How to: C-Suite Leadership Training
Being a business leader means knowing everyone on your senior team on an individual level, and also knowing how you can bring the best out in each of them. You should already see C-suite potential in all of your leaders, so the question that remains is, how can you get them into those top positions?
What to consider when training c-suite executives
Assessment and goal setting
The first step is to have a good idea of your candidate's existing competencies. Throughout the course of your working relationship, you will likely have conducted multiple reviews and appraisals. Maybe this person has risen through the ranks, perhaps you’ve known them for many years, and you know their exact potential just from collaborating with them every day.
If you haven’t given an official review, it’s time to do things by the book. Set up a thorough assessment plan to gauge the candidates’ strengths and areas for improvement. 360 surveys are the best way to do this comprehensively. They provide individuals with personality and performance feedback from a range of sources across the organisation, including direct reports, peers and stakeholders. From this, you can define clear and measurable goals to help your prospective C-suite leader achieve their aspirations.
Personal development and leadership skills
One of the very best ways to train C-suite leaders is to invest in executive coaching. It’s completely personalised and tailored to the specific needs and goals of the individual, developing soft skills and emotional intelligence with personal reflection exercises. It’s also a great way to develop key management and leadership skills, like strategic planning, decision making and change management.
Remember that learning and development should be a lifelong process, adopting a continuous learning environment means you’re constantly preparing your employees for the top positions, plus improving retention and satisfaction. EZRA can help your leaders reach the next step with psychometric-grade impact assessments, clear progress reports and AI-powered insights.
Business Acumen
Keen business acumen is essential for C-suite level leadership. Ensure your top leaders are keeping up to date with industry trends, market dynamics and new technology, as well as finessing their financial acumen. This might involve improving their understanding of financial statements, budgeting, analysis and risk management. Consider staging some workshops for your organization, that way people can start learning and growing in this area even at more junior levels.
Business acumen also extends to relationship building. Your new leaders should be especially comfortable and familiar with effective board relations. Try implementing peer-learning sessions – this way board members can share experiences, past challenges and innovative solutions.
Risk-taking
A good risk-taker shows confidence, creativity and proactive management. To reach those C-suite level positions, individuals must be comfortable with weighing risks and unafraid to take them. Risk-taking is really the only way an organisation can innovate, grow and avoid that fateful ‘what if?’ question.
If you’ve already cultivated a culture of calculated risk-taking, this should already be par for the course for your developing leaders.
Health and wellbeing
Your developing C-suite leaders should be proficient at maintaining a healthy work-life balance, this means knowing how to say no. After all, overpromising almost always means underdelivering. Educate your team on stress management and mindfulness techniques and encourage taking advantage of paid time off – all of it! Avoiding mental exhaustion and burnout is essential for the health of employees and organisations as a whole.
How to develop future leaders with coaching
Developing future leaders can be done right through talent acceleration coaching with EZRA. Our personalised development plans help the next generation of C-suite executives to:
Develop themselves
Set goals and ambitions
Network confidently
Influence and inspire others