6 Companies with Best Leadership Development Programs: How to Emulate Their Success

Sustained success for any organization depends on having exceptional leadership at the helm. But how confident are you that your leaders are truly up to the task?

We’ve analyzed the leadership development programs of companies renowned for their effective strategies and have identified six exemplary programs that stand out. These organizations have mastered the art of developing both current and future leaders with strategies that create competent managers but shape visionary leaders.

We’ll explore how these leading companies approach leadership development and show you how to integrate their proven methods into your leadership training initiatives.

Spotify

Spotify offers two core leadership development courses, a management app program and a leadership app program, which both provide deep dives into specific topics like inclusive leadership, distributed team leadership, or how to head up a team during times of crisis.

Speaking on the "HR the Real Deal" podcast,Hedvig Mossvall, Associate Director of Learning and Development, explains how Spotify has adopted a “greenhouse” approach to L&D:

”We grow people, we fertilize, we cultivate, and we make sure that there are possibilities for growing or learning. Growth is our mantra, so we give all our leaders the possibility to grow in different ways. Everything starts with our manager manifesto, with our four core beliefs of leadership: purpose-driven leadership, building and running healthy teams, the courage and willingness to lead, and leadership as a group sport.”

Spotify offers a wide range of self-led training opportunities. For example, leaders can choose from a library of 40+ workshops, all curated and categorized to be relevant to the business. Leaders also benefit from 90-minute booster sessions, which act as forced reflections on their work. These follow specific themes, such as unlocking leadership mind traps or building environments of psychological safety.

Adobe

Adobe launched its Leadership Circles program in 2013 to address the need to diversify its leadership pipeline, particularly within sales. The program focuses on empowering high-performing and high-potential women leaders within Adobe to unlock their full potential and advance their careers. It is designed to provide participants with leadership development, coaching, and peer support over a year.

To participate in Leadership Circles, senior leaders must nominate up to 150 suitable female candidates below the Director level. This helps identify and nurture individuals with significant career growth potential.

The program covers various personal leadership practices, including defining success, leveraging strengths, aligning with values, building a personal board of directors, time management, and more.

Participants join small peer-based groups called “Masterminds,” where they engage in peer coaching and support. This creates a trusted cohort where participants can delve deeper into the program’s content. Everyone is assigned to dedicated career coaches who work with them throughout the program to provide personalized guidance and support, particularly in applying the program’s concepts to real-world business challenges.

An impressive 35% of program participants have been promoted to Director-level positions or above within Adobe, demonstrating the program’s effectiveness in advancing the careers of its participants.

The Leadership Circles program also has an active alumni community, allowing past participants to stay connected and continue their personal growth journey.

Boston Consulting Group

BCG (Boston Consulting Group) takes a unique and highly operational approach to its formal leadership training programs, recognizing the importance of transforming leaders into change agents who can drive organizational performance.

BCG’s approach is based on a “design for adoption” methodology rooted in behavioral science, which aims to integrate leadership development seamlessly into employees’ daily routines.

Rather than offering standalone training, BCG provides targeted executive coaching and hands-on experiences that leaders can use daily and weekly to change their behaviors and leadership styles.

For example, BCG identifies the two or three critical capabilities leaders need to fundamentally transform the organization’s performance. This targeted approach ensures that leadership development efforts align with business goals and outcomes.

Microsoft

Microsoft’s senior leadership and management development path revolves around instilling a “growth mindset” culture across the organization. The program supports managers and employees in understanding that challenges and failures are development opportunities rather than reflections of innate abilities.

This growth mindset is a fundamental aspect of Microsoft’s culture transformation, which is reinforced through a set of expectations for senior managers, emphasizing how they interact with their teams. Senior leaders actively recognize and address internal shortcomings, reflecting a commitment to continuous improvement and learning at all company levels.

The program also introduces a management framework called “Model, Coach, Care”, which defines the roles and expectations of managers at Microsoft.

The company's CEO, Satya Nadella, introduces the program:

“Over the past few years, we’ve implemented a new framework at Microsoft that is proven to have a lasting impact in helping managers, strengthen relationships with their teams and deliver success through empowerment and accountability. The framework focuses on three manager expectations: to model, to coach, and to care. Our managers aspire to model our culture and values in their actions, to coach their teams to define objectives and to adapt and learn. And to care deeply for their employees, seeking to understand their capabilities and ambitions, and invest in their growth. This framework has been incredibly helpful for us, especially as we navigate this challenging period of uncertainty and constraints.”

Cisco

Cisco’s Leadership Development Program consists of several initiatives to build and enhance leadership capabilities among its managers and leaders. The comprehensive programs cover a range of leadership levels, from entry-level managers to senior leaders, based on a combination of internal content, input from universities and consulting firms, and contributions from Cisco senior executives.

The programs include:

• The Global Leader Program and Global Technical Leader Program aims to align organizational goals with global priorities, leverage local competencies and cultures, and inspire leaders to act on a global scale.
• The Business Leader Program includes highly interactive business simulations, allowing participants to apply business concepts practically and engagingly.
• The New Manager Assimilation supports new managers in getting off to a productive start. The facilitated discussion process involving employees’ perspectives on the new manager fosters a collaborative and productive team environment from the beginning.
• The Leadership Fellows Program stands out as a corporate social responsibility initiative where senior-level employees work on strategic projects at nonprofit organizations. This program contributes to the community and helps employees enhance their leadership skills, bringing a broader and more global perspective to their roles.

Freeletics

Founded in 2013, fitness app company Freeletics identified a challenge in onboarding newly promoted or hired leaders. The limited time in 1:1 meetings between People Ops and new managers was often consumed by discussions about tools and internal processes, leaving little room for personal exchange and leadership development solutions.

The solution was to create a blended learning path for every leader. In collaboration with Deel’s L&D consultants, Freeletics developed a blended learning program to create a holistic leadership L&D experience:

• Microlearning: Short weekly nudges that are easy to consume, featuring small challenges and reminders to motivate ongoing behavioral change—these lessons are practical and interactive, taking about five minutes to complete and emphasize interactivity, application, repetition, and employee engagement
• People Manager Roundtable: A regular peer learning activity where leaders come together to discuss leadership challenges and share best practices—this structured program facilitates the exchange of engaging experiences and solutions among leaders
• Leadership onboarding: An in-depth learning program to help new leaders understand internal processes, principles, and resources at Freeletics—it consists of bite-sized content sent over several days, allowing new managers to navigate their onboarding journey at their own pace

Freeletics has experienced several positive outcomes, including an 11% increase in the sense of “Mastery” after three months and 100% of all people managers feeling supported or strongly supported in their professional growth and development.

Best practices you can learn from these companies and their programs

Some common themes crop up when we explore how these companies have benefited from their professional development programs. Here’s how to emulate and incorporate these successful techniques into your leadership development plans.

Self-reflection

When leaders review their own performance, they can identify areas for improvement and adjust their behavior accordingly. This process of self-reflection helps build self-confidence, develop trust within teams, and increase communication effectiveness.

Coaching and mentoring

Giving new and experienced leaders growth opportunities via connections with peers or mentors helps them identify specific development areas relevant to their role. A mentor or coach provides the support required to build emotional intelligence and other essential leadership skills.

Performance targets

Crafting clear performance goals for leaders encourages them to stay focused and motivated. This also makes it easier for leaders’ managers to monitor their performance, including how it translates to business success over time.

Regular feedback cultivates a culture of continuous learning. It ensures that leaders stay on track to hit their targets—meanwhile, peers feel comfortable sharing opinions and ideas without fear of repercussions.

Real-world modeling

Leaders can learn best practices by observing peer leaders from adjacent departments in a real-world setting. Seeing role models from different backgrounds and disciplines gives leaders an idea of effective management, giving them strategies to apply in their leadership roles.

Structured training

Executive leadership training should never be one-size-fits-all. That’s where structured training programs based on specific challenges or themes in leadership come in. Access to leadership development courses helps leaders stay focused on developing their skills and receive the support they need to hit their career goals and objectives.

Microlearning

Microlearning offers a flexible approach to learning, allowing leaders to consume bite-sized chunks of training materials at their own pace. Short and interactive lessons help managers stay engaged with the material and apply what they have learned in their day-to-day work.

Develop your next generation of leaders with Deel Engage

Leadership development is a critical investment for the future of your company. At Deel, we believe in nurturing leaders who inspire, motivate, and bring out the best in their teams. We are committed to providing companies with the easiest and most convenient solutions to foster exceptional leadership.

Here is how you can nurture your leaders with Deel Engage:

• Provide individually crafted development plans and career pathing frameworks
• Conduct competency-based feedback reviews to understand your future leaders’ strengths and weaknesses
• Schedule structured, regular check-ins to track progress and ensure accountability
• Offer access to thousands of learning resources that can easily be added to development plans
• Align leaders and individual contributors and promote accountability and ownership with the goal management feature
• Use data analytics to track progress and measure outcomes Additionally, Deel HR, our truly global HRIS solution, is always included for free. Book a demo to see how our solutions will help you build a high-performance workforce.