Using Learning Partners to Enhance Leadership Devleopment Programs
Utilizing learning partners in your leadership development programs enables for increased collaboration and continuing of the learning between formal workshops. Learning partners are simply participants in a training program teamed up (groups of 2 – 4) to help each other apply what they are learning in the program. Learning partners work particularly well in longer-term programs that run 6 month to a year in length.
Utilize learning partners to enhance the learning from the leadership development programs in any or all of the following ways:
- Providing support to each other to apply what is being learned in the program through, for example, holding each other accountable for action plans/goal setting
- Assigning learning partners mini case studies and problem solving scenarios for the teams to work on in between workshop sessions
- Providing support to each other to solve problems that arise in the course of their jobs or to help each other handle difficult employees (sounding boards)
- Continue the discussions around leadership topics discussed within the classroom setting
Learning partners enable for participants to continue the learning in between classroom sessions and enable for development of strong relationships that continue long after the leadership program has ended.
When teaming up individuals to work in learning partner groups, as a best practice, select individuals that would not normally have the opportunity to work together to help program participants develop relationships across an organization.
