Developing Your Future Leaders & Leadership Pipelines

Developing,  Developing Leaders,  High-trust leadership

Learn how to identify and develop potential leaders, create effective training programs, and build a robust leadership pipeline for your organization’s success.

A company’s success depends not just on what you do, but on who leads those efforts.

Developing a strong pipeline of future leaders isn’t merely good HR — it’s essential for ensuring business continuity, driving company success, and creating a workplace where everyone has the opportunity to advance.

Leaders at great organizations help talent grow and develop. They know that employees perform best when the organization is invested in their future. They also know that it’s important to identify and nurture the next generation of leaders who will take the reins behind them.

What is a leadership pipeline?

A leadership pipeline is a structured approach to preparing employees for leadership roles.

For organizations, it ensures they maintain a strong leadership succession — incoming leaders are already familiar with the business, eliminating the time and costs of external recruitment.

For employees, a pipeline ensures they have a consistent experience with leaders across the organization, even as those leaders may change. It also demonstrates that the company has a vested interest in employees’ professional growth and development.

A successful leadership pipeline will include the following:

• Succession planning: Determine how you will identify internal talent for potential leadership positions.
• Career progression planning: Create a clear pathway for potential new leaders that sets out the skills, experiences, and competencies needed to advance into senior roles.
• Leadership training: This could include workshops, seminars, and hands-on practice. Ensure it covers more than just business management — it should also teach soft skills like communication and team building that enhance leadership effectiveness.
• Mentorship: Encourage emerging leaders to shadow and be coached by more experienced executives. Regular one-on-ones can help new leaders identify their strengths and weaknesses.
• 360-degree feedback: Gather regular feedback from supervisors, peers, direct reports, and even clients to help new leaders identify their blind spots.

How to identify potential future leaders in your organization

Looking for new leaders is much more than just seeking out your top performers. While performance is important, there are many other key leadership traits, such as adaptability, problem-solving, and initiative.

Similarly, your potential leaders might not be the most vocal employees. Consider their actions, such as humility and compassion — not just their words.

At Great Place To Work®, we’ve identified nine high-trust behaviors that take leaders from good to great:

• Listening: Considering others’ points of view, asking questions, and being open to feedback
• Speaking: Sharing information clearly, transparently, and regularly
• Thanking: Showing sincere appreciation for good work and extra effort
• Developing: Nurturing employees’ talents and interests
• Caring: Taking the time to listen and understand employees’ personal experiences
• Sharing: Distributing compensation, incentives, and opportunities fairly
• Celebrating: Recognizing those who exemplify your company’s values
• Inspiring: Explaining the purpose behind the work your team does, and why it matters
• Hiring and welcoming: Greeting new employees warmly and setting them up to succeed from day one

Hotel chain Marriott International wants to ensure that every employee, regardless of role, feels empowered to be a leader. It has also redefined its concept of leadership into three characteristics: curiosity, courage, and connection.

Similarly, technology company Accenture looks at three key traits in its leaders: compassion, learning, and humility, with an overarching focus on building trust and connection in its workforce.

Recognizing leadership potential beyond job titles

Employees at all levels of the business can and should be considered as candidates for future leadership positions.

For example, middle managers serve as a connection point between the company’s overall vision and their direct reports’ daily work.

Frontline leaders whose teams interact with customers need to demonstrate many of the high-trust leadership behaviors, such as listening and caring — in both good and bad situations.

Maybe an entry-level employee takes initiative to troubleshoot an inefficient process, or a mid-level employee takes a struggling colleague under their wing, acting as a sponsor and helping them to feel safe, seen, and understood.

How to develop future leaders through training and mentorship

Provide structured leadership training programs

Great leaders aren’t born — they’re made. With the right tools and training, anyone can hone their leadership skills. The key is to offer employees that opportunity.

A structured leadership training program could consist of workshops, executive coaching, and leadership simulations. But most importantly, it should equip employees with both business and people skills.

Training should also be tailored to employees at different stages in their leadership journey — those just starting may need basics like speaking with confidence and giving feedback, while those ready for more responsibility might need strategic thinking and conflict resolution.

The role of mentorship and coaching in leadership development

Mentors are one of the most valuable tools for training new leaders, since they can say, “I remember when I faced that same problem,” and share what worked (and what didn’t).

But perhaps most importantly, mentorship programs create personal connections that keep talented people engaged. When employees see that someone cares about their growth, they're more likely to stay committed to the organization. 

For example, at Camden Property Trust, newly hired employees are paired with mentors as part of their onboarding, demonstrating the company’s commitment to employee growth from their first day.

Mentorship programs that are designed to increase diverse representation in leadership have also had an impact on ensuring that everyone has an opportunity for growth. Cisco, No. 3 on the World’s Best Workplaces List, runs a program called “Jump” to help aspiring women leaders grow into new roles. Program participants are 1.4 times as likely as non-participants to get promoted, impacting Cisco’s stated goal of closing the gender gap across leadership roles.

Use feedback to accelerate leadership growth

The best feedback for growing leaders is specific and timely. Instead of vague comments like "you need to be more assertive," try something like, "In yesterday's meeting, when you backed up your proposal with clear data, the team really responded well."

Make feedback a regular habit, not just a once-a-year event during performance reviews. Quick check-ins create a culture where growth is part of everyday work.

Also, encourage new leaders to proactively seek feedback. Simple questions like, “What’s one thing I could have done better in that situation?” can open doors to insights they might never get otherwise.

Building a culture of continuous learning for leadership development

Great leaders have a growth mindset. They value curiosity and know the importance of staying ahead of changes rather than scrambling to catch up. They know that an innovative mentality is one of the key elements of company culture.

There are simple ways to nurture a mindset of continuous learning. Encourage questions and avoid quick answers. Set aside a small budget for books or courses. Create opportunities for people to share with their colleagues what they've learned.

“Be a lifetime learner,” said Diane Cafritz, executive vice president and chief innovation and people officer at CarMax. “The role that I have now, I had no functional expertise when I was put in that role … I had to learn all of it. And what I realized about myself was, I am at my best when I’m learning.”

Embrace inclusive leadership development

Leaders can be found anywhere. More than that, they should be found from anywhere and everywhere.

Great leaders don’t necessarily need a certain education or even a certain type of experience. Rather, employees at all levels of the business and from varied backgrounds can show leadership potential. Some important questions to ask about your leadership pipeline are, “Is our candidate pool of potential leaders representative of our employee population when it comes to background and diversity?” and, “Are there any perspectives that we’re missing in leadership that would drive our organization forward?”

Seeking out these emerging leaders can also lead to a stronger.

The key to a sustainable leadership pipeline

Developing future leaders is an investment in your long-term business success. Consider ways that you can actively build your own leadership pipeline through training, mentorship, and inclusive leadership practices.

You can also use Great Place To Work’s employee experience survey to identify and develop strong leaders. By measuring workplace culture, you gain visibility into which leaders motivate performance versus which create barriers. This insight allows you to develop leadership pipelines that don’t just fill positions, but truly transform your workplace.

Ruby Storm Green