Investing in our leaders earlier – and for the long term
One of Impact’s most popular coaching programs develops an organization’s top people, starting earlier in their careers. The people the organization believes could be their leaders of tomorrow. Those the organization wants to invest in for the future.
Developing a strong pool of succession candidates is one reason organizations look to our High Potential Coaching Program. Equipping individuals earlier in their careers with fundamental skills and behaviours to lead, innovate, strategize, make complex decisions, manage change, and drive growth is another reason. And recognizing high performers is yet another.
Future leaders evolve into strategic thinkers
The benefits to participants are just as valuable. Throughout the 8 to 12-month program, the potential future leaders have the time and space to gain self-awareness, shifting from focusing on the details of their own roles to becoming more strategic, bigger-picture thinkers. They evolve from receiving and executing orders, to pondering what’s next for the organization and how they can contribute to that future. And they make strides in prioritizing and managing time, delegating, and creating capacity for all that strategic planning and visioning.
The program also gives participants time to stop and consider their own career paths with greater intention. What skills gaps they might have. What roles they really want to take on. And what they want their future to look like.
Potential leaders gain confidence, build valuable peer networks
Participants often tell us the program helps them feel calmer and more confident as leaders. They realize they have influence, can delegate work to others, and manage up.
They also build strong connections with the other participants in their cohorts. They work closely and bond with other potential future leaders within their organization who are going through the same things at the same points in their careers. And because the cohorts can often cross functions, departments and regions, participants meet peers they may not have otherwise, understand the organization better, and develop contacts they can call on in the future for help or collaboration opportunities.
Because this is often one of their first times in a coaching program of this calibre and depth, participants also often say they learn coaching behaviours they then use within their own teams, which can have knock-on effects throughout the organization.
What participants have to say about Impact’s High Potential Coaching Program
“I think that over the eight months it really ramped up my own growth and development faster than if I had tried to do it on my own. The speed of my personal growth was the most significant benefit for me.”
“The program gave me an element of self-belief that I was missing. Even the fact that I was being recognized and that others are making that investment in me, led me to re-engage and feel re-energized.”
“I am now thinking about things that I wouldn’t have before the program, whether that is identifying stakeholders I need to engage or around the steps I need to take personally. I feel good about the way I am showing up to leadership and how they are seeing me.”
“It has significantly, even dramatically changed my career path. Having face time with the other leaders is a real advantage. Having exposure to the mentor and the opportunity to share my thoughts and ideas has made a huge difference.”
Emerging leaders become more engaged in their careers
Having coaches from outside the organization makes participants feel the High Potential Coaching Program is a safe space where they can admit failure, be vulnerable, discuss concerns openly – and have someone in their court to help them through it all.
Our coaches hold up a mirror to participants and challenge them on the behaviours that aren’t serving them, and encourage them to step outside their comfort zones to grow and develop into the leaders they and their organization know they can be.
Because our High Potential Coaching Program combines bespoke individual coaching with group coaching that’s topic driven based on the organization’s needs, participants feel more invested in and aligned to their organization’s goals. They’re more thoughtful about and engaged in their careers. And they see a future for themselves in the organization for the long term.
Impact can help
If you’d like to find out more about how our High Potential Coaching Program can help your organization, contact us.
