A leadership development plan is the structured roadmap that converts leadership potential into leadership capability. Without a plan, leadership development is ad hoc — a training course here, a stretch assignment there, with no coherent thread connecting activities to the specific capabilities the organization needs to build.

Why Most Leadership Development Plans Fail

The most common failure is the “training event” model: identify a skill gap, send someone to a course, assume the gap is closed. Research consistently shows that 70% of leadership development happens through on-the-job experience, 20% through coaching and feedback, and 10% through formal training. Most organizational investments run backwards — heavy on training, light on the experiences and feedback that actually build capability.

Step 1: Competency Assessment

A leadership development plan starts with an honest assessment of current capability against required competencies. For each relevant competency, establish a current state (based on performance data and 360 feedback) and a target state. The gap defines development priorities. A plan with 12 development areas has no priorities — and therefore no development.

Step 2: Select Development Activities

On-the-Job Experiences (70%)

• Leading a cross-functional project outside their domain
• Managing through a difficult team situation — conflict, underperformance, or reorganization
• Presenting to the executive team or board
• Owning a business outcome with clear metrics and full accountability
• Managing a team through significant change
• Representing the organization externally

Coaching and Feedback (20%)

• Executive coaching from an external coach with structured sessions
• Internal mentoring from a senior leader two to three levels up
• Peer coaching circles with other leaders at similar levels
• Regular structured feedback from their manager with behavioral specificity
• 360-degree feedback with a facilitated debrief

Formal Learning (10%)

• Leadership programs at business schools
• Online courses for specific skill gaps
• Internal workshops facilitated by experienced leaders
• Structured reading with coaching debrief

Step 3: Set Milestones in the Leadership Development Plan

For each development priority, define what evidence would indicate progress. Behavioral evidence is more reliable than self-assessment. Review the leadership development plan quarterly and update based on what is working and what has shifted.

Leadership Development Plan Template

• Leader name, current role, target role or trajectory
• Assessment date and method (360, performance review, or manager assessment)
• Top 2–3 development priorities with current and target state
• Specific activities for each priority (experience, coaching, or learning)
• Milestones and success evidence for each priority
• Review cadence and responsible owner
• Manager commitments: what will you provide to support this plan?

Connecting Leadership Development Plans to Succession Planning

Leadership development plans are most useful when connected to succession planning. For guidance on identifying who should be on development plans, see How to Identify High-Potential Employees and Succession Planning and Leadership Development: A Manager’s Complete Guide.

What the Research Says

According to research published in Harvard Business Review on focused leadership development, leaders who receive structured development plans with specific experiential assignments and regular coaching feedback improve measurably faster than those who receive only formal training. The study found that the combination of challenging stretch assignments with active coaching — the core of the 70-20-10 model — produced the largest gains in leadership effectiveness over a two-year period.

The practical implication: the quality and challenge level of the stretch assignment matters more than the quality of the training program. A mediocre training course followed by a genuinely challenging leadership experience produces better outcomes than an excellent training course with no subsequent experiential application. Design the experiences first. Use training to prepare leaders for what they are about to encounter.