – For the final round, everyone returns to a single Zoom session, each team reclaims their cards (or the facilitator can distribute them back) and then you can debrief :)

Hope that helps, Rick! Using a shared online space such as Mural is also a great shout for an ongoing course, as you can collect and display artifacts generated by the teams throughout :)

Let us know how you get on!

Thank you for having the time and effort on sharing this amazing blog with us! I’ll probably read more of your articles.

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5 Steps to Creating a Successful Leadership Development Plan

27 Nov 2019

Leadership development is a key initiative for many businesses. Organizations not only try to recruit candidates with leadership potential but cultivate their current employees’ leadership skills.

In a survey by global research and advisory firm Gartner , 60 percent of human resources executives said they’ll focus on cultivating leader and manager effectiveness for their company in 2023. In doing so, they intend to nurture the professional development of potential leaders by developing specific leadership qualities, such as authenticity, empathy, and adaptiveness—representing a new kind of “human” leadership.

Additionally, a report by the World Economic Forum projects leadership and social influence to be among the fastest-growing workplace skills through 2022, which ties into a burgeoning trend for all workers to become lifelong learners to address emerging skills gaps.

For motivated professionals who want to advance their careers and assume leadership positions, creating a leadership development plan is vital to staying ahead of the curve and rising to the demands of the job market. According to Harvard Business School Professor Ethan Bernstein, the path to effective leadership is more fluid now than in the past.

“Once upon a time, you would enter a leadership development program in a company that might put you on a 20-year track to becoming an executive,” Bernstein says. “Many of us can’t even fathom that today. But that should be freeing in that it gives us license to develop ourselves and create our own individualized leadership development plans.”

As you plot your career trajectory and consider how you can maximize your professional influence and impact, here are five steps to creating a successful leadership development plan.

How to Design Your Leadership Development Plan

1. assess where you are professionally.

Mapping your leadership development starts with understanding yourself and where you stand professionally. Taking stock of your strengths, weaknesses, and workplace tendencies can help identify areas for improvement and anticipate pitfalls that could arise on your journey to becoming a more capable leader.

“In the process of identifying how what you’ve done before may or may not make you successful going forward, you raise your awareness about how what you already know will contribute to, or undermine, your capacity to successfully lead others in the future,” Bernstein says.

Completing an assessment can be a valuable way to reflect on your motivational drivers and limitations and gain a more holistic view of your personal leadership style . Pairing self-reflection with a 360-degree assessment enables you to solicit feedback from colleagues and peers, which can provide greater insight into how others experience you. In turn, you can build and leverage a keener sense of emotional intelligence throughout your leadership development journey.

Related: 4 Tips for Developing Your Personal Leadership Style

2. Set an Attainable Goal

Goal setting is an essential component of any leadership development plan.

“Just like anything else: If you don’t know where you’re going, you’re probably not going to get there,” Bernstein says. “It sounds overly simplistic, but that summarizes why goals are important."

Bernstein teaches the PACE model, an acronym for:

Pick a leadership goal
Apprise others in your inner circle of the goal
Collect specific ideas on how to improve
Elicit feedback on how you’re doing

The PACE Model in Leadership Development

PACE is employed by learners to select leadership development goals and chart a course of action for achieving them. The first step in the process, Pick, is centered on identifying and prioritizing a goal you can strive toward to boost your professional effectiveness. When setting this goal, take an agile approach and consider both the short and long term.

“You can’t lose sight of where you’re trying to go over the span of a decade—or even a career—which is why making long-term goals is important,” Bernstein says. “But we can’t, as human beings, make progress if we make the milestones so grand and far away that they seem unachievable. A little bit of progress each day keeps the frustration at bay.”

As you define and establish your key goal, consider how you’ll measure progress along the way to ensure you stay on track.

How to Become a More Effective Leader | Access Your Free E-Book | Download Now

3. Engage in Leadership Training

Leadership training can benefit you no matter your career stage. Beyond the opportunity to gain and practice the technical skills needed to empower employees and influence others , you’re exposed to faculty and peers you can lean on for support and learn and grow from. It can also equip you for future leadership roles.

According to Bernstein, honing your leadership abilities in a classroom setting is advantageous because it provides a low-risk environment for reevaluating and fine-tuning goals when you encounter setbacks.

“It’s helpful to have a group of people—we call it your ‘inner circle’—who’ve heard and embraced your leadership goals, and whose conversations helped inform how you would go about achieving them,” Bernstein says. “In moments of challenge and relapse, you can go back to them for encouragement and courage. You can revise your goals in a safe environment because you have a level of openness and vulnerability with those people built into the course.”

4. Interact with Your Network

A professional network is one of the most valuable resources in any leader’s arsenal, so make it a point to grow yours . Throughout your leadership development journey, connecting with like-minded peers can have a positive impact by providing opportunities to employ the knowledge you’ve gained and receive feedback on your progress.

These kinds of interactions are core tenets of the online course Leadership Principles , in which learners practice delivering feedback through video exercises that allow them to evaluate their effectiveness in various business scenarios.

“Ensure your leadership development includes some interaction with other learners and also with the people who are benefitting and suffering from your current capabilities as a leader,” Bernstein says. “We try to teach people to be good protégés, as well as good leaders. It’s an ongoing process. That interaction is important in making things that seem very theoretical ultimately become very practical.”

5. Hone Your Soft Skills

Effective leadership requires a unique blend of characteristics and skills .

“There are skills you need as a leader that you don’t necessarily develop in any other context, at least in a focused way,” Bernstein says. “These include communication; career planning; knowing how to create and evaluate authentic change in a person, including yourself; and negotiating career transitions. These are things you typically won’t do many times in your career, but they will be very important to continuing your leadership trajectory.”

As you chart your leadership development plan, consider how you can bolster essential soft skills like actively listening , practicing empathy , and creating value in a negotiation to ensure you’re prepared to tackle any organizational challenges that come your way.

Leadership Principles | Unlock your leadership potential | Learn More

Developing Your Leadership Skills

Striving to become a strong, capable leader is a commitment you can make at any stage of your career —although doing so sooner means you can reap the benefits longer. By assessing where you are professionally and thinking deeply about where you want to go, you can design a leadership development plan that enables you to channel your passions and build the skills needed to be more impactful in your role.

Do you want to enhance your leadership skills? Download our free leadership e-book and explore our online course Leadership Principles to discover how you can become a more effective leader and unleash the potential in yourself and others.

This post was updated on December 21, 2022. It was originally published on November 27, 2019.

About the Author

83 Leadership Activities, Building Games, and Exercises

Leadership activities are associated with benefits to business, including increased performance and productivity.

However, perhaps the sign of a truly successful leader is a happy, healthy workplace. Interested in what leadership activities can do for your workplace or school? Read on.

With the activities below, there may be some overlap with activities found under certain headings – for example, activities suitable for adults may also be useful for groups, or with employees.

Before you continue, we thought you might like to download our three Positive Leadership Exercises for free . These detailed, science-based exercises will help you or others adopt positive leadership practices and help organizations thrive.

This Article Contains:

What are leadership activities, what are they used for, 8 examples of leadership activities, 4 leadership workshop ideas, 2 activities that showcase different leadership styles, 3 situational leadership activities and scenarios, 8 games and activities for kids to learn leadership skills, 6 leadership development activities for teens and youth (pdf), 3 classroom leadership activities for students in elementary and middle school, 6 leadership activities and games for high school students, 3 activities and exercises for college students (pdf), 7 leadership games and activities for adults, 5 leadership group and team activities, 8 leadership training activities for employees, 5 leadership building exercises for managers, 11 leadership exercises for team building in the workplace, a take-home message.

Increasingly, people are assuming positions of leadership in the workplace (Cserti, 2018). However, the journey to becoming a leader is lengthy (Cserti, 2018). Leadership activities are valuable on the journey to becoming an effective leader , and also develop confidence in leadership teams (Cserti, 2018; Stepshift, 2016).

Leadership activities may be conducted on or off site, and be physical or sedentary (Stepshift, 2016). Leadership activities can either be performed by a leader in their own team, or with an external facilitator (Cserti, 2018). They may take the form of specially organized themed events, such as scavenger hunts (Stepshift, 2016). Or, they may be smaller, office-based tasks built into an ordinary workday.

For example, leadership activities could consist of meeting openers or conference break activities (Stepshift, 2016).

Leadership activities can be an effective way for individuals to practice and strengthen their leadership and team-building skills (Cserti, 2018). They can also be fun!

The structure of leadership activities is essential. It is important that the participants can relate the activity to the workplace setting (Stepshift, 2016).

The 10 Skills Every Leadership Coach Should Teach

The working style, principles, and values of a leader is a crucial aspect in determining the behavior within an organization (Cserti, 2018). Leadership training can help leaders become role-models (Cserti, 2018). The behavior of leaders and what they consider the “norm” determines which behaviors are enforced and those which are punished (Cserti, 2018).

Given the importance of a leader’s behavior, it is also essential that they learn skills, such as:

Communication

Leaders need to develop the ability to clearly, succinctly explain to employees everything from the goals of a company to the details of specific work-tasks (Doyle, 2019). Many components are important for effective communication , including active listening, reading body language and written communication such as emails (Doyle, 2019).

Leaders need to inspire employees. They may do this by increasing worker’s self-esteem , by recognizing effort and achievement, or by giving a worker new responsibilities to further their investment in the business (Doyle, 2019).

Leaders can achieve this by identifying the skills that workers have, and as such assign tasks to each worker based on the skills they have (Doyle, 2019).

Being positive helps develop a happy , healthy work environment, even when the workplace is busy or stressful (Doyle, 2019).

Trustworthiness

By demonstrating integrity , workers will feel at ease to approach their leader with questions or concerns (Doyle, 2019). Building trust is one of the most essential leadership skills.

Good leaders are willing to try novel solutions or to approach problems in a non-traditional way (Doyle, 2019).

Leaders are constantly on the lookout for opportunities to provide team members with information about their performance, without ‘micromanaging’ their work (Doyle, 2019).

Responsibility

A good leader accepts mistakes or failures and instead look for solutions for improvement of a situation (Doyle, 2019). This skill also includes being reflective and being open to feedback (Doyle, 2019).

A leader should strive to follow through with everything that they agree to do (Doyle, 2019). It also involves applying appropriate feedback and keeping promises (Doyle, 2019).

Flexibility

Leaders need to be able to accept changes and creatively problem-solve, as well as being open to suggestions and feedback (Doyle, 2019).

While these skills are explained in a workplace context, they can easily be applied to other leadership situations such as sports or community groups.

Now that you have more clarity as to what leadership activities are, and what they are used for, let us look at a wide selection of activities. While some of the activities and games may not immediately appear to be ‘leadership activities,’ the chosen activities might develop and promote the leadership skills outlined above.

7 Ways to Practice Leadership Without Actually Being a Leader

Here are eight such activities:

Sports Sports provide the experience of being a team member and developing leadership skills (Flavin, 2018).
Cross-cultural experience Experiences with a different culture provide new, potentially uncomfortable situations and help develop communication skills that may not be learned elsewhere (Flavin, 2018). Overseas travel, or working with a different cultural group within your community can provide an opportunity to learn new skills, or may involve barriers that must be overcome – all teaching leadership (Flavin, 2018).
Social groups Involvement in social activities helps potential leaders develop a well-rounded, confident personality which enhances their capacity to lead a team (Flavin, 2018).
Internships Taking an internship position demonstrates initiative in finding opportunities to learn and seeking practical work – valuable skills in leadership (Flavin, 2018).
Volunteering As well as showing ambition, volunteering shows that you are willing to commit yourself to something that you are passionate about (Flavin, 2018).
Student government and organizations Specifically considering students, being involved in co-curricular organizations help individuals develop leadership (Flavin, 2018). Being involved in student government or organizations can provide opportunities to demonstrate leadership and have an impact on those around you (Flavin, 2018).
‘Passion projects’ Showing commitment to a passion for better communities; for example, mentoring shows that you are likely to focus on the greater good for a team (Flavin, 2018).
‘Teamwork’ This can be anything at all, from helping out with planning a family event or participating in a volunteer day, will demonstrate and develop leadership skills (Flavin, 2018).

Download 3 Free Positive Leadership Exercises (PDF)

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Effective leaders are aware that continuing professional and personal development is the key to ongoing success (Higgins, 2018). As such, they recognize that leadership workshops are important (Higgins, 2018). What activities can be used in such a workshop?

Here are four suggestions:

Idea 1: ‘Tallest Tower’ (from Stepshift, 2016)

Participants are provided with everyday items such as toothpicks, wooden blocks, uncooked pasta and so on. The task is to build the tallest possible free-standing structure from the materials provided. This activity is designed to encourage creative problem-solving and developing collaboration skills.

Idea 2: ‘Centre Stage’ (from Higgins, 2018)

Select four team members as volunteers. One team member plays the role of an employee who has missed meetings or been late to work in recent times. Each of the other three participants demonstrates a different style of leader (to save time, nominate the particular personality trait). Ask all participants to form a circle, and put two chairs in the middle of the circle.

After each demonstration of how to deal with the employee, ask the whole group to reflect on the different leadership approaches. For example, the group could consider what worked and what did not. Finally, to conclude this activity, ask the group to consider what the ‘ideal’ leader would do in the scenario.

Idea 3: ‘Minefield’ (from Stepshift, 2016)

This activity helps build trust and improve communication skills. It involves participants working in pairs, with one team member being blindfolded. Then, using only specified communication techniques, the pair negotiate their way around or over a ‘minefield’ of obstacles.

So, for example, the participants may be told they are only able to use commands such as the words ‘left’ or ‘right,’ ‘forwards’ or ‘backwards.’ The aim is to help the blindfolded team member to navigate the ‘minefield’.

Idea 4: ‘Magic Carpet’ (from Higgins, 2018)

Provide a small tarp or rug, which has enough room for all workshop participants to stand within its boundaries. Then, inform the group that their task is to work together to flip the rug or tarp over without any participant stepping off. If (or when) a participant steps off the teams have discussed all of the paragraphs or tarp, the team must begin again.

These are: autocratic (also known as authoritarian), delegative (also called ‘free reign)’ and democratic (which is also called participative) (Clark, 2015; Johnson-Gerard, 2017).

An autocratic leader makes decisions without first consulting others, while a delegative leader allows the staff to make the decisions (Johnson-Gerard, 2017). Finally, a democratic leader consults with the staff in making workplace decisions (Johnson-Gerard, 2017).

Here is an excellent resource for exploring different leadership styles.

The workbook also provides some helpful worksheets.

The following two activities help participants think more deeply about styles of leadership. The group should be divided into small groups of 3 – 4 participants. The participants work in groups for the first activity, and then they work individually on the second activity.

Activity One (Clark, 2015)

Provide a list of approximately 10 – 12 scenarios displaying the three different leadership styles. For example, “a new supervisor has just been put in charge of the production line. He immediately starts by telling the crew what change needs to be made. When some suggestions are made, he tells them he does not have time to consider them”.

The group then works together to figure out which leadership style is used in each scenario and to talk about whether it is effective, or if a different style could work better.

Encourage participants to think about themselves in a similar situation and their reaction to the particular leadership style.

Activity Two (Clark, 2015)

Provide participants with the statement ‘consider a time when you, or another leader, used the authoritarian (autocratic), participative (democratic) or delegative (free reign) style of leadership’.

Ask participants to reflect on the statement and make a few comments, such as: was it effective? Would a different leadership style have worked better? What were the employees’ experiences? Did they learn from the leadership style? What was it they learned? Which style is easiest to use (and why)? Alternatively, nominate the style which the participant prefers (and why).

To conclude these two activities, come together as a whole group and discuss what was learned about the three styles of leadership.

Leadership building activities – Project management training – ProjectManager

Situational leadership is when a leader is flexible in their approach and uses different leadership strategies depending on the situation (Johnson-Gerard, 2017). The following three games, from Johnson-Gerard (2017) provide an opportunity to explore situational leadership:

1. ‘Jumping Ship’

The aim of this game is for participants to reflect upon different leadership styles and come up with a list of actual workplace scenarios which would need a leader to abandon a natural leadership style for one that is more effective (i.e., to ‘jump ship’).

Each group is given three large pieces of paper. Ask the teams to write one style of leadership on each (i.e., autocratic, delegative, democratic). Then, allow the groups 45 minutes to come up with real work situations for which employing the particular leadership style would be disastrous.

Ask the groups to place the sheets of paper up on the wall, and to discuss the sheets as a team. As a whole group, review the posters.

2. ‘Who Ya Gonna Call’

Each participant begins by writing a one-paragraph description of a work situation that is not going well. Collect these, and at the top of each page, number them in consecutive order. Then, divide the participants into two teams.

Give each team half of the paragraphs. Then, ask the teams to choose the style of leadership that would be the least and the most effective in solving the problem. Have the teams note their answers on a piece of paper, being sure to identify the paragraph number on the top of each page, and their choices.

Then, ask the teams to swap paragraphs and repeat the activity.

When the teams have discussed all the paragraphs, discuss the scenarios and review the choices as a group. Where the team’s choices are different, discuss as a group.

3. ‘Ducks in a Row’

This particular activity enables participants to devise a 3-to-5 step decision-making process they can use when challenging leadership situations occur.

Ask participants to form pairs. Then, ask them to come up with the steps that an effective leader goes through in order to work out how to manage a difficult situation. After about 30 minutes, ask each pair to review the steps they have come up with for the group, and to write them on a large piece of paper.

Ask every pair to review their process, and after all the pairs have done so, have a group discussion that enables a consensus to be reached about the three to five most effective steps to take in a difficult leadership situation.

Edsys (2016) provides eight suggested activities for children to learn leadership skills:

1. ‘Create a New You’

Provide children with materials such as textas, crayons, poster/construction paper, magazines, and scissors. Then, ask them to draw themselves, using things that clearly show that the picture is theirs – such as using cut-outs of their most favorite things to do, foods they like, pets, and whatever else makes them unique.

Once the children have finished their posters, they can show their completed work to the other children – helping kids to improve their confidence to lead.

2. ‘Same or Different’

The children sit in a circle. Ask the first child to point to another child in the circle who is similar to them, either in appearance, hair-style or clothing color. Then, when the child has chosen someone, ask them to note other differences and similarities they have with the child they have chosen.

3. ‘Move the Egg’

Ask children to form groups of four or five. Then, have the children select a leader for their team. Each participant is given a spoon and an egg. The leader has the task of finding an effective way to move the eggs from one point to another. For example, one option may be for children to form a line to pass each egg along.

Another leader may suggest forgetting about the spoons altogether and merely tell their group to make a run for it. The winner of the game is the group that can get their egg safely across the finish in the most creative way.

4. ‘Lead the Blindfolded’

This game requires a large indoor or outdoor area. Divide the children into two groups and give them enough blindfolds for everyone except one member to put on. The teams are placed at opposite sides of the space. The child who is not blindfolded is required to lead their team to the other side of the designated space, using clear commands.

Ensure that each member of the team has an opportunity to lead their team. The winner is the team that sees its members successfully cross the finish line.

5. ‘Charity Support’

Help children support a charity by organizing a fundraiser. Each child can have a different task. For example, one child may select the charity, another may find a suitable space to hold the fundraising activity, and another child can collect donations.

6. ‘Planning Strategies’

Teach children to divide a large task into smaller steps. Set the children a large task, such as holding a class function. Show the children a plan that enables them to achieve the task step by step. This activity can involve a number of children sharing tasks. Suggest to the children how they may be able to improve.

7. ‘Volunteer Roles’

Volunteering plays a role in leadership. Discuss with children how they would like to help someone in need. Older children may be interested in taking a role in an organization in their community. The children should be helped to select a volunteer opportunity that gives them a chance to practice leadership and work with other children.

8. ‘A Quick Quiz’

In this task, ask students to be prepared to evaluate an experience when it is over. Then, after the experience, ask the child questions. For example, inquire “Do you remember the name of the dog we saw?”, “What was it?”, “Did you touch the dog?”, “What is the owner’s name?” and so on.

This is an excellent introduction to leadership for kids in grades 4 – 6 (children aged approximately 9 – 12 years).

The following resources are appropriate for helping teens and youth to develop leadership:

1. “Leaders are, can, and think”

This looks at what a leader is, and what their role can and should be.

2. “Who do you admire and why?”

This worksheet examines leadership role models and the qualities we see in them that we want to develop in ourselves.

3. “4 Ways leaders approach tasks: Leaders Motivation”

This handout focuses on leadership attitude.

4. “Lesson Planet”

Links to 45+ reviewed resources for teen leadership which can be accessed free by registering your details.

5. The Women’s Learning Partnership

This partnership has created a comprehensive manual for promoting leadership for teens aged 13 – 17 years. The manual outlines a number of sessions which guide leadership development activities.

6. “I Care Values Activity”

This is a fun, engaging and introspective activity . It is suitable for students aged 13 and upwards, so it can be used with older students or adults too.

Examples of such activities are:

1. ‘Just Listen’ (Edsys, 2016)

Make an agreement that you and the student(s) will refrain from talking about yourselves for a whole day. Ask them, rather, to listen to others, and if they do talk to another person, it should be about the person whom they are talking to. This game helps children to learn how important it is to focus on other people rather than themselves, which forms the basis of ‘relational leadership’.

2. Silence Classroom Leadership Game (Stapleton, 2018).

To begin the activity, the teacher divides students into two teams, and the teams move to either side of the classroom. The desks may be pushed aside to create more space. The teacher instructs the students to, for example, ‘line up according to the first letter of your surname’ or ‘arrange yourselves into age order by the month your birthday is in’. The students then follow the directions without speaking a word to one another.

Students are permitted to use hand signals, or even write instructions down on paper. The teacher’s instruction to the students is that they are not allowed to talk. The winning team is the one that completes the task successfully.

3. ‘The Cup Game’ (Tony, 2018)

Divide students into pairs and select one student to be the leader. Each team should face each other standing up, with a plastic cup in the middle. The leader calls out simple directions, such as ‘touch your knee’, ‘close one eye’ and so on.

When the leader calls out “cup” the students should try and be the first to grab the cup. The player who successfully grabs the cup should pair up with another player who also got the cup. Those without a cup sit down and watch.

Once the new teams of two have formed, the cup is put in between the players and the game begins again. This process continues until only one person is left standing – and the resulting winner becomes the new leader… and play can begin all over again.

By high school, students are more sophisticated. Here are some interesting activities for high school students to develop leadership.

1. Brainstorming for change (Stapleton, 2018)

The teacher puts students into groups of 4 or 5. The goal is for students to come up with possible solutions to social, political or economic problems. Working together, students brainstorm both small- and large-scale solutions to a given problem topic.

Once the groups have finalized their list of detailed solutions, the teacher facilitates a discussion with the whole class, and together they examine which of the identified solutions could be a viable option and why.

2. Leadership characteristics (Stapleton, 2018)

The teacher puts students into pairs or groups of three. Then, each group member shares a story about someone whom they consider to be an influential leader. After each story has been shared, students discuss the characteristics that they think made the person in the story an effective leader.

Once each student has shared a story, students compile a list of all the characteristics of an influential leader they identified. Post these characteristics on the walls around the classroom.

3. Blindfold leader game (Stapleton, 2018)

The teacher arranges the students into a single line, and comes up with a starting point and finishing point. Then, the teacher places a blindfold on every student except for the student who is at the front of the line.

The teacher tells each student to put their left hand on the left shoulder of the person in front of them. Next, the teacher says “go”. The aim is for the leader (who is not blindfolded) to walk towards the finishing point, providing instructions to students behind, who are blindfolded.

An extra challenging game sees the teacher putting obstacles in the path – the leader must direct followers on how to avoid the obstacles and successfully reach the finish line. When this goal is achieved, a different student takes a turn of being the leader.

4. Buckets and balls (Cohen, 2017)

This game aims to move all the balls from one box to another. The catch is, team members cannot use their hands or arms. In equal-sized teams, players choose one ‘handler’ per team. This is the only person who can touch the balls with their hands.

The handler must remain behind the start line throughout the game. Team members attempt to get balls from their bucket at the finish line, and get them to the team’s handler without the ball touching their hands or arms.

The handler places the balls into the empty bucket at the start line. If a team member touches the ball, they are disqualified and can no longer participate. Give teams a 5-minute time limit. All teams play at the same time, and the team that has the most balls in the handler’s bucket at the end of the game wins.

5. Team jigsaw (Cohen, 2017)

Two teams have to complete a jigsaw puzzle within a 20 – 30-minute time limit. Give each team a box containing a puzzle. At first, A body will assume that their task is to complete the puzzle. As they work on it, however, teams will realize that the puzzle is missing some of its pieces and has some additional pieces that do not fit their puzzle.

Teams then have the task to communicate with one another, and they will eventually realize that they need to work together to complete the puzzle. Teams are only allowed to exchange pieces of the puzzle one at a time.

6. ‘Sneak-a-peak’ (Cohen, 2017)

Divide participants into two teams. Build a structure out of Lego. Make it complicated, but able to be replicated. Ensure that there is sufficient Lego left to build two similar copies of the structure.

Make sure that this structure is kept out of eyesight.

A player from each team is allowed to see the structure for 10 seconds. Then, the players will return to their respective teams and have 25 seconds in which to give his/her team instruction as to how to build the structure. Then, the teams have 1 minute to build the structure.

When that minute is up, another team member takes a look at the structure for 10 seconds and has a further 25 seconds to deliver their instructions to their team.

This process continues until all the team members have had a chance to examine the structure and provide instructions. The team that successfully built the structure is the winner.

Leadership and team building exercised for students

“ The Leadership Training Activity Book ” by Lois. B. Hart and Charlotte S. Waisman (2005) contains 50 handouts for leadership activities that would be suitable for college students. Find it on Amazon .
This resource provides helpful leadership tip sheets that are suitable for college students. Examples of tip sheets are “ten keys to effective listening” and “basic confrontation guidelines”.
Another valuable resource that can be used to develop team-building – an aspect of leadership.

A wide range of leadership activities are suitable for adults:

1. The Marshmallow Challenge

In this activity , teams use spaghetti sticks, tape and string to construct the tallest free-standing structure. They are given one marshmallow, which must be placed at the top of the structure. Devised by Tom Wujec.

2. ‘Stand up’ (Landau, 2018)

This game is convenient in that it requires no materials. It involves two people. They sit on the floor, facing one another. They hold hands, and the soles of their feet are placed together. Then, the task is for both people to stand up at the same time. This game builds trust and teamwork, and also develops skills in problem solving and collaboration.

3. Zoom (Stepshift, 2016)

A set of randomly provided sequential pictures are given to the participants. The task requires participants to put the pictures in the correct order to recreate the story, without knowing which pictures the other participants have. This activity can be an effective way to improve communication, patience, and tolerance.

4. ‘You’re a Poet’ (Landau, 2018)

To harness creativity and reflect on leadership concepts, one activity for adults is to write a poem. This activity can be done individually or in small groups. The aim is to consider leadership in creative ways to find new perspectives.

5. ‘Leadership Pizza’ (Cserti, 2018)

This activity can help adults develop leadership. It does so by providing a self-assessment tool. People begin by identifying the skills, attitudes, and attributes that they consider being important for successful leadership. The individual then rates their own development in the defined areas. The framework can also provide a helpful tool in assisting adults in identifying their leadership development goals in a coaching session.

6. Leadership advice from your role model (Cserti, 2018)

Each participant considers a role model who they admire. They then think about a young person they know. If the young person was to ask the role model for leadership advice, what kind of advice would the role model give?

In groups, discuss and share the sort of advice identified and talk about contradicting points and how they can be reconciled. This sharing discussion may be a practical introduction to the idea of situational leadership.

7. ‘Crocodile River’ (Cserti, 2018)

This outdoor activity challenges a group to physically provide support to the group members’ behavior move from one end of a designated space to the other.

Participants are told to pretend that the whole team must cross a wide river which contains dangerous crocodiles. Magic stones (which are represented by wooden planks) provide the only supports to be used to cross the river (which has ‘banks’ that are marked out by two ropes).

These ‘stones’ only float on the water if there is constant body contact. These ‘stones’ (i.e., the wooden planks) are placed next to the ‘river bank’ – there should be one less plank than the total number of participants. As part of the game, if a participant’s hand or foot touches the ‘water’, it will be bitten off (if this happens during the challenge, the participant must hold the hand behind their back).

The facilitator then pretends to be the ‘crocodile’, keeping a close eye on the group as they attempt to cross the river. When one of the stones (the planks) is not in body contact, it is removed. When participants mistakenly touch the ground with their hands or feet, tell them that the limb has therefore been bitten off and the player must continue without using it.

This activity continues until the group succeeds in getting all group members to the other side of the ‘river’. If anyone falls in, the group is deemed to have failed, and they must begin the river crossing attempt again.

1. ‘Feedback: Start, Stop, Continue’ (Cserti, 2018)

Openness creates trust, which then promotes further openness. This activity is designed to be used by a group that has spent sufficient time together in order to have a range of shared experiences they can draw from when they are providing feedback.

Each participant takes a post-it and writes the name of the person who they are addressing on it. Then, they write on the post-it:

“To…. Something I would like you to START doing is…. something I would like you to STOP doing is…. something I would like you to CONTINUE doing is……Signed: ___________”

In groups of around 4 to 6 people, participants complete these sentences on one post-it for the other participants in their group.

If they cannot think of relevant feedback for one of the prompts (i.e., start, stop, continue), they do not need to include it. Once the group has finished writing, they provide the feedback verbally, one at a time, and afterward hand the post-it to the relevant person.

2. Round Tables (Stepshift, 2016)

Four tables are set up with different tasks. Each task has separate steps that participants can be responsible for carrying out. The group select a team member, who is only allowed to communicate and delegate tasks but not take a part in the task. Each table is timed to record how long the task takes to be completed. Round Tables improves leadership and delegation skills.

3. ‘Pass the hoop’ (Landau, 2018)

This game requires participants to stand in a circle and hold hands. One person in the group has a hula hoop around their arm. The game aims to pass the hula hoop the whole way around the circle.

As well as promoting teamwork and problem-solving, this game develops communication skills. Being able to communicate effectively is a crucial skill for any successful leader to have.

4. ‘Improv night’ (Landau, 2018)

One key responsibility of the leader of a team is to encourage team bonding. One way to facilitate bonding is improvisation. ‘Improv’ develops skills in communication – helping teams to listen and pay attention. It also builds self-awareness, self-confidence, and creativity.

Arrange the group into ‘audience’ and ‘performers’. Then, members of the audience take turns in calling out the specified location, profession, and scenario (e.g., coffeehouse, cop, and purchasing a donut). Chosen suggestions are fun and should promote creativity.

5. ‘Shape-Shifting’ (Landau, 2018)

This game requires a rope that is tied at both ends to form a loop. The loop needs to be big enough for all group members to hold onto with both hands as they stand in a circle. The group is instructed to make a chosen shape (e.g., circle, square, triangle). The group attempts to create the shape on the floor.

Progressively, ask the group to make more complex shapes – e.g., a dog, or a tree. To add another layer of difficulty, instruct the team to communicate without talking – i.e., to rely on hand gestures. Afterward, have the group reflect on their experience and discuss the importance of communication.

Leadership is an integral feature of any workplace. Here are some activities to promote leadership in employees:

1. Your favorite manager (Cserti, 2018)

To begin this activity, employees individually take the role of three different people and brainstorm the particular behaviors that each person’s most favorite and least favorite managers demonstrate, from the chosen person’s perspective. After the employees have had the chance to reflect, the participants compare their list of behaviors – in pairs, and then subsequently, in groups.

The teams then prepare a list of ‘dos and don’ts’ for developing better employee perceptions of the leader’s style.

2. Explore your values (Cserti, 2018)

The values of a leader are reflected in their organization. In this activity, each participant writes ten things that they value most in their lives, each one on a post-it. Then, ask the employees to spread the Post-its in a way in which they can see them all clearly. Then, explain to them that they will have 30 seconds to select the three Post-its that are of least importance to them.

It is essential to time strictly, so that the participants rely on their gut feelings.

Repeat the process, this time allowing participants to have 20 seconds to discard two more values. Finally, give the participants a further 20 seconds to throw another two away. Participants should have three Post-its in front of them, showing their top three important values.

Following the activity, have participants reflect individually for about 15 minutes about what was found, and then to discuss reflection questions in pairs or groups of three.

Because this activity is done quickly, participants are encouraged to follow their own intuition – rather than over-thinking and finding what they perceive to be the ‘right’ values.

3. ‘Leadership Coat of Arms’ (Cserti, 2018; Landau, 2018).

Each leader has their own values and the things that they consider valuable and important. These values guide the behavior of the leader and make up a person’s unique leadership philosophy.

This activity sees participants drawing their own ‘leadership coat of arms’ embodying their leadership philosophy.

Individuals have 10 – 15 minutes to draw their coat of arms. They can divide the coat of arms (or ‘crest’) into four sections. To fill each section, consider the categories of leadership skills, values that help influence others, recent achievements/accomplishments and what you like most about your current work.

They should be encouraged not to be overly concerned with how visually appealing their picture is but rather that it expressed what they personally believe to be important aspects of a leader.

Once the drawings are complete, the participants can show their drawings to the others in the group and explain their unique coat of arms. It is also helpful to reflect on the activity – consider which section was easiest to complete and whether your crest reflects your company’s values.

4. Communication: Coach the Builder (Goyette, 2016)

Divide employees into groups of four to seven people. Each group should be given two sets of blocks (such as Lego). Each set should have a minimum of 10 blocks.

Beforehand, you should construct a sample object (e.g., a house) from one of the sets of blocks. In each group, select a leader, a delegator, a builder and a note-taker. The note-taker watches and records the group’s behavior during the task. They take note of what appeared to be done well and how employees could improve.

The leader is given the item that you built – however, they are the only group member to see the object. Set a timer for ten minutes. To begin with, the leader describes to the delegator how the builder should build a replica of the item. However, the delegator does not see the object, and at this stage of the activity, the builder should not hear the instructions.

The delegator can speak with the leader as often as necessary during the 10 minutes. The builder attempts to build the same item that the leader can see. However, they are only relying on the delegator’s instructions. At this stage, the delegator should not see the object that the builder is constructing.

When the time is up, reveal both objects to all participants and see how closely they match. Finally, to wrap up the activity, employees can discuss what was either frustrating or easy about the process and discuss how they may do things differently in order to achieve better results.

5. Accountability (Goyette, 2016)

Begin a meeting by saying to the group – “the seating arrangement is totally wrong for today’s meeting. You have 60 seconds to improve it”. If the employees ask further questions, only repeat the instructions. While some employees may continue asking questions, others may start moving the furniture around straight away. Observe the team and what they do without giving any further information, feedback, or instructions.

After 1 minute, let the employees know to stop. Then, ask them whether the objective was achieved, and how. Discuss with employees how and why a lack of clarity makes it challenging to complete a task.

Then, discuss who asked for clarification and how they felt when the leader refused to give further details. Use this opportunity to highlight to employees how if they fail to ask questions, and when the person in charge of a project doesn’t provide the necessary clarification, the whole team is at risk of making mistakes or even not completing a task.

Finally, ask how the time pressure affected behavior. Discuss how employees may be more likely to respond to pressure, or stress, by taking action without first confirming a plan and the significant problems this approach can lead to.

6. The “what if” game (Deputy, 2018)

Present different hypothetical problematic scenarios to employees. Either individually or by providing a document that requires written answers, present situations such as “you didn’t follow the rules, and subsequently lost an important client. You have lost a lot of money for the company. How do you justify this? What is your solution?”.

The questions only need to be rough, and employees should only receive a short time with which to think of their responses. If there is a particularly challenging question, provide a time limit of five minutes.

7. ‘Silver Lining’ (Cohen, 2017)

Employees form teams of at least two people who have shared a work experience – e.g., working on a project together. One person shares an experience from working together that was negative for them.

Then, the second person reflects on the same experience but instead reflects on the positive aspects of the experience (i.e., the ‘ silver lining ’). Then this same person shares their own negative experience, and this time it is up to the other person to focus on the positive aspects of it.

Often, when people reflect on an experience, they do so with a particular perspective . By looking at the positive aspects of a ‘negative’ experience, this helps individuals shift perspectives. Furthermore, by sharing experiences, employees develop deeper relationships, and team bonding is promoted.

8. My favorite brand (Training Course Material, n.d.).

Ask employees to bring three or four printed logos/brands that they use regularly or admire most. Then, form groups of 3 – 4 people. Teams have a period of ten minutes to share and discuss their chosen logos.

Their task is to agree upon the team’s top 2 logos or brands which is their team’s choice. The team also selects a team spokesperson who will report to the bigger group about why the team chose the specific brands/logos.

Participants are encouraged to share personal experiences or stories that they had with their chosen brand. After the ten minutes elapses, each spokesperson presents the logos that the team began with as well as their two top chosen logos/brands. It is their role to explain to the group why the team voted on their top brand/logo.

1. Manager or leader? (Training Course Material, n.d.)

Small groups of managers work together to create two tables, one titled ‘leader’ and one titled ‘manager’. In each table, the group writes statements describing either management behavior or leadership behavior.

For example, the ‘manager’ table may contain statements such as “schedules work to be done” or “delegates tasks”. On the other hand, statements in the ‘leader’ table could be “motivating staff” and “creating culture”.

The purpose of this activity is to demonstrate to managers the difference between management versus leadership, and show that while ‘every leader can be a manager, not every manager can be a leader’. However, by brainstorming leadership behaviors, managers begin the process of becoming a successful leader.

2. The race of the leaders (Deputy, 2018)

This activity encourages leadership behaviors. To begin with, write a list of leadership qualities – approximately 10 – 20 statements – on a piece of paper. Describe the qualities – e.g., ‘I determine everything that happens to me’, and ‘I will not blame others for my problems’.

Read these statements out loud, and participants take a step forward if they believe a statement describes them. They must be prepared to give reasons as to why they think they possess each quality. Continue reading the statements until there is a definite ‘winner’.

3. The best team member (Training Course Material, n.d.).

Divide the group into teams of about 4 – 5 participants. Give each team a large, blank piece of paper and markers. Each group has the task to come up with as many characteristics of their ‘ideal’ team member as they can. Teams should consider what this ‘best team member ever’ would be like.

After ten minutes, the groups should examine the characteristics that they have written and work out the portion which are ‘technical’ skills and those which are ‘interpersonal’. The aim is to work out whether most of the traits can be classified as technical or interpersonal skills.

Teams usually come to realize that interpersonal skills in employees are especially critical and that these have a tremendous impact on the quality and quantity of workplace performance.

This activity can be adapted according to the setting. For example, if the focus is on leadership development, teams could discuss their ideal leader/supervisor.

4. The importance of feedback (Training Course Material, n.d.).

Divide the group into three teams. Provide each team with poster paper and markers or pens.

Team A is required to consider as many reasons as they can that would make them apprehensive to provide feedback to another person.

Team B is asked to consider what feedback can help them so, i.e., what feedback will help them accomplish.

Team C comes up with as many things as they can that would make a feedback session effective.

Each team has 15 minutes to brainstorm their ideas, then, each team can present their ideas.

Point out to Team A that the hurdles they suggested are self-imposed ideas that will lead to the manager fearing the worst. Instead, managers should be encouraged to share feedback on a more regular basis to gain the necessary experience in having such conversations. Furthermore, by having an awareness of the most effective way to prepare and deliver feedback can help a manager conquer the issues holding them back.

Point out to Team B that providing constructive feedback as needed is imperative for developing a productive work environment. A feedback discussion that is well-planned and thought out delivers an opportunity to share what you have noticed about another person’s job performance and bring about productive change.

Finally, after Team C has shared their ideas, point out that effective feedback is specific, honest, and backed up with evidence. The feedback will help others to come up with goals, make and reinforce positive changes, promote self-confidence and encourage action in the workplace.

Thank all the teams for their participation and input.

5. ‘Shark Tank’ (Deputy, 2018).

This activity is derived from a famous TV show that gives people a chance to show their entrepreneurial skills. Managers may work individually or in groups. The aim of this activity is for employees to come up with a business plan that outlines the steps of how to build a successful company from ‘startup’.

Once the managers have a plan, they can create a ‘pitch’, which should contain the brand’s name, its’ tagline (or slogan), a detailed business plan, a detailed marketing plan, financial predictions (sales, profits and market) and potential problems (competition, lack of resources).

In a role play, appoint a few chosen managers to be the ‘sharks’ (the ones who consider the projects’ merit and offer imaginary ‘investments’). The winning group, or individual, is the one who raised the most money from the ‘shark’.

17 Exercises To Build Positive Leaders

Use these 17 Positive Leadership Exercises [PDF] to help others inspire, motivate, and guide employees in ways that enrich workplace performance and satisfaction. Created by Experts. 100% Science-based.

1. The Human Icebreaker (Stepshift, 2016).

This is a simple activity that can alleviate tension and promote discussion and contribution. Participants devise a list of questions that relate to people generally – for example, “who is left-handed?”. Participants then discover which team members meet the question’s criteria. After 10 minutes, the participant who has the most answers wins. This activity promotes communication and helps team members build inter-personal skills.

2. ‘Office trivia’ (Cohen, 2017)

This quick activity can help as an ice-breaker and provides a flexible option for team building. Create a list of trivia questions that are related to the workplace. For example, “how many people named ‘John’ work in the accounting department?” or, “how many people work in the IT department?”. Read the questions out loud to the whole group. The employee with the most correct answers at the end is the winner.

3. Plane crash (Stepshift, 2016)

The participants imagine that they are on a plane which has crashed on a deserted island. They are allowed to select a specified number of items from around the workplace that would help the group to survive. Each chosen item is ranked in importance. The whole group must agree on their decision. This activity helps with creative problem solving and collaboration.

4. ‘Magazine story’ (Cohen, 2017)

Each team works together to come up with an imaginary cover story of a magazine, about a successful project or business achievement. The team designs the images, headlines, and come up with quotes.

5. The Human Knot (Stepshift, 2016)

Relying on cooperation, this is a good problem-solving and communication activity. Participants stand shoulder to shoulder in a circle. Then, they put their right hand in the hand of a person who stands across from them. They then put their left hand in the hand of another different person (but not someone standing directly next to them).

Participants are required to untangle the human knot without breaking the chain. If the chain is broken, the participants must start over.

6. Make your own movie (Cohen, 2017)

This is a fun activity that is suitable for both indoors and outdoors. Although it requires the necessary equipment (i.e., camera, tripod, and microphone), teams enjoy it. Employees should work in large groups (more than eight people) and divide responsibilities. Teams work together to come up with scripts for a 5 – 7-minute movie.

7. Radio Play (Cohen, 2017)

This activity can provide an alternative to making a movie. Employees work together, spending about one-hour planning and writing a play and taking a further 15 – 20 minutes to ‘perform’ it, keeping in mind that it is designed for radio.

Each participant places their chair, in no particular order, around the room. The room should be cleared of tables and other furniture. Each person should sit on their chair, pointing in a different direction. Then, request one manager to volunteer and come to the front of the room. Their task is to walk slowly back to their empty chair and sit down.

If their chair is occupied, they can move to the next empty chair available and sit on it. However, everyone else has the task of stopping the volunteer from sitting down.

Only one person at a time can stand and move. No one can make two consecutive moves. A person cannot sit on the chair that they have just left. Once the activity begins, the room is required to be silent. No one is allowed to touch the volunteer.

Give the managers 2 minutes to come up with their strategy. After every round, the participants should discuss what happened and select a new volunteer for the next round. The team is given 2 minutes preparation time each round. It is important that the volunteer’s movement is kept at a slow walk.

At the conclusion of the activity, it is beneficial for the team to discuss the activity. They may reflect upon whether they need a leader, what made planning difficult, whether everyone agreed on the plan, and what would make the task easier.

9. Back to back drawing (Cohen, 2017)

Provide vector shapes on separate pieces of paper (they can be shapes of signs, objects or merely abstract shapes). Participants sit in pairs, back-to-back. Employee A is given a sheet of paper and a pen, and employee B is provided with one of the printed shapes.

The aim of the activity is for employee A to draw the shape relying only on verbal instructions from employee B. Person B cannot only tell the other person what the shape is – he/she is only able to provide directions about how to draw it, or to describe its uses. Each team has two 2 minutes to draw the shape.

10. ‘All Aboard’ (Stepshift, 2016).

Teams use various materials, for example, pieces of wood or mats, to build a pretend ‘boat’. All the participants must stand on the ‘boat’ at once. Then, pieces of the ‘boat’ should be removed. The team should still strive to stand in the diminished space on the ‘boat’. All Aboard can promote communication, problem-solving and critical thinking.

11. Body of words (Cohen, 2017)

Participants are divided into teams of between four and eight people, and each team elects one leader. To prepare the activity, record words that have one less letter than the number of people in the team (i.e., if there are five people in the team, a suitable word could be ‘book’ which has four letters). Randomly select a word, and then the teams have the task of making the word using only their bodies.

Each team member moves and bends their body to form a letter. The team leader can direct their team.

What stands out to me from this article is the complexity of leadership. This article demonstrates that even if one is not a ‘natural’ leader, there are plenty of activities that can promote leadership skills. Even children can develop leadership, and what’s more, have fun with activities at the same time.

What do you think espouses leadership? Do you think that there are people who might tend to be leaders more than others? Perhaps you have a story about a leadership activity you have participated in or delivered – I would dearly like to hear about your experiences.

Thank you for reading.

We hope you enjoyed reading this article. Don’t forget to download our three Positive Leadership Exercises for free .

‘tony’ (2018). Leadership games and activities for middle school students . Retrieved from https://www.kidsactivties.net/leadership-games-activities-for-middle-school-students/
Clark, Donald (2015). Leadership Styles Activity . Retrieved from www.nwlink.com/~donclark/leader/styles.html
Cohen, Esther (2017). 31 Team building activities your team will actually love . Retrieved from https://www.workamajig.com/blog/team-building-activities
Cserti, Robert (2018). 12 Effective leadership activities and games . Retrieved from https://www.sessionlab.com/blog/leadership-activities/
Deputy (2018). 6 Impactful leadership activities to try at work . Retrieved from https://www.deputy.com/blog/6-impactful-leadership-activities-to-try-at-work
Doyle, A. (2019). Top 10 leadership skills employers look for . Retrieved from https://www.thebalancecareers.com/top-leadership-skills-2063782
Edsys (2016). 1 0 Activities for teachers to grow leadership skills in children . Retrieved from https://www.edsys.in/10-activities-for-teachers-to-grow-leadership-skills-in-children/
Flavin, B. (2018). 8 Leadership Experiences You Didn’t Know You Already Have . Retrieved from https://www.rasmussen.edu/student-experience/college-life/leadership-experience-you-didnt-know-you-already-have/
Goyette, P.(2016). 3 Leadership activities that improve employee performance at all levels . Retrieved from https://www.eaglesflight.com/blog/3-leadership-activities-that-improve-employee-performance-at-all-levels
Higgins, R. (2018). 5 Fun and Inspirational Leadership Workshop Ideas . Retrieved from https://www.eventbrite.com.au/blog/leadership-workshop-ideas-ds00
Johnson-Gerard, M. (2017). Situational Leadership Games . Retrieved from https://bizfluent.com/list-6762581-situational-leadership-games.html
Landau, P. (2018). The 9 best leadership games for skill development . Retrieved from https://www.projectmanager.com/blog/the-9-best-leadership-games
Stapleton, S. (2018). Leadership activities for High School classrooms . Retrieved from https://classroom.synonym.com/leadership-activities-high-school-classrooms-7855904.html
Stepshift (2016). Leadership Training Activities . Retrieved from https://www.stepshift.co.nz/blog/developing-team-performance-with-senior-leadership-teams/strategic-planning-with-an-independent-facilitator/leadership-training-activities.html
The Pennsylvania State University (2012). I can be a leader! Leadership fun for children . Retrieved from https://extension.psu.edu/programs/betterkidcare/knowledge-areas/environment-curriculum/activities/all-activities/i-can-be-a-leader-leadership-fun-for-children
Training Course Material (n.d.). Leadership and management activities . Retrieved from https://www.trainingcoursematerial.com/free-games-activities/leadership-and-management-activities

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Great ideas, thank you!

Thank you so much for providing such a useful list of activities to demonstrate and for such a varied target population. Innovative and attention-seeking exercises yet practical.

Thank you for posting this informative blog. keep sharing.

Too interesting for me to try all.

Great article! Having group activities Melbourne helps the team to enhance working together. I love how it brings people together and motivates employees to learn from each other.

Great activities. Thank you.

This is an excellent article for every manager and leader tn build successful leadership. Thank you.

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21 Fun Leadership Activities For Work in 2024

Here is our list of the best leadership activities for workplaces.

Leadership activities are training, challenges, and games great for employee development and building team spirit. Examples include leadership races, marshmallow challenges, and drawing communication. These activities aim to develop participants’ leadership skills like communication skills, creativity, and critical thinking.

These exercises are in-person versions of virtual leadership activities and examples of professional development ideas . The goal of these games is to help employees become good leaders , do leadership training , and hone leadership skills .

This list includes:

situational leadership activities and scenarios
leadership team building activities
leadership training activities
leadership development activities
team building for leaders
leadership exercises

Let’s get to it!

List of leadership activities

Leadership skills are excellent for increasing productivity both at work and in participants’ personal lives. From minefield to leadership pizza, below are challenges and training ideas great for teams and leaders.

1. Leadership Race

A leadership race is one of the best leadership activities to reveal group members that can lead effectively. The game involves a designated caller shouting out certain leadership traits. To play a leadership race, list out the qualities to call beforehand.

For instance:

Trustworthy
Self-motivated
Great communicator
People-oriented
Enthusiastic
Emotionally intelligent

Next, line the players up shoulder-to-shoulder. A designated caller can shout out the qualities. If a player believes the trait relates to him, then he will take a step forward. In addition to stepping forward, the player must explain why he thinks this trait best describes him. You can appoint a panel of judges to vote on whether or not the reason is acceptable.

The player who takes the most steps forward wins the race.

2. Leadership Book Club

For an idea of effective leadership development activities, you can organize a leadership-themed book club for your team.

To plan a meeting, determine how long the activity will last. The book club can be a one-time event or an ongoing happening.

Next, you should decide the books to read and ensure all members have a copy. Some of the fun books on leadership include:

The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership by John C. Maxwell
Emotional Intelligence by Daniel Goleman
Wooden on Leadership by John Wooden
First, Break All The Rules by Jim Harter
How to Win Friends & Influence People by Dale Carnegie

In addition, make sure you give the readers enough time to study the books. Then pick a convenient time, date, and venue to have the activity. What the attendees will do revolves around asking questions and sharing their critical opinions on the author’s approach to leadership.

You can also check out this list of the best leadership books .

Get our free team building toolbox

icebreaker games
bingo cards

3. Leadership Pizza

Leadership Pizza is a popular activity where participants represent their perspectives on leadership qualities on a pictorial pizza representation. To engage in this activity:

Ask the participants to individually make a list of what they believe to be the essential traits of leadership.
Then have the partakers draw a pizza and visualize the leadership qualities based on the perceived importance of each trait. The representation can take the form of a 360 degrees pie chart or a percentage measurement basis.
Once the charts are ready, call out each participant to assess their representations to the group.
Let the group member presenting identify the leadership traits they perceive as their weak traits.
Then challenge that group member to work on the traits within a given time.

You can reorganize the leadership pizza session after some time. The later session offers an excellent opportunity to check if group members significantly improved their weak leadership areas.

4. Magic Carpet

A magic carpet is a challenge involving teams flipping a rug over without leaving the rug’s boundaries.

To perform the task:

Divide your group into smaller groups depending on how large the team is.
Prepare a sheet, mat, or rug that would be enough for the number of participants in a team to stand on.
After the teams stand on their mats, ask the groups to flip over the rug to the opposite side.
While flipping, none of the participants must step out of the rug’s boundaries. Otherwise, the participant’s team will have to start over.
The first team to successfully flip the carpet over wins

This challenge aims to teach teamwork, patience, and problem-solving skills essential for leadership.

5. Marshmallow Challenge

The marshmallow challenge is a game where teams compete to construct the tallest standing structure. After the construction, the teams will place a marshmallow on their designs. You will need simple materials like:

Wooden blocks
Marshmallow

To do this challenge, divide your team into smaller groups. Then decide the structure that the teams will construct. The design can range from skyscrapers to tall bridges or towers. To make the game more challenging, you can set a time limit for the construction.

Also, you should set the rules for the challenge and ensure that all the participants understand the rules. The team that successfully builds the tallest structure with the marshmallow sitting on top wins.

Building challenges like this marshmallow challenge are fun leadership activities that improve collaboration and creative thinking skills.

6. Minefield

Minefield is one of the leadership team building activities that promotes trust and collaboration. The game’s goal is for a player to help a blindfolded partner reach the end of the minefield while escaping obstacles. All you need to play is a free space and items you can find around like paper, bottles, and sticks.

To play minefield:

Divide your team into a pair of two players.
Have just one of the players in each pair blindfolded. The player not blindfolded will act as the guide of the blindfolded player. The latter will move through obstacles based on the instruction of their partner.
Specify the communication technique players will use to control their blindfolded partner’s movement. For instance, players may only use commands like ‘forward,’ ‘backward,’ ‘left,’ ‘right,’ and ‘stop.’
Set up your minefield by marking a start and finish line.
Scatter a variety of items on the floor. Make sure that the materials are safe for the players.
Once a player breaks the rule, then the pair will start over. Players can break the rules by touching their blindfolded partner or when the blindfolded player steps over an object.

The game emphasizes the relevance of dependence and trust given to leaders when dealing with complex issues.

7. Leadership Coat of Arms

One of the ways to show and recognize different leadership values is to ask participants in leadership training to draw their coat of arms. These coats of arms will include symbols, designs, and mottos that best represent the artist’s concept of leadership.

You will need a space to work on, a pen, sheets of paper, and maybe some colors for this activity. You can set a time limit to challenge participants to work in time and think fast.

Once the time is up, ask the artists to take turns presenting their leadership coat of arms and breaking down the design’s representations. The participants do not need to have any prior drawing skills to participate. All you need include a sketch representing unique ideas rather than a visually appealing image.

8. Crossing the Crocodile River Challenge

This game is an entertaining challenge that requires a high level of balance, focus, strategic planning, and teamwork. These requirements make the game one of the best operational leadership activities.

To play this game,

Find an open space and objects that can imitate a stepping stone like discs, paper, or small pieces of plywood.
The number of stepping stones you will need depends on the number of players. You can provide an amount equivalent to the players’ number.
After, mark out two lines to indicate the start and end of the river.
The game’s goal is for players to use the stepping stones to cross the river to the end without leaving any player behind. Once a player goes out of the boundaries of a stepping stone and touches the river, the game will start over.

If you have a large group, then you can divide the group into teams. Each team competes for the first to reach the end of the river without breaking the rules.

9. Leadership Role-Model

In this activity, team members will name leaders and outstanding leadership traits they admire. It is essential to give your team enough time to research their best leaders. It should not matter whether the figure is dead or alive.

The leader’s achievement can be any positive accomplishment from leading an entire nation to freedom or saving a cat. After researching, ask the team members to take turns telling the stories of their admired heroes. The participant should also point out the traits they admire about these iconic persons.

You can have this activity during your free time at work. Alternatively, you can go to a non-office environment like the park.

10. Icebreaker Trivia

Icebreakers are famous for almost any event and make a great idea for fun leadership team building activities. First, ask your team to pile up a bunch of icebreaker questions like:

What is your favorite color?
Which leader is your role model and why?
What is your favorite food?
What do you think is the most important quality of a leader?
What would be your superpower and why?

The team members will take turns to answer the questions and talk about their answers briefly. You can let some time pass by starting a meeting or engaging the team in other ways. After, quiz the participants on the answers to the icebreaker questions.

The first participant to answer correctly wins a point, and the participant with the most points emerges as the winner. This activity is excellent for breaking the ice, building a team, and a great way to teach leadership skills. The task stresses essential leadership skills like active listening, observation, and effective communication.

11. 30-Seconds Experience

The 30-second experience is ideal as a short activity to start your meetings or events.

The team members can figure out what story or achievements they can comfortably share with the team. Then the participants will have to share the most significant part of the experience in just 30 seconds. Other team members must be able to comprehend the main idea of the experience, including why the experience meant a lot to the narrator.

The 30-seconds experience teaches the importance of time management and being productive within a limited time. Also, this exercise teaches participants how to communicate the crucial aspects of issues.

12. One Member Three Leaders

One Member Three Leaders is one of the fun situational leadership activities and scenarios. The activity teaches leaders how best to address negative situations.

You can follow these steps to perform this fun activity:

Call out four participants.
Have one participant act as a team member while the other three act as leaders with different traits.
Give a hypothetical scenario of an adverse event by the team member. For instance, where an employee loses a client, exceeds a deadline, or has a history of being rude.
Then the three leaders will address the situation in different ways. You can give the participants a scripted way to address the problem or ask them to improvise.
The observers will discuss each leader’s approach and identify the one that works best for the situation.

This engaging task is an excellent method to train leaders to develop strategic and critical thinking for solving problems.

13. Lost at Sea

This fun task requires team members to act as if they got trapped on an abandoned island and find ways to survive.

To play lost at sea, split your team into smaller groups. You can briefly describe how the groups experienced a shipwreck leading them to a deserted island. Then proceed to the fun part of the activity, where you ask each group to come up with six survival items. The group members must agree on the necessity of the items.

Also, for a more challenging task, include dangerous scenarios such as an attack from a wild animal, running low on food supply, or an unexpected attack by pirates inhabiting the island. After agreeing on solutions to the scenarios, the group will come together to discuss the survival items and how these items will help the group survive. Other groups can ask questions or point out loopholes when a group makes their presentation.

This activity teaches leaders to approach challenges in non-traditional ways.

Here are more problem-solving games .

Debate is one of the leadership training activities that help employees develop impressive communication skills. To have a debate, divide your team into two or more groups depending on the size of the team.

Once you pair two groups to compete against each other, assign topics to the pairs. You can select simple issues you know the groups can easily improvise an answer. Also, the problems may or may not be work-related.

Furthermore, you should give the groups several minutes to have a private discussion with their group members on possible arguments. For better communication during the debate, you may set a time limit, like two or three minutes, for each group to present and defend their argument. After the time runs out, the other group will have their moment to speak within the same time limit. The debaters will keep rotating the turns to speak until the final time runs out.

After a round, you can ask the same groups to switch sides in the second round. The switch allows leaders to learn to see things from different points of view and appreciate other people’s ideas.

Check out more communication activities .

15. Drawing Communication

Drawing communication involves a team member communicating an object only with gestures. Then another team member attempts to draw the item. This activity identifies the effective communicators in a team and tests how well team members can communicate with each other to solve a problem.

The materials you need include a pen, paper, and a space to draw. You should divide the team into groups of two members sitting opposite each other. You can assign a described object to one member of each group or have them randomly pick an object. Then set the rules for the activity, including the time limit. Also, the participant describing an item cannot mention or say words that describe it.

After the description session, the gesturing player will reveal the object. If the other team member draws the item correctly, then that team wins. On the other hand, if the team member did not sketch the object accurately, they will explain why they could not comprehend the gestures. That way, you can figure out where the communication went wrong.

16. Best Leadership Scenario

This activity is one of the best situational leadership activities and scenarios that involve examining the different leadership styles . For example:

Authoritative leadership
Autocratic leadership
Democratic leadership
Participative leadership
Laissez-faire leadership

After clarifying ambiguities as to the nature of each leadership style, you can proceed to give hypothetical scenarios in the workplace. Then ask the participants to identify the leadership style that will work best in a scenario and the reason for their choices.

Best leadership scenarios equip leaders with decision-making and problem-solving skills essential to solve daily work issues.

17. Leadership Retreat

A leadership retreat is an opportunity for leaders to rest from leadership pressures and boost their morale.

When planning a leadership retreat, first clarify the retreat’s objectives. These objectives will affect the theme of the activity. Therefore, it is essential to pick activities to help you realize your retreat’s ultimate goal.

Also, you would want to make the time spent at the retreat valuable by creating a full schedule. Furthermore, a leadership retreat presents the perfect opportunity to redress challenges faced by leaders.

Here are more ideas for leader retreats .

18. Human Knot Game

The human knot game is a great problem-solving activity that enhances team cooperation and communication. First, ask the team members to stand and form a circle. The participants should hold one hand of another participant standing opposite them. After, instruct the players to lock their other hands with any other player. Then you have a human tangle.

The game’s goal is for participants to untangle the knot while still holding hands. If any participants stop holding hands, then the game will start over again.

Here is how to do the human knot .

19. Silver Lining

Silver lining is an activity that promotes the vital leadership skills of positivity and motivation. Team members will have to work in a group of two. It is best to put two team members who have worked on similar projects together.

Once the activity starts, a team member in a group will talk about a negative experience they had when working on a particular project. Then the other team member in the same pair will point out the positive aspects of the same project.

The activity also works well in building a team and even motivating employees.

20. Ducks in a Row

This activity allows team members to assess decision-making processes that will be useful for real-life challenges. First of all, you need to divide the team into smaller groups and hand each team a large piece of paper.

The goal is for each group to think of five techniques leaders can use to overcome challenges. The group then proceeds to write down the five agreed techniques. After, gather all the groups to review all the groups’ strategies. Then entire teams will decide which methods are the most effective.

When a real-life challenge arises, the team can use these problem-solving techniques.

21. Observation Challenge

The observation challenge is one of the best leadership development activities. The challenge trains teams and leaders to observe changes, regardless of how small. Team members will observe each other to point out the changes they notice.

To do this challenge:

Divide the team into a pair of two.
Then have each participant in a pair observe each other. Introducing icebreakers is a great idea to make the activity less awkward.
After the time is up, give the participants a break to change certain things about them, like changing a piece of clothing, wearing an ornament, or using a different cologne.
For a more precise challenge, give the participants several things to change about themselves. You can write numbers on small pieces of rolled paper and ask participants to pick a piece. The number on the paper selected is the number of things the team member will change.
After the break, each player will point out the changes they observed in the other player.
The player who can observe all their partner’s changes wins the challenge.

The observation challenge helps leaders improve their abilities to observe things going on around them.

Leadership activities are a great way to quip teams with essential skills to help them become better leaders. Some of the benefits of these activities include building teams, ensuring effective communication, and improving problem-solving skills. Besides, leadership activities not only help participants be productive at work. The activities also improve certain aspects of the participant’s personal life, like decision-making in challenging situations.

For more resources, check out these guides to team building leaders , leadership vs management and management styles .

We also have a guide to conferences on leadership .

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FAQ: Leadership activities

Here are answers to questions about leadership activities.

What are leadership activities?

Leadership activities include events, games, and training to teach teams and leaders to be better leaders. The exercises develop leadership skills like problem-solving, better communication, decision-making, and observation skills.

What are some good leadership training activities?

Some of the best leadership training activities include observation challenge, leadership book club, crossing the crocodile river challenge, one member three leaders, and leadership pizza.

How do you do leadership activities?

To plan a leadership activity, decide on the goals and expectations. These goals will determine the training, events, or games you can play. Also, choose the categories of persons for whom you are planning the activity, whether teams, HR, or a board of directors. You can make the activity a special event separate from work, such as a leadership retreat. On the other hand, you can also have the activities at work during free hours.

Author: Grace He

People & Culture Director at teambuilding.com. Grace is the Director of People & Culture at TeamBuilding. She studied Industrial and Labor Relations at Cornell University, Information Science at East China Normal University and earned an MBA at Washington State University.

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Leadership development plan

Ivan Andreev

Demand Generation & Capture Strategist, Valamis

February 2, 2022 · updated April 2, 2024

11 minute read

After reading this guide, you will understand how to improve leadership skills training in your organization, and get actionable tips for building a leadership development plan.

What is leadership development?

Why is leadership development important, leadership development goals.

Define what type of leaders do you need
Align an employees career vision with your business needs
Create a list of leadership development goals and skills
Identify which methods of development to use
Measure and analyze the program results

Leadership development is the process of improving leadership skills and competencies through various activities.

In leadership development, staff at all levels are taught the invaluable leadership skills that allow them to properly lead, inspire and guide their teams to success.

This type of development is important to properly cultivate a culture of leadership throughout an organization.

Leadership development training can take on many forms, both on-site, such as internal training and mentorship programs, and off-site, such as training seminars, conferences, online training, or graduate programs.

To effectively action leadership development, an organization should create a leadership development plan.

This plan will lay out the steps that the organization will take, what is expected of staff who undergo this development, and how the development will help both the organization and the staff.

Career development plan template

This template helps employees and bosses plan together for career growth: set goals, assess skills, and make a plan.

Leadership development benefits an organization in a multitude of ways.

1. It drives better business results

Including higher financial performance and more consistent achievement within departments guided by proficient leaders.

2. Skilled leaders are more agile

An organization with empowered leaders can navigate today’s complex business environment and solve problems quickly and effectively.

3. Good leadership drives innovation

A workforce with effective leaders will be inspired to believe in, and work for, a greater vision.

4. Skilled leaders attract and keep employees

Good leadership can inspire higher engagement from their staff and reduce turnover. A great leader will attract talented new employees and will be able to keep the ones that they have, which leads to better work satisfaction.

5. Improves employee engagement

More than half of American workers are disengaged at work. Effective leadership that knows how to increase engagement within teams using purpose and recognition has been shown to increase profitability within an organization.

6. Improves communication inside and outside the organization

Good communication can make or break a company. If the leaders within a company make effective communication a priority, it leads to increases in productivity, better speed of execution of tasks, and a more positive organizational culture.

7. Improves Customer retention

Customers will be more loyal when leaders are effective in engaging employees. Leading by example improves the customer experience.

8. Increases employee loyalty

Inhouse leadership development inspires loyalty from employees, as it shows that there are growth opportunities available for them. It is also cheaper, and requires less time, than finding, hiring and training leaders from outside.

9. Proper leadership development strategy fuels business strategy

A properly developed leadership development strategy is an invaluable tool for driving and achieving the organization’s business strategy. In taking the time to understand what your organization needs from its leaders, you will better understand the business strategy that will work best for you. These two strategies go hand-in-hand, developing one will help in achieving the other.

No matter the industry, every organization can benefit from developing leadership skills from within their organization and prioritizing leadership in their company culture.

For a leadership development program to be effective, there must be clear goals that are set at the beginning of the process. Some, or all, of the following goals can be used as a starting point.

1. Demonstrate personal responsibility

A true leader owns their actions and the consequences of them, whether good or bad.

They are able to look at the outcomes of their decisions, and appreciate the lessons that both success and failure teach.

Employees notice if a manager never takes responsibility for their actions, or worse, pushes the responsibility for their failures onto their subordinates.

2. Practice self-discipline

When making decisions, it can be tempting to make ones that benefit the individual, rather than the team or organization.

A good leader considers all options then chooses the one that is best for the company, rather than themselves. This practice involves shedding bias and developing integrity.

3. Develop active listening skills

Sometimes leading means listening, rather than speaking.

Every member of a team has some valuable input and experience that they can share, and a good leader takes the time to create a space for discussion and actively listen to each person.

4. Expand and diversify knowledge

Leaders need to be well-rounded, with a wide array of skills in different areas of competence.

In taking the time to study fields that may be outside of their direct role, a leader will be better able to handle issues as they arise in a creative and agile fashion.

5. Focus on time management

A leader is not going to be much use to anyone if they are consistently running behind on projects and don’t have enough time to actually lead.

In focusing on proper time management, a leader can make sure that they set a good example and are available for their team.

6. Creating a culture of mentorship

A key role of a leader is to foster leadership in others.

Being able to identify and develop those skills in team members is an important aspect of a leader’s job, and is essential in the development of a leadership culture within an organization.

This involves coaching, giving actionable and constructive feedback , and paying attention to how team members are approaching challenging projects.

7. Improve communication practices

A leader is only as effective as their communication.

Great ideas and active mentorship won’t go far if a leader’s communication style lets them down.

Developing communication skills takes time and effort and includes building rapport with team members, understanding how, and when, to use persuasion, and improving conflict management skills .

8. Practice big-picture thinking

Leaders shouldn’t think small. Problem-solving and effective team management are dependent on a leader who can make decisions that will benefit the team not just immediately, but down the road as well.

Using these goals as a starting point will help an organization dial in on what is important, what changes need to be prioritized, and what kind of training will be most effective in developing the leadership that they would like to see within their organization.

Leadership development plan template

So, how to improve leadership skills within your organization? You should start with a leadership development plan.

It is the roadmap of how your organization is going to nurture leadership skills in employees of all levels. It should cover goals that align with both strategic business needs and interpersonal, or more human, needs.

It should address the needs of leaders of all levels within the organization, both current leaders and those you wish to train for future leadership positions.

An example of a good leadership development plan is one that has followed the following steps:

1. Define what type of leaders do you need

First of all, you need to understand what type of leaders you need, what set of skills are most essential for your business, and will be valuable in the future.

To do so, it’s better to take a step back and review your key business objectives, if you don’t have a clear list, then it is time to make it.

Create a list of skills that you are expecting to see in a good leader that fits your company. It should be aligned with your business.
If you have a different department that requires improvements in leadership, create a separate profile for them.
Assess where your leadership is. Create a leadership assessment for your employees. Using a variety of methods, including anonymous, email, and face-to-face feedback, your organization can develop a clear idea of where the leadership currently is.
Also, it might be good to have a list of employees who demonstrate an interest in management roles and are talented enough to take leadership roles.
Maybe you need a leader with a specific Management style . In such cases would be good to check them and prepare some questions for an interview.

2. Align an employees career vision with your business needs

Talk to the employees who will participate in this leadership development and try to align their career vision and path with your ideas and business path.

Having the same direction in development will affect final results dramatically.

Of course, a culture of leadership is easier to develop with engaged employees who view the organization in a positive light. So, sometimes it will be better not to focus on people who are going to leave the company.
One-on-one meetings will be the most beneficial tool for discovering what your employee’s career vision is. Make the time to meet with employees on a regular basis to ensure that the two paths are in accordance.
Be willing to listen to your employee’s ideas about what is needed both in leadership development and business strategy. You might get unexpected insight into your organization and ideas for the future.

3. Create a list of leadership development goals and skills

As discussed above, leadership development goals are an important part of this strategy. Without clear goals, it will be hard to understand what to do and how effective your plan is.

The required qualities and skills of your organization’s leadership will determine the relevant leadership development goals.

These goals must be achievable, measurable, and should correlate with the key business objectives.
Take a look at leadership skills , it might help you.
Create a list of goals and skills required for each individual or role.
Rank their importance so people will focus on the most valuable or important goals for them.
Define a clear timeline for each goal, it will motivate people to act.
Be clear about what success for each goal looks like. The clearer this list is, the more successful employees will be in reaching their goals.
Look within your organization for examples of success. It is better to show, rather than tell.

How to conduct a skills gap analysis and what to do next

Start building your foundation for strategic workforce development.

4. Identify which methods of development to use and create a development plan

There are many different methods that can be used for leadership development:

mentorship programs,
formal training,
volunteering,
task forces,
working groups and committees,
changing the way the responsibility is taken,
and others.

You can read more about ideas on how to develop leadership skills in this employee development article.

Some companies will develop these methods in house, while others bring in a third party company who specializes in this type of development, it’s up to you what to choose.

We recommend creating a separate leadership development plan for each role or individual. It will make it more personal and role oriented, and as a result, it will be much more engaging and relevant.
Focus on those methods that fit you, some of them are expensive, while others require experience.
Think about the realization stage .

5. Measure and analyze the program results

As mentioned the development plan must be measurable, otherwise, it will be impossible to quantify its success.

By using measurable goals, concrete criteria, feedback from employees, and data, your organization will be able to measure the success of the program and make adjustments where necessary. Get more ideas from the Reviewing & Monitoring Results chapter of this employee development article.

Set timeframes and review results frequently.
Communicate with employees, their feedback will be really important.
Come back to the plan and adjust it if necessary.

Using these steps, your organization can create a leadership development plan template to follow. In doing so, a culture of leadership and positive development will be established, and beneficial results will follow.

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How to Create a Successful Leadership Development Program

Leadership development initiatives are most effective when they focus on performance outcomes that support a key business priority, like revenue increase.
Leadership development program content and design should be tailored to different leadership levels for maximum relevance and engagement.
Data should be collected before, during, and after the program to measure progress and optimize for impact.

As organizations evolve in response to technological advancement, external events, and generational paradigm shifts, it can feel like the only constant for leaders is change. If so, there is no greater leadership asset than the drive to keep learning. And there is much to learn. Today’s leaders have a broader scope of priorities than ever before. They must manage volatility in the short term while maintaining a vision for the long term. They must be silo-bridgers, thoughtful innovators, and stewards of company culture. Companies that prioritize continuous learning can realize extraordinary potential ; those that don’t will stagnate.

Learning at this scale doesn’t happen without a plan. It’s great to set development goals for leaders during yearly evaluations, but without a solid leadership development plan that directly connects to business outcomes, other priorities and distractions will take over.

At Harvard Business Publishing Corporate Learning, we partner with companies to create curated learning experiences for leaders at every level. Though each partnership is unique, there is a proven process for designing and developing impactful learning initiatives. This guide shows you how to use that process to shape, implement, and optimize a leadership development program for your organization.

Process for designing and developing impactful Leadership Development Programs

Alignment: what do you need, goals: how will performance change, assessment: where are you now, development: what kind of learning experiences will work for you, executive involvement: how can senior leaders support learners, implementation: how will you integrate the learning experience, feedback and evaluation: how are learners performing, measuring impact: how effective was the program, what’s next: creating a culture of learning.

A generic leadership development program will yield generic results, so your plan should be grounded in a firm understanding of your organization’s unique values, challenges, and priorities. The process begins with alignment on one foundational question: What is the business priority driving leadership development? In the most general terms, most business priorities fall into a few broad buckets: Companies want to increase profits, cut costs, and mitigate risks .

Once you’ve established the key business priority, identify how employees can support it. What do you want leaders (and by extension, their teams) to do differently as a result of the program? Do leaders need to be more agile ? More innovative ? More inclusive ? These performance outcomes will shape the structure, content, and measurement of the learning experience.

Concentrate on the most critical needs. It’s tempting to try to improve everywhere, but learning experiences are most effective when they focus on a few key outcomes. If your goal is to inspire leaders to innovate more, ask yourself: What is preventing them? Skills gaps might include digital competency, navigating complexity, cross-functional collaboration, or even talent development. Identifying these gaps will ensure your learning objectives have the greatest impact on the business’s most important priorities.

The process begins with alignment on one foundational question: What is the business priority driving leadership development?

When we partnered with the global theater chain Cinépolis , their key business priority was growth through innovation. Their primary performance outcome was developing innovative leaders from the C-suite to the frontline. Cinépolis had total alignment on what they wanted, so their leadership development program could be highly focused. Their program used a cascade approach, beginning with intensive training for senior leaders and extending all the way to individual theater employees. The culminating exercise asked employees to propose one-page solutions to identified problems, which resulted in innovative new projects that increased revenue and customer satisfaction.

Checklist for Alignment

Align on the key business priority
Choose a focused set of performance outcomes

Additional Resources

Key Alignment Questions
Top 10 In-Demand Leadership Skills for the Future of Work

Now that you’ve identified your business priorities and performance outcomes, you can set leadership development goals . Your program should deliver impact in three areas: learner experience, on-the-job performance, and impact on the business. Success indicators might include strong engagement in the program, more confident decision-making, and improved retention, respectively.

Whether success indicators are qualitative or quantitative, each will need corresponding metrics to measure at the beginning and the end of the program, and each metric should have clear methods and sources for measurement. Success indicators should be specific to your organization and the unique ways you measure performance.

Leadership Development Program Goals Example

Checklist for goals.

Set program goals, including success indicators and metrics
How to Define Impactful Leadership Development Goals
Learning Experiences That Get Results

With detailed goals in hand, leadership skills assessment can begin. Start with an honest assessment of your business’s organizational systems and norms. Can they support the changes you’re advocating for? If entrenched company culture or processes will disincentivize leaders from applying new skills and approaches, the investment in training will be wasted. If you expect leaders to evolve, the broader organizational culture must welcome and support it.

The clarity you established in the previous phases will be helpful here. Ensure that senior leaders understand the leadership behaviors you’re targeting and the business priorities they serve. Encourage executives to raise awareness of why certain leadership behaviors are needed and reinforce those behaviors by highlighting success. Celebrating early wins by sharing success stories—the “what,” “the why,” and most importantly, “the how”—will link those behaviors to desirable outcomes and encourage other leaders to practice these new habits.

If you expect leaders to evolve, the broader organizational culture must welcome and support it.

Now you’re ready to segment leaders by senior, mid-level, and frontline (or whatever distinctions make sense for your organization) and assess their baseline. You may already have a strong anecdotal sense of what each level needs, but data will always surface fresh insights. You may be able to leverage yearly evaluations or previous survey results, but you’ll probably want to do a new survey to capture more targeted data that you can track through the end of the program.

Make sure you’re hearing from individuals as well as supervisors. We’ve found that employees clearly understand their own needs. In our survey , 85% of respondents recognized the skills needed to improve their current performance. It’s worth understanding what leaders want to learn, because employees are most engaged when learning is linked to individual goals and aspirations, not just company performance.

With data in hand, consider the gaps between the current state and the ideal one. Where are the gaps most significant? This will help you prioritize who and what to focus on.

If your business is at an inflection point, your program should target leaders at all levels. The learning experiences will vary in content or method, but they’ll all be driving towards organizational transformation. You’ll want to decide if learning will be segmented, conducted in parallel with tailored learning experience for each level, or cascaded, where leader-teachers train their staff.

If you’re working towards a narrower goal, focus your effort on the learner levels that will be most impactful. For example, in our work with Fortune 2000 global companies who want to innovate, a common goal is getting leaders to foster group norms of innovation on their teams. To that end, we’ve found that starting with mid-level leaders is most impactful.

Checklist for Assessment

Assess organizational context
Consider the gaps between the current state and the ideal one
Identify target audiences
How to Assess Leadership Skills for a Leadership Development Program
Don’t Let Your Company’s Culture Stifle Leadership Development
How L&D Can Create More Effective Learner-Driven Experiences

Leadership development programs are a significant investment. Not only do they cost time and money, but they also connect to individual emotions about workplace performance and worth. Employees feel valued, engaged, and empowered if the program is worthwhile. If it isn’t, it can be a powerful drag on morale.

Because the stakes are high, organizations often partner with learning experts like Harvard Business Publishing Corporate Learning to guarantee that their investment has value and impact. Through decades of research and continuous focus on improvement, we’ve found that clarity, thoughtful design, and quality content yield the most successful programs.

The right experience will consider what leaders at each level need and how much time and focus they can devote. Self-guided programs are consistent and low-maintenance; immersive group experiences allow for more nuance and depth.

Types of Learning Experiences - Harvard Business Publishing

Different leadership levels have distinct responsibilities, needs, and expectations. The architecture of the learning experience should consider these factors. Frontline leaders who are new to management may feel isolated and can benefit from an experience that connects them with mentors and peers. Mid-level leaders, managing both up and down, are highly leveraged and can benefit from micro-learning and skill practice that is directly applicable to their work. Executives benefit from depth and high-touch interactions with peers and experts that provide an outside-in perspective.

Most enterprise leadership development programs leverage a combination of experiences. Our partnership with Capital Group , designed to reinforce leadership standards and priorities across locations, included a mix of in-person and virtual learning with curated content, facilitated discussions, executive sponsorship, and structured assignments that pushed participants to apply learning on the job.

Content is another critical factor. There’s no shortage of leadership development resources, and a coming wave of low-quality AI-generated content will only exacerbate that. Resources should be vetted, relevant, and applicable to learning goals. This is essential to building trust in the program.

With learning content, less is more: too many choices will overwhelm the learner; too many priorities distract from the key goals. Keep the program focused, even in the face of pressure from senior leaders to add new things to the mix. Generally, what is highly relevant is much more important than what is “interesting.” Make learner relevance your touchstone.

Checklist for Development

Define the learning experience
Tailor architecture for different leadership levels
Curate content
Strategies to Effectively Engage Learners Across the Enterprise
When Designing Employee Learning Programs, Less Is More

The behaviors that are reinforced and rewarded by senior leaders greatly influence how employees act. If time and structure allow it, consider how you can integrate senior leadership in your leadership development program, beyond simply seeking buy-in.

Our learning solutions often include a “leader as teacher” element. Leaders might share a personal story at the program’s kick-off, host a discussion, participate on a panel, or sponsor an action learning project. Some of our clients also use formal mentorship programs to reinforce learning. Whatever the method, the payoff is significant: the presence of leaders as teachers significantly increases relevance and engagement.

Even if leaders aren’t directly involved, they should be very aware of the context of your learning initiative so they can identify teachable moments in the day-to-day work. Regular updates from you will keep the program content top-of-mind for them.

When American Express wanted to strengthen close to 16,000 mid-level leaders, we co-created a virtual, blended cohort program customized for relevancy and immediate application. Over 100 senior leaders acted as sponsors, sharing career stories and contextualizing learnings to American Express’ business environment. Frontline, mid-level, and upper-level leaders got to explore how important topics like collaboration really worked at American Express. For sponsors, it was a good opportunity to connect authentically with a large number of leaders in a psychologically safe space to discuss topics they were passionate about, which helped build these senior leaders’ personal brands in the company.

Checklist for Executive Involvement

Determine how senior leaders will be integrated into the program
How to Turn Your Busy Leaders into the Teachers They Need to Be

Successful implementation requires clarity, ease, and support. Leaders’ time is precious, so program delivery should be relatively seamless. Experiences can be integrated into an existing environment to minimize learning curves and platform fatigue or delivered on a separate, all-in-one platform. The right choice will vary by organization, but the most critical factor is ease. It should be easy to access lessons, content, schedules, cohort information, and progress indicators. Make sure there’s a responsive support contact to provide platform training and field questions.

Before you launch a leadership development program, make sure everyone understands how the program aligns with your learning development strategy and the organization’s broader business strategy. Drawing clear connections between desired behaviors and business outcomes will encourage employees to prioritize learning. If it’s one of multiple learning initiatives, help employees understand the unique part this program plays.

Drawing clear connections between desired behaviors and the ultimate business priority will encourage employees to prioritize learning.

Beyond serving company goals, leadership development has a lot of value for individuals. Defining “What’s in it for me?” for employees is a powerful motivator, especially at the beginning of the program. Share the scope of the learning development plan with participants so they understand that it will be relevant and practical, with clear outcomes that align with what leaders believe will make them even more successful.

Checklist for Implementation

Choose the right platform
Delegate a support contact for participants
Contextualize the program before launch
The Changing Face of Leadership Development

Leaders can read a thousand articles, but if they’re not putting learning into practice, the effort is wasted. Managers and leadership development teams must cultivate a safe space for application and experimentation. Digital simulations and peer discussion groups can help, but it’s just as critical for senior leaders to encourage and support applications of learning throughout the workday and to provide regular feedback.

You shouldn’t wait until the end of your learning experience to find out if it worked. Some digital platforms, including Harvard ManageMentor® and ManageMentor Spark® , can provide real-time reporting in aggregate, in groups, or at the individual level, including real-time polling on behaviors. With this data, managers and learning partners can adjust lessons and content to address gaps and areas of challenge. Over time, trends can be identified, helping organizations deepen their understanding of organizational strengths and weaknesses. This also provides useful information on how leaders learn best, to guide future programming.

Checklist for Feedback and Evaluation

Create a plan for learning application and feedback
Collect data for analysis and optimization
Decisions, Decisions: How L&D Can Use Data to Gain Insight on Learning
How to Give Feedback—Especially When You’re Dreading it

Once a leadership development program ends, you can analyze its business impact and learner engagement and satisfaction. Depending on your program timeframe and goals, it may be months before some quantitative business metrics like increased revenue or retention are proven out, but others—like program engagement and application of learning on the job—can be assessed immediately.

Engagement data might include participation by team and level; hits and return visits for specific content; and social and sharing metrics. Application data can be quantitative (number of learners who used new behaviors on the job) and qualitative (self-reported ratings of success, confidence, and desire for more practice).

An end-of-session satisfaction survey for participants provides feedback on many points, including perceived value, program strengths and drawbacks, logistical and platform feedback, success stories, and more. A survey aimed at supervisors can determine if the program influenced behavior change. We typically recommend conducting a follow-up survey two or three months after the learning experience to assess the program’s impact on behavior.

Change requires effort and risk—make sure participants know their efforts are appreciated.

Evaluating satisfaction, engagement, and impact data will provide valuable information about the levers you can pull to improve future learning experiences. But no matter what the outcome is, be sure to celebrate employees for their commitment to learning. A third of employees don’t think their companies provide enough recognition or reward for the learning they’re doing. Change requires effort and risk—make sure participants know their efforts are appreciated.

Checklist for measuring imapct

Measure outcomes against the baseline
Celebrate program success!
Measuring the Impact of Leadership Development

Analyzing your learning experiences will yield important information about the structure, content, and concepts that work. You can bring that information into the next learning initiative, which might tackle a new business priority or scale the program for a different leadership level or geography.

Between formal learning experiences, learning and development teams can offer self-guided options and resource libraries to help employees maintain a continuous learning cadence. We’ve found that companies with strong learning cultures share a few key strategies.

Strategies that Nurture a Learning Culture

The leadership development journey is ongoing. Critical skill sets are rapidly evolving, and there will always be new leaders entering the field who need to learn the evergreen skills of management. Developing a culture of continuous learning is one of the most forward-looking investments a company can make in an era marked by uncertainty and disruptive shifts.

Create a Culture of Learning: Five Critical Strategies
Six Ways to Scale Corporate Leadership Development Quickly for Strategic Advantage
Driving Learning Across the Organization at ABB

Explore further

Ready to level up your leaders? Use our checklist to help your organization develop a leadership development program that delivers results.

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If you have a question about leadership development programs, get in touch with one of our learning design specialists.

About the authors

Deanna Foster

Senior Director, Global Solutions at Harvard Business Publishing
Connect with Deanna on LinkedIn

Dr. Gregg Kober

Director, Global Solutions at Harvard Business Publishing
Connect with Dr. Gregg o n LinkedIn

Let’s talk

Change isn’t easy, but we can help. Together we’ll create informed and inspired leaders ready to shape the future of your business.

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What Makes Leadership Development Programs Succeed?

Ayse Yemiscigil,
Horace Ling

Seven research-backed strategies to drive real — and lasting — impact.

Leadership development is a massive industry. But do these programs actually pay off for the leaders who participate in them? Through a series of experiments, surveys, and analyses of data from more than a thousand participants in six different leadership development programs around the world, the authors determined that these initiatives can substantially boost personal growth and wellbeing — but only when implemented correctly. To address this gap, the authors share seven research-backed strategies to help program designers address common pitfalls and build experiences that actually drive real, positive, lasting impact.

Every year, global organizations spend more than $60 billion on leadership development programs. But the returns these investments yield for leaders and their teams are not always clear. What does leadership development actually accomplish? Does it change leaders in a meaningful way? And if so, how long do these changes last?

AY Ayse Yemiscigil is an Assistant Professor of Organizational Behavior at the Gabelli School of Business at Fordham University, a Research Affiliate with the Human Flourishing Program at Harvard University, and a Research Fellow at the International Humanistic Management Association. See her website here .
DB Dana Born is Faculty Chair for the Senior Executive Fellows Program at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government, Center for Public Leadership and a Distinguished Fellow in Moral Leadership at the HOW Institute for Society.
HL Horace Ling is the Program Director for the Senior Executive Fellows Program at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government, and he holds master’s degrees from the Harvard Kennedy School of Government and the Harvard Graduate School of Education.

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Program for Leadership Development : Accelerating the Careers of High-Potential Leaders

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Dates: 15 JUL 2024–31 JAN 2025
Format: Blended Combines both in-person and virtual learning.
Location: Virtual and HBS Campus
Fee: $56,000
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Dates: 03 DEC 2024–27 JUN 2025
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"Our diverse backgrounds and global perspectives gave shape to invaluable conversations that you can't replicate anywhere else."

"Participants leave PLD equipped with the skills, mindset, and learning capacity to take on their work at ever-higher altitudes."

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Innovative companies know that long-term success requires a pipeline of visionary leaders who can help build and secure a competitive edge. The Program for Leadership Development (PLD) prepares emerging executives to become more effective influencers who can contribute to corporate success on a higher level.

This highly personalized program features two on-campus and two virtual, self-paced modules that focus on accelerating your business and your career. You will return to your organization more confident, more capable, and better equipped to take on new challenges.

Key Benefits

Master the cross-functional challenges of corporate leadership
Lead organizational change and inspire high-performing global teams
Develop a personal leadership philosophy and presence that reflect greater confidence and capabilities
Capitalize on the opportunities unleashed by digital transformation
Formulate a detailed action plan to address your strategic and leadership challenges
Build enduring bonds with accomplished peers who span functions, industries, and countries
Take the first step toward becoming a member of the global HBS alumni community

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Key benefits dropdown down, who should attend.

PLD is designed for executives preparing for career growth who want to expand their hard and soft skills and refine their personal leadership style to deliver results for their organization. Ideal candidates include:

Specialists and star contributors who have been identified as outstanding prospects for increased leadership responsibilities
High potential talent in roles that cover the scope of senior manager, manager, senior director, or director

Leaders in Virtual Learning

This program features sessions in the HBS Live Online Classroom .

Just as HBS pioneered the case study method, we also built the first live online classroom in 2014 and have been refining and optimizing our virtual program experience ever since. In a world that is now centered around virtual connection, our programs reflect the input and experience of tens of thousands of participants.

When you participate in a virtual HBS Executive Education program, you benefit from a powerful learning experience carefully designed with a virtual setting in mind. Through live synchronous program sessions, you'll engage directly with our renowned faculty to learn from their latest research, gain actionable takeaways, and facilitate your growth. In addition, virtual discussion groups will connect you to a global group of peers and build your network.

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Earning Alumni Status

Completing the four core modules of PLD puts you on the path to achieving HBS alumni status. You can become a lifetime member of the HBS alumni community by selecting one of three options:

Complete PLD Module 5 to earn 10 PLDA Points .
Earn a total of 10 PLDA Points by completing other qualifying HBS Executive Education programs. View all qualifying programs.
Attend two consecutive Executive Education programs— Launching New Ventures and Foundations of Private Equity and Venture Capital , plus a special PLD only evening—to earn a total of 10 PLDA Points.

As part of the HBS alumni network , you gain exclusive access to our vast global alumni network and an array of resources that facilitate lifelong learning, growth, and success.

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Applications will be considered on a rolling, space-available basis. Both your application and letter of reference must be submitted before the admissions committee can review.

Answering Your Questions

Letter of reference, english proficiency, application submission, application review, fee, payment, and cancellations.

The $52,000 program fee covers tuition, books, case materials, accommodations, and most meals.

You will be invoiced upon admission to the program. Invoices are due within 30 days of receipt, or upon receipt if the program start date is less than 30 days from the invoice date. If you need to cancel or defer your participation, you must submit your request in writing more than 30 days before the start of the program to receive a full refund. Cancellation or deferral requests received 14 to 30 days prior to the start of the program are subject to a fee of one-half of the program fee. Requests received within 14 days are subject to full payment.

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Focused on leadership, change, and innovation, the Program for Leadership Development curriculum is built around four highly integrated modules. In on-campus or live online modules, you will engage in faculty presentations, case studies, personal assessments, individual and group exercises, and special projects. Through a customized case and professional HBS Executive Coaching, you will develop a personal action plan for tapping new revenue sources and navigating global market shifts.

The virtual, self-paced modules feature Harvard Business School Online—a powerful digital platform that captures the dynamism of the HBS classroom, connects you to a global network of peers, and provides exclusive access to a wealth of interactive learning tools.

After completing the four modules, you will be eligible to attend PLD Module 5 —an optional program, which blends virtual and in-person learning, that further accelerates your development as a leader and enables you to achieve HBS alumni status.

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Module 1: foundational skill building module 1: foundational skill building dropdown down.

Build shared business knowledge and terminology before arriving on campus
Complete introductory courses in accounting, finance, and quantitative methods
Prepare for the cases that you will discuss during Module 2
Identify your customized case challenge on the phone with your HBS Executive Coach
Set aside 10 to 12 hours per week to complete this work
Evaluate your current leadership skills through the Leadership Learning Path Assessment tool

Module 2: Cross-functional business approach Module 2: Cross-functional business approach Dropdown down

Develop an end-to-end view of the business and how all functions interrelate
Explore strategy, marketing, operations, finance, accounting, and corporate accountability
Learn how functional strategy, business-unit strategy, and strategy implementation relate
Understand the role that control systems play in executing strategy
Analyze the economic, political, and social forces shaping the global business environment

Module 3: Strategy formulation and implementation Module 3: Strategy formulation and implementation Dropdown down

Complete self-directed work at your own pace while engaging in scheduled exercises and group sessions
Round out your understanding of strategy by completing Economics for Managers via Harvard Business School Online
Continue working on your customized case and personal action plan

Module 4: Leading change Module 4: Leading change Dropdown down

Identify what needs to change within your organization
Expand your portfolio of change management processes and approaches
Foster innovation, receptiveness to change, and an entrepreneurial mindset
Present an overview of your customized case and action plan for feedback

Module 5: Personal leadership (Optional) Module 5: Personal leadership (Optional) Dropdown down

Develop the self-awareness and emotional intelligence of an authentic leader
Support your company's financial needs, legal requirements, and ethical obligations
Become a more effective negotiator and a more confident decision-maker
Address the competing demands of all stakeholders
Create advantage by generating more value for the business and society
Expand your leadership vision and address a personal leadership challenge
Attain HBS alumni status upon completing PLD Module 5

Module Details Dropdown up

Module details dropdown down, module 1: foundational skill building, module 2: cross-functional business approach, module 3: strategy formulation and implementation, module 4: leading change, module 5: personal leadership (optional), special program features expand all collapse all, living/learning group work living/learning group work dropdown down.

An immersive four-module program creates the opportunity to build close, trusting relationships with a small, diverse group of senior executives who can understand your challenges—but are not part of your organization. Your living group will stimulate your learning each day as you:

Share global insights with peer executives who span functions, cultures, and countries
Consider diverse perspectives as you discuss cases and assignments
Complete small group exercises and collaborate on projects as a team
Exchange feedback—both personal and professional—in a safe environment

HBS Executive Coaching HBS Executive Coaching Dropdown down

Focused on accelerating individual and team growth, your professional coach will help you identify your leadership strengths and gaps through one-on-one and group coaching, a 360-degree leadership and personal assessment, and customized feedback. You will emerge with greater self-awareness, understanding, and confidence—as well as a customized action plan for achieving your leadership goals.

Leadership Learning Path Assessment Leadership Learning Path Assessment Dropdown down

A customized, 360-degree assessment of your current skills provides insight into your leadership and management strengths as well as areas for improvement.

Individual project: My HBS Leadership Case Individual project: My HBS Leadership Case Dropdown down

The My HBS Leadership Case is the cornerstone of the PLD learning experience. In Module 2, you will address a performance gap or strategic opportunity facing your organization by building a comprehensive strategy and implementation plan. Throughout the program, the faculty, your living group, and your professional HBS Executive Coach will deliver feedback that will help you fine-tune your personal action plan.

Special Program Features Dropdown up

Special program features dropdown down, living/learning group work, hbs executive coaching, leadership learning path assessment, individual project: my hbs leadership case, the hbs advantage.

The Program for Leadership Development is developed and taught by a multidisciplinary team of HBS faculty who are widely recognized as skilled educators, groundbreaking researchers, and award-winning authors. Through their board memberships, consulting, and field-based research, they address the complex challenges facing business leaders across the globe.

Joshua D. Margolis

James Dinan and Elizabeth Miller Professor of Business Administration

Read Full Bio

David C. Edelman

Senior Lecturer of Business Administration

David G. Fubini

Susanna Gallani

Tai Family Associate Professor of Business Administration

Leslie K. John

James E. Burke Professor of Business Administration

Antonio Moreno

Sicupira Family Associate Professor of Business Administration

Malcolm P. McNair Professor of Marketing

Monique Burns Thompson

Gunnar Trumbull

Philip Caldwell Professor of Business Administration

PLD Sets You Apart

The Program for Leadership Development (PLD) learning experience is designed to fast-track your career by addressing your unique leadership objectives, business challenges, and professional development goals. You will become a more agile leader ready to identify problems, craft effective solutions, and adapt to global market shifts.

Focused on leadership, change, and innovation, PLD features two integral components that contribute to your personal and professional transformation:

The My HBS Leadership Case enables you to address a specific challenge in your organization by developing and refining an in-depth strategy and implementation plan throughout the program
One-on-one professional HBS Executive Coaching sessions and facilitated team meetings help you realize your true leadership potential

Fast-Track Your Career

PLD is an accelerated alternative to an executive MBA (EMBA) for proven executives who seek to play a greater role in corporate success. The program is ideally suited for specialists or star contributors with at least 10 to 15 years of work experience who are considered outstanding prospects for increased leadership responsibilities. PLD equips you with a broader understanding of core business functions and deeper confidence in your decision-making skills. You will emerge with a personal action plan for advancing your leadership goals—and strengthening your company's competitive edge.

In-Depth Curriculum, Long-Term Results

The rigorous PLD curriculum is tailored to achieve a singular goal—accelerate the development of emerging business leaders. Delivered via four intensive modules that take place over the course of six months, the compressed format is designed with your responsibilities in mind:

Module 1: Foundational skill building (virtual, self-paced)
Module 2: Cross-functional business approach (HBS campus)
Module 3: Strategy formulation and implementation (virtual, self-paced)
Module 4: Leading change (HBS campus)

The two on-campus modules require a total of four weeks away from your job. After completing the four modules, you also will have the opportunity to achieve HBS alumni status* during PLD Module 5 , an optional capstone session.

*You also can attain alumni status by earning a total of 10 PLD Alumni Points by completing other qualifying HBS Executive Education programs. View all qualifying programs .

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15 Leadership Activities, Building Games, and Exercises

Imagine stepping into a world where challenges become opportunities and teamwork thrives under pressure.

The realm of leadership activities, building games, and exercises offers a gateway to unlocking your full potential as a leader.

With each activity designed to test and refine your skills, you’ll find yourself on a path of continuous growth and development.

Are you ready to embrace the transformative power of these engaging experiences and elevate your leadership journey to new heights?

Table of Contents

Key Takeaways

Leadership activities enhance teamwork, communication, and skills development.
Activities can be physical or sedentary, on or off site.
Leadership training fosters confidence, role modeling, and growth.
Examples include themed events, sports, internships, and volunteering.

Outdoor Leadership Challenges

Embark on outdoor leadership challenges to ignite team spirit and foster leadership skills in a dynamic and engaging setting.

The wilderness survival aspect of these challenges will push you to your limits, testing your resourcefulness and ability to adapt to unfamiliar situations.

Leadership hikes won’t only build physical endurance but also mental resilience as you navigate through rugged terrains and unpredictable weather conditions.

These activities will help you develop crucial leadership qualities such as decision-making, problem-solving, and teamwork under pressure.

Embrace the opportunity to lead your team through the wilderness, where every step you take and every choice you make will shape not only your own leadership journey but also the collective success of your team.

Communication Skills Workshops

Enhance your communication skills effectively through engaging workshops that focus on practical techniques and interactive learning. Effective communication is the cornerstone of successful leadership development. These workshops are designed to equip you with the necessary skills to convey your ideas clearly, listen actively, and connect with your team on a deeper level. By participating in these workshops, you will enhance your ability to lead with confidence and clarity.

Team Building Games

Discover the dynamic world of team building games, igniting collaboration and camaraderie among your group. Engage in activities that foster leadership development and team bonding through fun and interactive challenges.

Here are four engaging team building games to supercharge your team’s growth:

Minefield Navigation: Enhance trust and communication skills as team members guide each other through a simulated minefield blindfolded.
Escape Room Challenge: Encourage problem-solving, critical thinking, and teamwork as your group works together to solve puzzles and escape within a time limit.
Tower Building Competition: Promote creativity, strategic thinking, and effective communication as teams race to construct the tallest tower using limited resources.
Obstacle Course Relay: Build resilience, cooperation, and leadership skills by navigating obstacles and passing the baton in a high-energy relay.

Unleash the potential of your team with these impactful team building games!

Role-Playing Scenarios

Engage your team in immersive role-playing scenarios to cultivate leadership skills and enhance communication dynamics effectively. By participating in improv leadership exercises, team members can step into different roles, make decisions under pressure, and practice adaptability.

Scenario analysis allows individuals to strategize, think critically, and collaborate towards a common goal. Through these activities, team members learn to navigate complex situations, resolve conflicts, and lead with confidence.

Encourage creativity and quick thinking as team members tackle various scenarios, honing their decision-making abilities in a dynamic environment. Role-playing scenarios offer a hands-on approach to leadership development, fostering teamwork and building trust among team members.

Embrace the power of role-playing to unlock your team’s full potential.

Trust-Building Exercises

To foster trust within your team, consider implementing purposeful and engaging trust-building exercises that promote collaboration and strengthen relationships. Trust-building games are essential for enhancing teamwork and leadership development.

Here are four impactful exercises to cultivate trust within your team:

Blindfolded Trust Walk: Pair team members up, with one person blindfolded and the other guiding them through an obstacle course. This exercise emphasizes communication and trust.
Group Problem-Solving: Encourage the team to solve a complex problem together, promoting collaboration and building trust through shared achievement.
Truth Circle: Sit in a circle and have team members share personal stories or experiences, fostering vulnerability and deepening connections.
Team Retreats: Organize off-site retreats with team-building activities, workshops, and discussions to strengthen bonds and trust among team members.

Creative Problem-Solving Tasks

Unleashing your team’s creative potential through engaging problem-solving tasks can spark innovation and foster collaborative solutions. Team problem solving is a powerful tool to enhance communication, critical thinking, and teamwork skills.

By presenting your team with creative challenges, you encourage them to think outside the box and explore diverse perspectives. These tasks can range from brain teasers and puzzles to real-life scenarios that require innovative solutions.

Engaging in creative problem-solving tasks not only strengthens the bond within your team but also cultivates a culture of continuous learning and adaptability. Embrace these challenges as opportunities for growth and development, and watch as your team transforms obstacles into stepping stones towards success.

Leadership Style Exploration

Explore the diverse and impactful styles of leadership through immersive activities and engaging workshops.

Key Points to Consider:

Leadership Style Assessment : Understand your leadership style by undergoing a thorough assessment to enhance self-awareness.
Group Dynamics Analysis : Explore how different leadership styles influence group dynamics and team performance.
Leadership Role Playing : Step into various leadership roles through interactive role-playing scenarios to refine your leadership skills.
Leadership Traits Evaluation : Evaluate your leadership traits to identify strengths and areas for improvement, fostering personal growth and development.

Engage in these activities to gain valuable insights into leadership styles, enhance your leadership abilities, and become a more effective leader in your organization.

Physical Coordination Challenges

Enhance your physical coordination skills and team dynamics by engaging in challenging physical activities that test your agility and communication abilities. Team bonding is crucial in overcoming physical challenges together, fostering trust and camaraderie among team members.

Activities like the ‘Magic Carpet’ challenge require precise coordination and teamwork to succeed, emphasizing the importance of clear communication and synchronized movements. By navigating through obstacles as a team, you not only improve your physical coordination but also strengthen your bond with your colleagues.

These challenges push you to work together efficiently, relying on each other’s strengths to overcome obstacles. Embrace these physical challenges as opportunities to grow individually and as a cohesive team, building a foundation of trust and unity.

Positive Leadership Practices

To truly embody positive leadership practices, consistently practicing and embodying key principles is essential for fostering a thriving and cohesive team environment. Embrace the following techniques and activities to enhance your remote leadership development and virtual team building:

Lead by Example : Demonstrate positivity, transparency, and empathy in your interactions with team members.
Encourage Open Communication : Create a safe space for sharing ideas, feedback, and concerns virtually.
Foster Team Collaboration : Utilize virtual platforms to facilitate teamwork and collective problem-solving.
Recognize and Appreciate : Acknowledge the efforts and achievements of your team members regularly to boost morale and motivation.

Cross-Cultural Leadership Experiences

To embody effective cross-cultural leadership experiences, actively engage in diverse environments that challenge and broaden your perspective on leadership dynamics and communication styles. Intercultural leadership development involves embracing global leadership experiences and fostering diversity training to cultivate inclusive leadership practices. By immersing yourself in different cultural settings, you enhance your ability to lead across borders and connect with a wide range of individuals. Embrace the opportunity to learn from various cultural norms and values, allowing you to adapt your leadership style to different contexts effectively. Embracing diverse perspectives will not only enrich your leadership skills but also create a more inclusive and cohesive team dynamic.

Volunteer and Internship Engagement

Engage in meaningful volunteer and internship opportunities to cultivate practical leadership skills and demonstrate your commitment to personal and professional growth.

Why Volunteer and Internship Engagement is Crucial for Your Leadership Development:

Career Advancement: Volunteer work and internships can open doors to new career opportunities and advancement.
Professional Development: Gain hands-on experience and enhance your skills in real-world settings.
Networking: Build valuable connections with professionals in your field through volunteer and internship engagements.
Leadership Experience: Take on leadership roles in volunteer projects or intern tasks to develop your leadership abilities firsthand.

Leadership Workshop Ideas

Enhance your leadership skills through engaging and interactive workshop activities that foster teamwork, communication, and strategic thinking. Leadership development is crucial for honing your abilities as a leader.

Team bonding is essential for creating a cohesive and effective team. Consider workshop ideas like ‘Centre Stage’ to explore different leadership styles through role-playing scenarios. Engage in the ‘Minefield’ exercise to build trust and communication skills through blindfolded navigation.

Challenge your team with the ‘Magic Carpet’ activity to promote teamwork and coordination. By participating in activities showcasing various leadership styles such as autocratic, delegative, and democratic approaches, you can broaden your understanding and skills.

Utilize resources like the ‘Leadership Styles Workbook’ to delve deeper into leadership concepts and enhance your leadership capabilities.

Interactive Leadership Workbooks

Discover the transformative power of interactive leadership workbooks in unlocking your full leadership potential. Dive into the world of leadership role playing and teamwork worksheets to enhance your skills and inspire those around you.

Key Points to Explore:

Engage in Dynamic Role Playing: Immerse yourself in scenarios that challenge your leadership style and decision-making abilities.
Develop Strong Teamwork Skills: Utilize worksheets designed to improve communication, collaboration, and trust within your team.
Interactive Learning Experience: Enjoy a hands-on approach to mastering essential leadership concepts and strategies.
Practical Application: Apply newfound knowledge and skills directly to real-life situations, fostering growth and success in your leadership journey.

Unleash your leadership potential with interactive workbooks that offer a blend of education and empowerment.

Themed Event Organizing

Organizing themed events is a creative and strategic endeavor that fosters team cohesion and excitement within your leadership group. Themed event planning can be a powerful tool to inspire and engage your team, whether it’s for a leadership retreat or a special team-building day. By carefully designing themed activities, you create a shared experience that strengthens bonds and encourages collaboration. To give you a head start, here is a table with some ideas for themed events:

Get ready to ignite creativity and teamwork with your next themed event!

Conference Break Activities

During conference breaks, engage your team in energizing activities that foster collaboration and rejuvenate their focus for the sessions ahead. Here are four impactful ideas to make the most of your conference break:

Team Bonding Activities : Encourage trust and communication through team-building exercises like group challenges or problem-solving tasks.
Icebreaker Games : Start the break with fun and interactive icebreakers to help team members relax and connect with each other.
Mindfulness Sessions : Conduct short mindfulness or relaxation sessions to clear minds and boost concentration for the upcoming meetings.
Networking Opportunities : Create spaces for informal networking where team members can mingle, share ideas, and build stronger professional relationships.

Make the most of your conference breaks to enhance team dynamics and productivity!

Congratulations on completing these leadership activities!

Just like a phoenix rising from the ashes, you have ignited your leadership potential and soared to new heights.

Keep honing your skills, building strong relationships, and leading with confidence.

Remember, the journey to becoming a great leader is ongoing, but with dedication and determination, you can continue to inspire those around you and make a positive impact on the world.

Rise up and lead with purpose!

The eSoft Editorial Team, a blend of experienced professionals, leaders, and academics, specializes in soft skills, leadership, management, and personal and professional development. Committed to delivering thoroughly researched, high-quality, and reliable content, they abide by strict editorial guidelines ensuring accuracy and currency. Each article crafted is not merely informative but serves as a catalyst for growth, empowering individuals and organizations. As enablers, their trusted insights shape the leaders and organizations of tomorrow.

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Building Leadership Development Programs for Future Leaders

August 15, 2023

Without effective leadership, organizations can’t reach their full potential. While some people are natural leaders, leadership is a skill that can be learned, and it pays for companies to foster great future leaders by providing training and development. Development programs help leaders find a sense of purpose, learn how to relate better with their teams, foster a positive culture, help employees with their own development, achieve better results, and more — all of which lead to higher engagement and better performance.

What is Leadership Development?

Leadership development is the process of enhancing the capabilities of current and potential leaders to become more effective and help an organization reach its goals.

What is a Leadership Development Program?

Leadership development programs help individuals learn and grow in their leadership skills. These structured programs can take many forms, including third-party programs, internal mentoring programs, formal instruction, on-the-job learning and more. Each organization should take the time to assess its leadership development needs and find the right solutions.

What are the Seven Key Components of a Successful Program?

A successful leadership development program starts with careful planning and following best practices.

Here are some of the key components of effective programs:

Identifying leadership potential: You should have a process in place to recognize potential leaders so that you have quality candidates for your leadership development program.
Offering mentorship and coaching: Mentorship and coaching provide leaders the opportunity to learn from experienced colleagues in a personalized, supportive environment. It’s highly effective in helping leaders advance on their development path.
Assessment and gap analysis : Assessment is critical to leadership development. You need to know where the gaps are in your organization, as well as where individual leaders are in their journey ,so you can offer development opportunities that will take leaders to the next level and strengthen the organization.
Providing targeted training and education: Once you know where leaders are in their journey, it’s time to provide learning that is targeted to their needs. Improving management skills will enable a stronger pipeline of leaders for today and tomorrow. Training and education should also always align with the needs of the organization.
Performance evaluation and feedback : We all need honest, constructive feedback to understand what we need to do to improve — and leadership development is no exception. Effective feedback helps participants know what they need to do to grow.
Encouraging continuous learning and growth: It’s important to recognize improvement, but leaders can’t rest on their laurels. Great leaders understand that growth requires continuous learning.
Fostering practical leadership experience: Theory is important, but leaders need to know how to put their leadership learning into action. Exercises such as simulation exercises and stretch assignments can help leaders build their practical skills.

What Are the Benefits of Leadership Development Programs?

Leadership development is an investment in the future of an organization . Some of the benefits of leadership development include:

Increased employee engagement and retention: Workers are more likely to stay with an organization that offers opportunities for them to learn and grow. Employees at companies that hire and promote more internal candidates stay 41 percent longer than workers at companies with lower internal hiring rates, research shows .
Improved organizational performance and productivity: Research has shown a positive relationship between leadership development programs and organizational performance . Training helps leaders become more effective in helping their employees get results that support the organization’s mission.
Enhanced succession planning and talent pipeline: Identifying potential leaders and offering them the chance to develop are critical elements in creating a robust talent pipeline and effective succession planning .
Cultivation of a positive work culture: Development programs help leaders learn how to create a positive work culture among their teams. But simply offering people the chance to develop also contributes —via a LinkedIn survey , employees said that providing professional opportunities is one of the best ways to improve organizational culture.

How to Design an Effective Leadership Development Program

Effective leadership development programs have some elements in common. Here are some that are critical to include when designing your program:

Identifying organizational goals and leadership competencies: Leadership development programs should be designed to support an organization’s goals, so those goals must first be clear and well defined . You also need to identify which leadership competencies are needed to help achieve those objectives.
Creating a structured curriculum and training framework: Once you know your overall goals and the competencies you want to foster, you can create a learning program that aligns with that mission . Guiding participants through the programming is important to make sure the program is productive and effective.
Leveraging various learning methodologies: Leadership development comes in all forms, such as in-person and online instruction; mentoring and coaching ; intensive courses or boot camps and more. Offering a variety of methodologies provides a rich and well-rounded experience for leadership learners.
Incorporating real-world challenges and experiential learning: Beyond instruction, leaders need practice in applying their leadership skills. Opportunities can include on-the-job developmental assignments, shadowing and job rotation.
Customizing the program to meet individual needs: One size does not fit all when it comes to leadership. Each individual should have the chance to engage in learning that will best help them to reach their goals.

Implementing and Executing the Leadership Development Program

Once your leadership development program is designed, it’s time to bring it to life. Here are some key steps to take in implementing your program:

Gaining buy-in from senior management and stakeholders: Support from senior management is crucial to an effective leadership development program. It’s best to get buy-in from the very beginning to avoid roadblocks later in the process.
Communicating the program’s objectives and expectations: Good leadership development programs come with clear objectives and expectations. These need to be effectively communicated to stakeholders and participants so that everyone is on the same page.
Selecting and training program facilitators and mentors: Leaders aren’t the only ones who need training and development — the people helping leaders learn need support as well. A structured program to select and train facilitators and mentors will help everyone make the most of leadership development opportunities.
Monitoring progress and measuring success: Every participant should go into a leadership development program knowing what success looks like and how that will be measured.
Making necessary adjustments and improvements: The progress of each individual should be monitored regularly and paired with constructive and actionable feedback so participants have a clear path to improvement.

Examples of Successful Leadership Development Programs

Amazon has successfully used mentoring to spur employee career growth, including leadership development. The company launched its Amazon Mentoring Program (AMP) in partnership with Chronus in 2016. The program has grown 750% since its first year and now supports 160,000 employees with an 86% satisfaction rate. The program also works to elevate Amazon’s brand, build a management pipeline and provide opportunities to learn more about employee challenges.

The program includes the Limitless Mentoring Program, a 6-month mentorship program designed to provide mid-level leaders with opportunities to connect with leadership across all Amazon organizations to drive rich learning, elevate leadership capabilities and advance forward-thinking development.

Overcoming Challenges in Leadership Development Programs

Creating an effective leadership development program is not without its challenges. Some common barriers include resistance to change and limited resources. In both these cases, it’s important to outline clear goals for the program, identify benefits, show value and communicate these to stakeholders and participants in an environment of open dialogue.

Maintaining program sustainability and scalability can also be a challenge. You can overcome this by ensuring alignment with organizational goals, continuously evaluating and refining the program and cultivating an organizational culture that values leadership development.

Conclusion: Empowering Future Leaders

The success of every organization depends on the quality of its leaders. Leadership development programs ensure that leaders receive every opportunity to realize the highest potential for themselves, their teams and the company as a whole — now and for the long term.

Learn more about how Chronus mentoring software can play a key role in building an effective leadership development program.

Jennifer Sokolowsky

Jennifer Sokolowsky is a freelance writer and editor based in Seattle. Her work focuses on the potential of technology to transform the business world and human lives.

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Stanford Graduate School of Business Schwab Residential Center

Coaching Skills for Effective Leadership

Choose a session:, register anytime.

Plan, prepare, and practice coaching skills for managers using a proven, research-backed framework.

Coaching is a transformational experience, whether you’re on the giving or receiving side, which is why it’s an essential skill for managers to get right. The curriculum for Coaching Skills for Effective Leadership gives you a proven framework developed by practitioners and Stanford GSB faculty with immersive assignments to help you apply skills to real-world coaching conversations. The EFECT (Engage, Frame, Explore, Commit, and Test) framework walks you through the steps and skills needed to have effective coaching conversations. It makes coaching skills for managers more concrete and actionable. You’ll gain both the knowledge and skills to promote the personal growth of your team members, the excellence of your organization, and the strength of your leadership.

What You Will Learn

Module 1: engage.

Understand how dialogue and cognitive and implicit biases impact coaching.
Identify personal biases and leadership hot-buttons as an important step to engaging others in a coaching conversation.
Analyze effective ways to build trust, the potential obstacles to engagement, and strategies for resolving them.
Key assignment: Activate your coaching experience by reflecting on a previous coaching conversation. Consider how you set goals with your employee and evaluate your own level of engagement.

Module 2: Frame

Develop skills to be a more active, engaged, and empathetic listener.
Discover ways to guide the framing of issues to promote clarity and agency.
Recognize the contextual and personal elements that can affect the coaching conversation.
Key assignment: Tune into an actual coaching conversation conducted by one of the course instructors. Tackle questions to develop your understanding of the Frame stage and receive course facilitator feedback on your answers.

Module 3: Explore

Learn strategies for asking questions to support the employee’s exploration of potential courses of action.
Formulate multiple coaching questions that consider the impact of the employee’s perspective and their position in the organization.
Understand the potential negative effects of power differentials and performance evaluations.
Key assignment: Listen to an actual coaching conversation conducted by one of the course instructors and answer reflection questions to understand how the Explore stage can lead to effective solutions.

Module 4: Commit and Test

Help employees plan a course of action to solve a problem, recognizing common challenges to behavioral change.
Create effective accountability mechanisms that consider the employee’s objectives.
Follow up and re-engage with the employee for the next steps in the coaching process.
Key assignment: Develop a plan, conduct, and answer reflection questions about your own coaching conversation, applying the tools and techniques you learned in the course. Receive course facilitator feedback on all aspects of the assignment.

Learning Model

This on-demand, online course is offered in four modules. Each module combines theory and practice with assignments that turn course learnings into real-time results. Course content includes videos, interactive presentations, workbook, experiential exercises, and personal feedback on key assignments to help you apply what you learn.

After you register, you will unlock course material for 60 days and can save select materials for future reference.

Course Flow

Program dates, fees, and faculty subject to change. Consistent with its non-discrimination policy, Stanford’s programs are open to participants regardless of race, color, national or ethnic origin, sex, age, disability, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, veteran status, marital status or any other characteristic protected by applicable law.

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A–Z Index
Operating Status

Federal Leadership Development Programs

This is the online home of the catalogue of Federal Government Leadership Development Programs (FedLDP). Here you will find a searchable electronic library of programs offered by Federal departments and agencies to foster the development of leadership skills in their employees. Information on programs can be found by searching the catalog by agency, pay level, key words, and/or audience scope. Even more information can be accessed by using the URL, email, and/or phone number listed next to each program under Get More Info .

Bookmark this site as a one-stop reference for finding programs which will meet the career development needs of Federal employees. Employees can independently look for programs that suit their developmental needs, while learning and development professionals can use the site to provide guidance for employees and benchmark their training programs.

Start your search by selecting 'Search the Catalogue' tab above.

Federal departments and agencies that wish to update the information on their leadership development programs or add new ones to the site should send their requests to [email protected]

Search the Catalogue

Identify available leadership development programs for which you are eligible by using any of the following search options: Selecting an agency from the drop-down list; Filling in a Pay Level (e.g., GS-12, Pay Band K, FS-03); Typing in keywords; and/or Restricting your search based on the targeted audience scope. You can use any search criteria independently or in combination with other search criteria. *

* Federal departments and agencies that wish to update the information on their leadership development programs or add new ones to the site should send their requests to [email protected] .

We're sorry but the grade/pay level information you entered does not correspond with any of the programs currently available in our database. You may wish to enter a new grade/pay level and try your search again. Please note the way pay levels are listed by the agency can be a bit tricky.

For example if a Program has GS 7-12 as the Grade/Pay Level you can find that record by entering GS 9 , GS-9 , or even just 9 . The same is true for entering the same input with and number from 7 through 12 . If what you entered does not bring back the desired results try several combinations of search before you give up.

An error occurred while trying to retrieve agency programs. Please try again later.

Search guidance.

Welcome to the FedLDP site! This site is populated with information about Leadership Development Programs available within agencies of the Federal government who have chosen to list their programs on this site.

How to Search the Site

You can search for programs in several ways on the search page , as follows:

Select a Department or Independent Agency from the drop down list.

For example purposes, we selected the Department of Commerce as shown in the graphic below. Then click on Search . All the Leadership Development Programs (LDPs) offered by the Department of Commerce will appear.

Graphic of the search interface with Department of Commerce selected

Do not choose an agency.

Fill in your Pay Level with the appropriate letters and numbers such as GS-12, Pay Band K, or FS-03. See the graphic below in which GS-7 was filled in to search the catalog. Then click on Search . All the LDPs offered for a Federal employee in a GS-7 position will appear.

Graphic of the search interface with GS-7 in the Pay Level field

For the most refined search, use multiple criteria.

Select a Department or Independent Agency from the drop down list. Next, fill in your Pay Level . In the example below we have refined the search of programs offered by the Department of Commerce by also filling in the Pay Level with GS-7. After you click on Search , all the LDPs offered by the Department of Commerce to a Federal employee in a GS-7 position will appear.

Graphic of the search interface with Agency selected AND GS-7 in the Pay Level field

Understanding the List Page

Grade/Pay Level identifies the compensation level of participants who are eligible to participate in the program.

Scope identifies the audience category of which you must be a member in order to participate in a program. The meanings of the icons used in this field are:

Name displays the formal name of the program.

Description generally provides more detailed, yet brief, information about the nature and duration of the program as well as additional information about the target audience.

Components provide a listing of the method(s) used to deliver the content during the program.

Get More Info provides methods of obtaining more information about a specific program. You should expect to find one or a combination of the following items in this column.

Name of Contact Person
Email address of Contact Person
Phone number of Contact Person
Web address where you can view more information about the program.

Preview of Sample Listing

Definitions

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20 Best Summer Leadership Programs For High School Students

Reviewed by:

Rohan Jotwani

Former Admissions Committee Member, Columbia University

Reviewed: 3/20/24

Summer opens up a world of opportunities for high school students, offering the perfect backdrop to ignite passions, master new skills, and pave the way for future success.

At the heart of this exciting season are leadership programs for high school students—your gateway to unlocking potential and shaping tomorrow's leaders. These experiences are specially designed to enhance vital skills such as effective communication, teamwork, innovative problem-solving, and critical thinking.

From ethical, organizational, and social leadership, these programs and camps immerse students in the art of leadership, providing a well-rounded perspective on how to lead with confidence and impact in today's fast-paced world.

Jump in and see how you can make this summer a time for growth, become a leader, and explore endless opportunities!

20 Best High School Leadership Summer Programs

Check out our list of 20 leadership programs for high school students who want to be leaders. To help you determine which one is right for you, we’ll explore what each program is about and how you can join.

1. Brown University Pre-College Leadership Institute

Location : Providence, Rhode Island

Program Length : Typically one to two weeks

Cost : Varies by course; financial aid is available for those who qualify

Eligibility : High school students from around the world

Start Date : Dates vary depending on the course

Application Deadline : Applications typically start in the winter with rolling admissions

The Brown University Pre-College Leadership Institute offers high school students the opportunity to develop and refine their leadership skills through interactive workshops, seminars, and group projects.

Participants engage in topics such as ethical decision-making, diversity and inclusion, and social entrepreneurship. The program aims to empower students to become effective leaders in their communities and future careers.

2. Harvard Summer School's Secondary School Program

Location : Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA

Program Length : Seven weeks

Cost : Varies by course selection and housing option; financial aid is available

Eligibility : Students completing grades 9-12

Start Date : Summer, usually in June

Application Deadline : Typically in March or April

Harvard's Secondary School Program allows high school students to experience college life while taking courses alongside college students. Participants can choose from over 200 courses in a variety of disciplines, including arts, sciences, technology, and humanities.

3. National Student Leadership Conference

Location : Varies depending on the program

Program Length : One week

Cost : Varies

Eligibility : High school students

Start Date : Multiple sessions depending on program and location

Application Deadline : Varies based on program. NSLC accepts applications past deadlines if space or waitlist spots are open, as shown on the online application.

The National Student Leadership Conference provides an immersive pre-college experience that prepares students for life beyond middle and high school, allowing them to study in university classrooms, learn to navigate the campus, and experience living with roommates.

Students are able to explore a career concentration they are interested in before going into college and declaring a major. Each NSLC program also contains a leadership curriculum designed to teach skills that can apply to all areas of life.

4. Stanford University Summer Camp

Location : Stanford, California, USA

Program Length : Typically two-four weeks

Cost : Varies; financial assistance may be available

Eligibility : Students in grades 9-11 or 10-12, depending on the program

Start Date : Summer, with specific dates depending on the program

Application Deadline : Usually in February or March

Stanford University offers various summer camps for high school students, focusing on subjects ranging from business and entrepreneurship to science and engineering.

These programs provide hands-on learning experiences, access to Stanford faculty, and the chance to explore potential career paths. Leadership, innovation, and creativity are key components across all camps.

5. MIT Summer Camp

Location : Varies on program and location

Program Length : Typically four–six weeks

Cost : Varies depending on the program however, many programs are free or low-cost

Eligibility : High school students, specific requirements vary based on program

Start Date : Usually June or July

Application Deadline : Typically in February

MIT's summer programs for high school students cover a wide range of STEM subjects, including mathematics, science, and engineering.

Participants engage in challenging coursework, laboratory experiments, and team projects designed to enhance their problem-solving skills and understanding of complex concepts. The camp encourages innovation and aims to prepare students for careers in STEM fields.

6. Student Conservation Association (SCA) High School Crews

Location : National parks, forests, and urban green spaces across the United States

Program Length : Varies from one to several weeks

Cost : Free

Eligibility : High school students interested in environmental conservation

Start Date : Varies by program and location

Application Deadline : Varies by specific program

The SCA High School Crews program offers high school students the opportunity to participate in conservation projects across the United States. This program combines environmental education with hands-on service work, aiming to build the next generation of conservation leaders.

7. Boston Leadership Institute

Program Length : Offers one-week sessions and three-week session programs

Cost : Varies by program; financial aid may be available

Eligibility : Students aged 13–18 with a strong academic record

Start Date : Varies by program and session

Application Deadline : Rolling admissions; early application is encouraged

The Boston Leadership Institute offers STEM summer programs for high school students interested in pursuing careers in science, technology, engineering, and math.

Programs range from one to three weeks and cover topics such as biomedical and surgical research, engineering, and marine biology. Hands-on lab experiences and research projects are central to the curriculum.

8. Bank of America Student Leaders Program

Location : Washington, DC

Program Length : Eight weeks Internship

Cost : Free; participants also receive a stipend

Eligibility : High school juniors and seniors in the U.S. with a commitment to community service

Start Date : July 22, 2024

Application Deadline : Typically in January

Student Leaders will engage in an eight-week paid internship at a local nonprofit organization, gaining firsthand insight into their community's needs and the vital role of nonprofits. Additionally, they will acquire valuable civic, social, and business leadership skills.

Each Student Leader will participate in the Student Leaders Summit in Washington , D.C., where they will learn about the collaboration between government, business, and the nonprofit sector in addressing critical community needs.

9. Hugh O'Brian Youth Leadership (HOBY) Seminars

Location : Various locations across the United States

Cost : <$500

Eligibility : High school students, ages 14–18

Start Date : Sessions in April, May, June

Application Deadline : Varies by state

HOBY's State Leadership Seminar (LS) is crafted for high school sophomores to uncover and utilize their leadership skills for positive influence within their homes, schools, and communities.

Through engaging, interactive sessions over three to four days, participants discover their potential, understand their place in the world, and connect with peers, forming valuable networks and friendships. Post-seminar, they emerge equipped with the confidence and insight needed for impactful leadership.

10. Economics for Leaders (EFL) - Foundation for Teaching Economics

Location : Multiple university campuses across the USA

Cost : Varies; financial aid is available

Eligibility : Current high school sophomores and juniors

Start Date : Various start dates throughout the summer

Application Deadline : Varies by location; typically in early spring

Economics for Leaders is a selective summer program that combines principles of economic reasoning with leadership training. High school students learn about decision-making, market economics, and the impact of economic policies on societies and individuals.

The program emphasizes real-world applications of economics and develops leadership skills through group activities and simulations.

11. Ronald Reagan Student Leadership Program

Location : Washington, D.C.

Program Length : One-week

Cost : $750

Start Date : June 17, July 8 and July 29

Application Deadline : March 1, 2024

The Ronald Reagan Student Leadership Program (SLP) - Leadership in Action, offers high school students a distinctive five-day experience at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Museum. The program is a deep dive into leadership through the prism of one of the most esteemed Presidential Libraries in the U.S.

Participants engage in practical leadership activities, collaborate with peers, and gain insights into the historical and value-driven legacy of Ronald Reagan. A highlight of the program is the development of a Leadership Action Plan (LAP), where students, guided by community mentors, craft strategies for positive community impact.

12. Leadership in the Business World (LBW) at University of Pennsylvania - Wharton School

Location : Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA

Program Length : Four weeks

Cost : Approximately $7,995 (subject to change; financial aid available)

Eligibility : Rising high school seniors

Start Date : July

Application Deadline : Early February

‍ Leadership in the Business World is offered by the Wharton School, this program introduces high school students to the fundamentals of leadership in the context of business and entrepreneurship.

Participants attend lectures by Wharton faculty, engage in team projects, and visit businesses to learn about management, finance, marketing, and business ethics. The program aims to prepare future leaders in the business world.

13. Telluride Association Summer Programs (TASP)

Location : Hosted at different universities each year

Program Length : Six weeks

Cost : Free including tuition, room, board, and books

Eligibility : High school juniors

Start Date : Late June

Application Deadline : Early January

The Telluride Association Summer Programs (TASP) are educational programs for high school juniors. They focus on discussion-based learning in topics like philosophy, history, and literature, led by college faculty. TASPs encourage students to think critically, work together, and take part in community service.

The program is for students who love to learn and think deeply. It's competitive, with selection based on essays and recommendations. All costs, including meals, housing, and books, are covered, making it accessible to all students regardless of financial background.

14. Yale Young Global Scholars (YYGS)

Location : New Haven, Connecticut, USA

Program Length : Two weeks

Cost : Approximately $6,300 for the 2023 session; need-based financial aid is available

Eligibility : High school sophomores or juniors at the time of application

Start Date : Multiple sessions in June and July

Application Deadline : Early January or early February

Yale Young Global Scholars is a rigorous academic summer program that brings together outstanding high school students from around the world at Yale University.

The program offers interdisciplinary courses that encourage students to explore complex global issues through lectures, seminars, and group projects. YYGS covers topics across STEM, social sciences, humanities, and the arts, aiming to develop leaders and critical thinkers.

15. The University of Notre Dame Leadership Seminars

Location : Notre Dame, Indiana, USA

Program Length : 10 days

Cost : Free, includes tuition, housing, meals, and transportation

Eligibility : Current high school juniors

The University of Notre Dame Leadership Seminars are intensive programs focusing on global issues, ethics, and leadership. High school students engage in discussions, seminars, and group projects, led by Notre Dame faculty.

Topics vary each year but often include global affairs, science and society, and moral debates. The program is designed to challenge students intellectually while fostering leadership skills.

16. Princeton University Summer Journalism Program

Location : Princeton, New Jersey, USA

Cost : Free, including travel, lodging, and meals

Eligibility : High-achieving juniors from low-income backgrounds

Start Date : August

The Princeton University Summer Journalism Program is a 10-day, all-expenses-paid program for high-achieving, low-income high school juniors interested in journalism and media. Participants attend workshops led by journalists, report on real events, and produce a newspaper.

The program aims to diversify the field of journalism by empowering students with the skills, knowledge, and networking opportunities necessary to pursue a career in journalism.

17. United States Naval Academy Summer Seminar (NASS)

Location : Annapolis, Maryland, USA

Program Length : One-week

Cost : Approximately $650 plus travel expenses

Start Date : Multiple sessions run throughout June

Application Deadline : Typically in January or February

The United States Naval Academy Summer Seminar (NASS) offers a challenging, one-week introduction to life at the Naval Academy for rising high school seniors. Through rigorous physical, academic, and leadership training, students get a taste of the Naval Academy experience.

The program includes exposure to engineering, science, and humanities courses, physical training, and leadership development.

18. Girls Who Code Summer Immersion Program

Location : Various locations across the United States; some programs may be offered virtually

Program Length : Two weeks (virtual) or six weeks (in-person)

Eligibility : High school students who identify as female or non-binary, no previous coding experience required

Start Date : Varies, typically starts in June or July

Application Deadline: Varies, often in early spring (March or April)

Girls Who Code offers high school girls and non-binary students free virtual Summer Programs to learn computer science and prepare for tech careers. Choose from a two-week immersive game design course or a six-week self-paced exploration of tech's biggest topics.

No prior coding experience is needed. Participants benefit from professional networking, financial grants, tech support, and a global community, all aimed at fostering a supportive environment and opening doors to future opportunities in technology.

19. The Junior Statesmen Summer School (JSA)

Location : Varies depending on the program

Program Length : Varies depending on the program

Eligibility : High school students interested in politics and government

Start Date : Varies by program location, generally in June or July

Application Deadline : Rolling admissions, but early application is encouraged (typically by March or April for the best chance of admission)

The JSA provides a comprehensive exploration of American government, politics, and public speaking in a collegiate setting.

Drawing on elements from the Burd Institute on Media & Politics, Young Women’s Leadership Institute, and Stern Civics Immersion Program, JSA offers university-level courses, workshops, debates, and simulations aimed at developing leadership skills and deepening understanding of democracy.

Students engage with journalism fundamentals, learn the importance of leadership, and tackle pressing societal issues through a blend of lectures, content creation, and problem-solving activities, all while interacting with professionals and leaders in the field.

20. Global Young Leaders Conference (GYLC)

Location : Washington, D.C., and New York City, NY

Program Length : Approximately 10 days

Cost : Varies; scholarships may be available

Eligibility : High school students from around the world, ages 15-19

Start Date : Typically in July or August

Application Deadline : Various deadlines

The Global Young Leaders Conference (GYLC) is a leadership development program that provides a unique forum for young leaders from around the globe to explore global challenges and cultural differences.

The program includes seminars, workshops, and cultural exchanges, focusing on diplomacy, international relations, and the role of the United Nations. Participants develop leadership skills, self-confidence, and a better understanding of the complexities of the global community.

Welcome to our FAQ section, offering guidance on leadership programs for high school students, including application processes, eligibility criteria, and the leadership skills these programs aim to cultivate.

1. How Can High School Students Apply for Leadership Camps, and What Is the Selection Process?

High school students can apply for leadership camps by submitting an application through the program's website, which typically includes personal information, academic records, recommendation letters, and essays.

The selection process varies by program but generally involves evaluating the applicant's leadership potential, academic achievements, and extracurricular involvement.

2. Are There Specific Eligibility Criteria for High School Students to Attend These Camps?

Yes, most leadership camps have specific eligibility criteria, including age or grade level requirements, academic standing, and sometimes prerequisites in related subjects or activities. It's important to review these criteria carefully before applying.

3. What Leadership Skills Are Emphasized During the Camp?

Leadership camps emphasize a variety of skills, including effective communication, ethical decision-making, team collaboration, problem-solving, and adaptability. These skills are cultivated through a mix of theoretical learning, practical exercises, and reflective activities.

Final Thoughts

Leadership programs for high school students during the summer offer a unique chance to develop essential skills, gain valuable insights, and get ready for future challenges.

By joining these summer leadership programs, students not only improve their leadership abilities but also lay a solid groundwork for success in college and their careers.

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FOUNDATIONS OF CHRISTIAN LEADERSHIP

Foundations of Christian Leadership

Dates and Locations
Grant Eligibility
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Pre-Program Assignments

The following links contain assignments that admitted participants will need to complete prior to attending Foundations.

We know that you grapple with many difficult questions as a Christian leader. We want to help. Complex concerns about ministry can’t be fully addressed here, of course, but we provide a starting point for engaging the deep issues.

Christian Leadership

What is distinctly christian about being a christian leader, institutions, why are organizations beyond the local congregation needed to sustain vital christian community and ministry, how do i evaluate our programs i want to be sure they are in line with our mission and are having the impact we want them to have..

Executive Leadership Development

Leading from the top requires a shift in perspective, invest in your senior-most leaders with transformative executive leadership courses..

Working at the top of an organization — whether it’s leading a department, function, region, division, or business unit — is challenging and multi-faceted. The ability of your senior leaders to work together effectively to drive change and execute strategy across the business may be the most critical element in your organization’s success.

No matter the industry, the executive leadership role of connecting strategy with results requires a broad perspective, a strategic mindset, and a high level of resilience. Your organization’s future depends upon it. That’s why executive leadership training and development is so important for the success of your business in the future.

Our Executive Leadership Development Courses & Programs

Leading for organizational impact.

Leading for Organizational Impact is our flagship executive leadership program that invites participants to think, act, and influence both tactically and strategically and learn to balance priorities to help the organization achieve its goals.

Participants learn to understand the bigger picture while gaining increased self-awareness about their strengths and developmental needs.

For senior leaders of business units, functions, and regions
In-person, 5 days
Includes 360-degree feedback and executive coaching
Includes a world-renowned business simulation, The Looking Glass® Experience, for experiential learning
Custom versions, scale-up options, and volume pricing may be available

Leadership at the Peak for Senior Executives

Leadership at the Peak is a prestigious, personalized, holistic senior executive leadership program that equips those leading organizations to lead their lives — and their organizations — at their best.

Open by application only, this exclusive executive leadership training provides individualized development within the context of advancing the entire business — all in a beautiful retreat setting.

For C-level executives, by application only (ensuring a vetted group of peers facing similar challenges)
Includes 360-degree feedback and executive coaching
Features activities to enhance executive presence and personalized wellness / fitness consultations

Customized Leadership Development for Senior Leaders & Executives

Partner with us to co-create custom executive leadership development programs for your organization that grow the mindsets, skillsets, and capabilities needed among top leaders to spearhead your strategy and steward your culture.

For senior leaders and executives
Choice of in-person, online, or blended learning experiences
Options to build custom executive leadership programs tailored for your organization’s unique context and culture, using our research-based experientials, proven simulations, 360 assessments , and personalized executive coaching
All sessions led by our world-class executive coaches and faculty, who have extensive experience working with senior executives

What Our Clients Are Saying

At CCL, we measure success by lives touched and impact made. That’s why the organizations we work with and the leaders we develop consistently tell us the same thing: their experience with us isn’t just a game-changer, it’s a life-changer. Our executive leadership programs have helped transform thousands of executives around the world into the effective leaders their organizations need.

But don’t just take our word for it — take theirs.

“The ecosystem of co-participants who were senior executives from varied industries and geographies, coupled with a highly experienced faculty, a safe zone setup to forego inhibitions and open myself to give and receive feedback, all made a huge personal impact on me, in my leadership learning journey with CCL.”

Sanjay Chintalapalli

Sr. Director of Technology Gilbarco Veeder Root

“For me, the biggest ‘a-ha’ was realizing that even though we, as a senior leadership team, are very good at communicating our corporate message throughout the organization, we can use some simple strategies to make sure that everyone not only knows our strategies, but lives them.”

Pamela McNamara

VP of Sales, US Kao Group

What Participants Gain from Our Executive Leadership Training Programs

Whether your organization opts to send individual leaders to our core executive leadership course, Leading for Organizational Impact or our C-suite leadership training program, Leadership at the Peak ; leverages our transformative executive coaching services ; partners with our Organizational Leadership experts for senior leadership team development ; or crafts a custom executive leadership development program for your senior leaders, we ensure that each experience is tailored to address the unique challenges and competencies needed at the senior executive leader level.

Every participant in our executive development programs comes away with stronger leadership skills:

Improved decision-making skills and agility
Enhanced ability to work effectively across boundaries
Increased self-awareness and resilience
Better understanding of organizational strategy
Sharpened communication skills

Let’s Talk About Executive Leadership Development Training

Our experts are here to help. Get in touch with us to discuss how our executive leadership training courses could be transformational for your senior leaders — and your organization.

Executive Leadership Development: Research & Resources

CCL Webinar: The Value of Senior Leadership Development

Watch this webinar to learn the challenges facing executive-level leaders and why continuous development is especially important at the senior level.

Senior Leadership Skills: What Experienced Leaders Need to Know to Succeed

Leading at the top presents unique challenges. The senior leadership skills that top executives need to succeed help them to tackle both short- and long-term needs.

Coaching for Leaders: Why Executives Need Support

Providing executives with support is critical for strong organizational performance, especially in times of disruption. Learn how coaching for leaders can help.

CEO of a global organization looking out the window and thinking about ways to accelerate his impact and wishing for a leadership guide especially for senior executives

At the C-suite level, individual performance isn’t enough anymore. Download this guide to learn the 5 ways senior executives need to excel to ensure success for yourself and your organization.

How to Become a CEO: Keys to Reaching the C-Suite

If your goal is reaching the C-suite or becoming a CEO, find out first if you have the 4 key readiness components that it takes to prepare for the role and be successful.

Lead with impact: Address senior leadership challenges

Organizations must understand the senior leadership challenges faced by leaders of functions and divisions in order to focus development initiatives for their needs.

More About Executive Leadership Training Programs

Why executive leadership development is worth the investment.

Executives must balance many competing factors in their roles. A broad perspective, a strategic mindset, and a high level of resilience are all essential for success. As leaders move into senior management, they must be able to see the whole system to be effective.

But how do you help high-performing executives stay aware of their blind spots? How do you ensure leaders at this level think strategically, balance competing priorities, and see the whole field? And how can they learn to work together to bridge silos, and not wage turf wars?

Executive leadership training can make a big difference. Leadership courses for senior leaders provide the opportunity to pause and focus on what’s most important, shift perspectives, build networks, and get the personalized feedback needed to become more self-aware and charismatic — transforming them into the executives who will steer your organization into tomorrow.

Executive leadership courses at the Center for Creative Leadership

Our High-Touch, World-Renowned Executive Leadership Training Programs Really Work

A group of highly effective senior leaders can transform the culture of your organization and the speed at which you can execute on your strategy. And at CCL, we show them how.

Whether you’re looking to uplift and transform your entire executive team, or seeking targeted executive leadership courses to develop key senior leaders at the top of your organization, we offer a variety of human-centered, research-based executive leadership training programs, transformative executive coaching , or let us craft a custom training for your senior leaders based on your organization’s unique culture, context, and competencies.

Frequently Asked Questions About Executive Leadership Training Programs & Courses

Our executive leadership courses and programs offer a range of benefits, including personalized feedback to enhance individual self-awareness, the opportunity to pause and reflect on what’s most important, the space to shift perspectives, and the support needed to bring out the best in themselves and their organizations. Transforming your senior leaders will help set your organization up for success.

Organizations should invest in executive leadership training because their future depends on it. Our executive leadership development trainings help high-performing executives uncover blind spots, think strategically, balance competing priorities, work together more effectively, and bridge silos. We also provide personalized feedback that helps leaders transform themselves and their entire organizational culture.

Participants gain several key skills from executive leadership training programs, including increased self-awareness and resilience, improved agility, an enhanced ability to span boundaries, a better understanding of organizational strategy, and sharpened communication skills. At the Center for Creative Leadership, our research-backed executive leadership development programs are ranked among the best in the world.

More questions? Our experts are here to help. Let’s have a conversation!

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Leadership Brandon Celebrates 40 Years Of Building Community Influencers

The Leadership Brandon Program has worked to identify and develop civic-minded leaders in our community with insight and access of community operations through eight months of Leadership Development Days, which include a series of activities, seminars, tours and interactive presentations that nurture business relationships, improve community awareness and strengthen leadership abilities.

“Celebrating the 40th anniversary of our flagship Leadership Brandon Program is an incredible milestone, one that makes me extremely proud to be leading the Brandon Chamber to witness the program’s evolution over four decades shaping leaders, fostering growth and making an impact on our community,” said the Greater Brandon Chamber of Commerce’s executive vice president, Amber Aaron. “I’m also grateful for our Leadership alumni members, business representatives, nonprofits and agencies that have continued to support the program. Being part of this journey for 20 years as a chamber professional and seeing individuals transform through the program’s ripple effect on both their personal and professional levels is rewarding.”

After the pandemic, the class size has been significantly smaller and some of the key visit sites were unavailable for tours.

“This year, we have an amazing planning team of Leadership Brandon alumni from several different class years working to recruit new applicants and plan the best experiences for the 2025 Class that will begin on September 6, 2024,” said Aaron. “We also have two remarkable leaders: Suzy Gay with SouthState Bank as our class chair and Sunni Moreno with After Glow Aesthetics & Wellness as class co-chair.”

Gay, vice president and commercial relationship manager of SouthState Bank, is thrilled to be the current chair for the 2025 class.

“I am honored to serve as the chair for the class of 2025 and am excited to see the program refreshed,” Gay said. “I believe in the effectiveness of this program and how it inspires positive change and elevates the Brandon community. My hopes for the 2025 Leadership Class of Brandon are to cultivate a dynamic group of individuals who are passionate about driving positive change within our community.”

Leadership Brandon is open to emerging leaders from diverse professional backgrounds, including entrepreneurs, executives’ mid-level managers and community advocates. Applications are available now.

“As we mark this significant anniversary, I’m filled with excitement for the future of Leadership Brandon,” Aaron said. “We stand on a foundation built on excellence, empowering leaders, driving change and making a difference in our community. My hopes are that this class embraces making lifelong connections and uses the tools they’ve learned to give back and serve their community.”

If you’d like to learn more about Leadership Brandon or be a part of the 2025 class, you can visit the chamber’s website at www.brandonchamber.com or call 813-689-1221.

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Leadership Development Program Framework
5 Strategies To Plan An Impactful Leadership Program
ILM level 5 Award in Leadership and Management
Free Download: Excel/Word: Leadership Training Plan Template
Creating an Effective Leadership Development Program • SpriggHR
Developing a leadership journey

VIDEO

B.Ed 1.5
Leadership Program #leadership #leadershipdevelopment #leadershipskills
Wk 2 Video
IIBMS ANSWER SHEETS Art of Leadership I IIBMS MBA ANSWER SHEETS I IIBMS CASE STUDY SOLUTIONS
A Pep-Talk for new and aspiring leaders… #leadership #motivation
Leadership and change management from chapter 2 mid exam with the answers and explanation

COMMENTS

39 best leadership activities and games
Making decisions. Inspiring team members. Setting values for their team. Improving team spirit and cohesion. Being responsible for their team's communication and wellbeing. Developing leadership skills in other team members. There are a number of tools to help you with leadership development.
5 Steps to Creating a Successful Leadership Development Plan
According to Harvard Business School Professor Ethan Bernstein, the path to effective leadership is more fluid now than in the past. "Once upon a time, you would enter a leadership development program in a company that might put you on a 20-year track to becoming an executive," Bernstein says. "Many of us can't even fathom that today.
PDF Your Guide + Workbook to Developing Employees Into Leaders
about what an effective leadership program looks like. There's a variety of reasons why leadership training is flagged as a priority. Dig deep to identify what the key drivers are for your organization. These are a few examples that we often come across. • An aging workforce. A current cohort of leaders
83 Leadership Activities, Building Games, and Exercises
With kids' leadership games, the type of activities are not as important as discovering the leadership activities that children will find enjoyable and benefit from (Pennsylvania State University, 2012). Edsys (2016) provides eight suggested activities for children to learn leadership skills: 1. 'Create a New You'.
21 Fun Leadership Activities For Work in 2024
14. Debate. Debate is one of the leadership training activities that help employees develop impressive communication skills. To have a debate, divide your team into two or more groups depending on the size of the team. Once you pair two groups to compete against each other, assign topics to the pairs.
Leadership Development Plan: Template and Example with Tips
Leadership development is the process of improving leadership skills and competencies through various activities. In leadership development, staff at all levels are taught the invaluable leadership skills that allow them to properly lead, inspire and guide their teams to success. ... For a leadership development program to be effective, there ...
15 Effective Leadership-Building Activities for the Workplace
Split the participants into groups and give them a limited amount of time for each of them to get across the "river." This will require teamwork and patience, and the team that gets across first, wins. 6. Active listening challenge. This activity is useful for leadership roles as well as employees.
How to Create a Successful Leadership Development Program
Robust pipeline of innovation projects. ii. Percentage increase in the number of new projects implemented or in development. ii. Product/project performance data. iii. Increase in number of and participation in cross-functional teams. iii. Increase in engagement scores for access to career opportunities.
Leadership Skills
This is a peer-review assignment based on the concepts taught in the Leadership Skills course. In this assignment, you will be able to apply the skills you learned to become more adept in your journey of leadership. ... If fin aid or scholarship is available for your learning program selection, you'll find a link to apply on the description ...
Leadership Training For Managers: 8 Activities And Ideas That Work
1) Encourage Mentorship. The best way to train the next generation of leaders at your company is to take advantage of your current leaders. Established team leaders will enrich your leadership training curriculum with their battle-tested expertise and valuable real-world experiences. The personal touch that mentorship introduces will also serve ...
What Makes Leadership Development Programs Succeed?
Summary. Leadership development is a massive industry. But do these programs actually pay off for the leaders who participate in them? Through a series of experiments, surveys, and analyses of ...
Program for Leadership Development
What You Will Learn. Focused on leadership, change, and innovation, the Program for Leadership Development curriculum is built around four highly integrated modules. In on-campus or live online modules, you will engage in faculty presentations, case studies, personal assessments, individual and group exercises, and special projects.
How to Create a Successful Leadership Development Program
4. Measure results. Before formally implementing your leadership development program, determine how you will measure your program's success and impact. Some measurement options include: The number of participants who complete the program successfully. The number of participants you promote after they have gone through the program.
15 Leadership Activities, Building Games, and Exercises
Group Problem-Solving: Encourage the team to solve a complex problem together, promoting collaboration and building trust through shared achievement. Truth Circle: Sit in a circle and have team members share personal stories or experiences, fostering vulnerability and deepening connections.
Developing a Leadership Framework
In addition, articles, self-evaluation forms, discussion post activities, and practice questions encourage participants to apply leadership principles to their situations. With a strong foundation in leadership theory and the most recent research, the program is designed for immediate practical application.
Building Leadership Development Programs for Future Leaders
Amazon has successfully used mentoring to spur employee career growth, including leadership development. The company launched its Amazon Mentoring Program (AMP) in partnership with Chronus in 2016. The program has grown 750% since its first year and now supports 160,000 employees with an 86% satisfaction rate.
How to Apply Leadership Development Programs to Your Work
Identify your goals. 2. Plan your action steps. 3. Seek feedback and support. 4. Apply new skills and knowledge. 5. Reflect on your learning.
Coaching Skills for Effective Leadership
Identify personal biases and leadership hot-buttons as an important step to engaging others in a coaching conversation. Analyze effective ways to build trust, the potential obstacles to engagement, and strategies for resolving them. Key assignment: Activate your coaching experience by reflecting on a previous coaching conversation.
Leadership Development Program (LDP)®
Our world-class Leadership Development Program (LDP)® is a 5-day, research-based immersive training for mid-level leaders, available both online or in person. A deeply personal, feedback-intense, transformative learning experience, this world-class professional development for leaders helps give you clear perspective on who you are and how to ...
Explore World-Renowned Leadership Programs
Our world-renowned leadership training programs prepare leaders with the skillsets and mindsets needed to succeed. Grounded in ongoing research and 50+ years of experience, our life-changing leadership training courses are among the best in the world. Explore all our core leadership development training programs — or browse our programs by ...
Student Leadership Guides (Elementary)
Join students in learning, teaching, and applying the leadership principles found in this K-6 Leadership Series. An emphasis on leadership skills such as decision making, problem solving, public speaking, critical and creative thinking, and more. Direct teaching of key concepts associated with the 7 Habits®. A gradual release of content ...
Federal Leadership Development Programs
Work assignment(s) away from a program participant's current position. During these assignments, participants learn to adapt and successfully lead in a new position. Self-development Activities Activities such as reading certain books or completing a work-related project, which will further develop the participant's leadership skills. Seminars
20 Best Summer Leadership Programs For High School Students
High school students learn about decision-making, market economics, and the impact of economic policies on societies and individuals. The program emphasizes real-world applications of economics and develops leadership skills through group activities and simulations. 11. Ronald Reagan Student Leadership Program.
PDF M.s. Organizational Leadership Student Handbook
6. I appreciate that, as a graduate student of the Graduate Organizational Leadership program, I have the opportunity to shape the future of a dynamic and growing field of study, through applied projects or original research. ... find links to readings and submit assignments. Take a few minutes to familiarize yourself with the structure of each ...
Develop Strong Leaders With On-the-Job Learning
Including developmental assignments in formal development programs — this might be in the form of action-learning projects, special assignments, or job-rotation experiences. Supporting the pursuit of leadership experiences beyond the workplace, such as volunteer work, board membership, or roles with professional organizations that address ...
Pre-Program Assignments
Pre-Program Assignments. The following links contain assignments that admitted participants will need to complete prior to attending Foundations. Narrative Assignments ». Pre-Session Reading Assignments ».
PDF Leadership Institute
Leadership and Professional Development Opportunities at USC , Room 229 (Theater) Session: This session, which includes interactive activities, provides information on opportunities and methods employees . can develop at the University. Some are more standard while . others are non-traditional, yet still highly effective. We look
Executive Leadership Programs & Trainings
Options to build custom executive leadership programs tailored for your organization's unique context and culture, using our research-based experientials, proven simulations, 360 assessments, and personalized executive coaching. All sessions led by our world-class executive coaches and faculty, who have extensive experience working with ...
Leadership Brandon Celebrates 40 Years Of Building Community
The Leadership Brandon Program has worked to identify and develop civic-minded leaders in our community with insight and access of community operations through eight months of Leadership Development Days, which include a series of activities, seminars, tours and interactive presentations that nurture business relationships, improve community awareness and strengthen leadership abilities.
PDF DA TRADOC Enterprise Leader Development Program (ELDP)
ELDP-F is a competitive, two-year (20 months) program for GS-11 through GS-14 employees. ELDP-F is similar to the SLD and ILD programs it replaces. Enterprise Leader Development Program-Extended (ELDP-E) The extended version of the program, ELDP-E is comprised of the TRADOC Leadership Series (TLS) and TRADOC Developmental Marketplace (TDM). All

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5 Steps to Creating a Successful Leadership Development Plan

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83 Leadership Activities, Building Games, and Exercises

This Article Contains:

Communication

Trustworthiness

Responsibility

Flexibility

Download 3 Free Positive Leadership Exercises (PDF)

Download 3 Free Positive Leadership Exercises Pack (PDF)

Idea 1: ‘Tallest Tower’ (from Stepshift, 2016)

Idea 2: ‘Centre Stage’ (from Higgins, 2018)

Idea 3: ‘Minefield’ (from Stepshift, 2016)

Idea 4: ‘Magic Carpet’ (from Higgins, 2018)

Activity One (Clark, 2015)

Activity Two (Clark, 2015)

Leadership building activities – Project management training – ProjectManager

1. ‘Jumping Ship’

2. ‘Who Ya Gonna Call’