The Ultimate Guide to Leadership Development: DIY Now!
Every successful businessperson knows that growing into their full potential doesn’t happen overnight; it requires a series of intentional steps backed by a solid professional and leadership development plan.
Most of these rising stars have also learned that their own leadership development and growth is their responsibility, and theirs alone. No corporate development program can take the place of self-directed effort. (We will explain why).
A self-directed leadership development process includes self-reflection, competency assessment, setting meaningful growth milestones, investing in high-impact experiences that will accelerate your progress and growth, measuring your progress and more.
This Ultimate Guide to Leadership Development breaks down the entire process of how to design and execute your own personal leadership development plan – no manager approval or company funding required!
Whether you’re an entrepreneur or corporate leader, whether you have a team of five or fifty, a structured leadership development plan allows you to transform your ambition into measurable progress and ongoing growth towards your fullest potential, most ambitious goals and significantly improved professional fulfillment.
The sky is the limit. And it’s your time. Let’s get started.
Table of Contents
- A Note from The Author
- Preparing Your Mindset Before You Begin
- Leadership Competency Assessments
- SMART Goals and Activities
- Partnerships and Mentorships
- Experiential Learning
- Tracking Progress
- Peer Feedback Loops and Performance Reviews
- Frequently Asked Questions
- Recap and Next Steps
A Note from The Author
As a seasoned senior manager with over 30 years of experience coaching, managing, directing, and mentoring leaders at every level of organizations, I’ve learned many lessons about what works and what doesn’t when it comes to leadership development.
I’ve also developed a keen appreciation for how specific and targeted leadership development plans must be to be successful.
There is no “one size fits all” approach that works.
This is why many standardized corporate leadership development programs do not create value and eventually lose funding and fail.
After all, how can you take one canned leadership development curriculum and apply it to varied and diverse groups of promising, emerging leaders – each of whom has different strengths, challenges, and innate capabilities and expect it to yield effective results?
Luckily, there is an alternative that DOES work.
A repeatable process, customized for each person based on their unique skills, gaps, goals, and aspirations.
The roadmap I’m sharing today breaks down a 7-step process that anyone can apply to chart their own course to their fullest potential and their greatest aspirations.
The leadership development resources recommended throughout to augment your leadership development experience have been handpicked based on over 35 years of research and practical experience in coaching and managing people.
I hope you are inspired by all the potential your future holds. Good luck on your leadership development journey!
Joan Senio, Coach, Author, Founder – KindCompassCoach
1. Consider Your Mindset Before You Begin a Leadership Development Process
A professional development journey requires more than diligence and goal setting. It demands self-awareness, openness and the right mindset. In other words, you really need to be in the right headspace to take on what may become a very personal and even poignant process.
Before diving into assessments and action plans, pause to consider your current life pressures, mental health, and personal commitments.
A clear, resilient mindset is necessary so that you may fully engage with feedback, stretch assignments, and the inevitable ups and downs of growth.
If you’re navigating major life changes such as caregiving responsibilities, anxiety, or burnout it may be wise to address those challenges in parallel, or first.
To gauge your readiness, take some time for reflection.
- Consider questions like: “Do I have the time and energy to commit consistently?” and “Am I open to candid feedback, even when it’s uncomfortable?” Journal about your thoughts – you may discover something you didn’t realize.
- Rate your stress levels on a scale of 1–10 and identify any deal-breakers that could derail your progress.
- Discuss your intentions with a trusted friend, mentor, or peer group to get an outside perspective.
If you’ve got too much going on right now, consider enlisting support from a therapist or coach to help you honestly assess your bandwidth and tackle issues outside of the professional realm.
If you’re primed and can’t wait to dive into this process – let’s do it!
By validating your capacity and clarifying your motivations up front, you’ll lay a solid foundation for every diagnostic assessment and leadership development activity that follows.
2. Conduct a Leadership Competency Assessment
Professional growth experts agree – every leadership development journey should begin with a comprehensive baseline competency assessment.
Research tells us this first step is necessary to anchor every subsequent step in objective data:
- The U.S. Army Research Institute’s 2020 report underscores that assessment is the first critical phase in talent management, providing the accurate feedback and experiences needed for effective skill building.
- The Center for Creative Leadership notes that its 360-degree feedback instruments, used by millions of leaders across hundreds of countries, consistently drive self-awareness and measurable performance improvements.
Years of experience have repeatedly validated this for me, too.
Measuring baseline performance enables us to measure improvement (and the impacts associated with those improvements) over time. This is priceless to each person’s development and confidence.
Measurable achievements become the basis for future motivation, further fueling enthusiasm and commitment.
Leading Industry Competency Assessments
The following are examples of competency assessment tools used in the private and public sectors.
Review them and see what resonates with you.
Choose one (or create your own hybrid) for your use. If you prefer, you can refer to KindCompassCoach’s own Professional Skills Self-Assessment outline.
Be sure to assess both hard skills and soft skills. Know that many of your observations may be subjective and qualitative. And that’s okay.
For more inspiration as you undertake this part of the process, also check out How to Create the Best Professional Development Plan.
| Tool | Description | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| OPM Leadership Assessments | Measures Executive Core Qualifications across 13 competencies | Public-sector and large enterprises |
| CCL Benchmarks® 360 Suite | World-class 360-degree feedback instruments with global normative data | Self-awareness, benchmarking |
| Leader Competency Inventory (LCI) | Based on Dr. John Maxwell’s competency model to reveal strengths and gaps | Individual growth plans |
| Personality – What Makes You the Way You Are (“The Big Five”) | Trait-based framework that predicts job performance through five core factors | Personality-driven development |
| Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) | Typological tool mapping 16 personality types and preferred work and leadership styles | Team communication and role fit |
| Pre-Employment Competency Assessments | Online platforms that evaluate key leadership behaviors during hiring | Talent acquisition and early development |
Why Baseline Competency Assessments are Important to Leadership Development
Gaining insight into strengths and potential skills gaps upfront helps you to target your areas of development.
This shortens time to proficiency, boosts ROI and allows you to create a bespoke roadmap that addresses your growth areas and specific gaps.
Take as much time as you need to complete this step. Every tool you explore will provide you with more thought-provoking materials. Self-awareness if a critical prerequisite to embarking on leadership development, so don’t hurry this part.
Create as small or as large of a skills inventory as you wish.
Put effort into identifying both your strengths and areas for growth – leveraging your strengths will be equally important to your growth as addressing gaps.
If you’re comfortable doing so and your organization’s culture supports it, open up to some of your colleagues and ask if they would like to join you in this process. The more people who participate, the more outside feedback you can readily obtain.
When you’re ready, it’s time to translate diagnostic insights into SMART goals and targeted development activities that directly align to your development needs.
3. Translating Diagnostic Insights into Leadership Development Goals
After pinpointing leadership strengths and gaps, the next step is to convert those insights into SMART goals: Goals that are Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound.
Organizations that rigorously apply the SMART framework report up to 42 percent higher goal completion rates, because clarity ensures action and accountability.
By framing each development area (e.g., “influence,” “strategic thinking,” “emotional intelligence”) as a SMART objective, you avoid vague aspirations and define clear, desired outcomes.
Once goals are crystal-clear, layer on targeted development activities that propel you toward each milestone.
For example, if a 360 report reveals a gap in stakeholder communication, your SMART goal might be:
Specific: Deliver monthly cross-functional project updates to my senior-leadership team.
Measurable: Track attendance and solicit feedback via a one-question survey.
Achievable: Leverage existing slide templates and schedule a 15-minute prep window.
Relevant: Aligns with my objective to build enterprise leadership visibility.
Time-bound: Complete four updates over the next quarter.
Pair each SMART goal with two or three development activities: for example, coaching sessions, peer-shadowing, online modules, or stretch assignments.
Below is a selection of resources that can help you fast-track the process. They offer proven frameworks, checklists, and exercises.
| Resource | Purpose |
|---|---|
| Your Best Year Ever by Michael Hyatt | Step-by-step guide to crafting and executing SMART goals for leaders. |
| Measure What Matters by John Doerr | Introduces the OKR framework (Objective-Key Results) that complements SMART goals, with real-world executive examples. |
| The 360 Degree Leader by John C. Maxwell | Deepens stakeholder feedback analysis and actionable next steps. Companion Workbook is also available. |
| Thanks for the Feedback by Douglas Stone & Sheila Heen | Exercises to sharpen your ability to receive and act on performance feedback. Companion Workbook is also available. |
| Crucial Conversations by Kerry Patterson, Joseph Grenny, et al. | Practical tools for high-stakes communication, supporting your “relevant” and “achievable” goal components. |
Armed with these resources, you are ready to create your SMART goals. This step is essential as all your work after this will be based on satisfying the specific objectives you identify.
Be sure to revisit your SMART goals as you plan leadership development activities you pursue to ensure alignment of your activities to your aspirations.
Adhering to this process will make your development timeline more efficient, ensure each activity directly addresses the gaps uncovered in your assessment, and will help you to focus on the most relevant actions for your specific competency profile.
4. Selecting the Right Partnerships and Mentorships to Augment Your Leadership Development Plan
Launching a leadership professional development plan isn’t a solo journey.
Aligning yourself with the right coaches, mentors, and peer networks accelerates growth by pairing your gaps with others’ expertise.
A Harvard Business Review study found that 54 percent of respondents say mentoring is “very” or “extremely” effective – compared to just 35 percent for traditional skills training – because it delivers real-world guidance in context.
Beyond one-on-one coaching, structured mentorship programs give you access to proven frameworks, peer support, and accountability.
More than 4 in 5 Fortune 500 companies run formal mentoring schemes, recognizing that relationship-based learning builds confidence and deepens organizational know-how.
At Amazon, for example, the Amazon Mentoring Program (AMP) grew from 18,800 participants in 2016 to over 159,000 in 2022 – an affirmation that scalable, tech-enabled matching can connect ambitious leaders with seasoned partners worldwide.
Real-Life Examples of Successful Professional Development Initiatives
- Sarah, a mid-level finance director, joined AMP’s one-on-one track and was paired with a senior VP who’d transitioned from finance to operations. Through monthly video check-ins she sharpened her cross-functional collaboration skills. She also earned her first seat at the annual budgeting review six months ahead of schedule.
- Dr. Cynthia Sutherland, an emerging-markets lead at AWS, credits AMP’s affinity-group circles with helping her see “career possibilities I never knew existed.” By swapping lessons with peers and senior mentors, she gained the confidence to pitch a $10 million regional expansion which is now in execution.
How to Find Your Perfect Match
- Tap internal platforms (Chronus, Degreed, Workday) to join company-sponsored circles or one-on-one programs.
- Do not fret if your company doesn’t have an internal program! You can use professional associations to meet new colleagues, broaden your network and more. Other organizations such as ICF, ATD, SHRM can help you locate a qualified coach, if you so desire.
- Leverage alumni groups or industry associations for peer mentoring pods.
- Don’t overlook informal pairings. Ask a respected colleague for a trial “coffee-chat coach” relationship. There are no rules! Just take the initiative to tap into the wealth of experience that surrounds you.
Below are highly rated available resources that can help you structure and maximize your mentorship and coaching partnerships:
| Resource | Purpose |
|---|---|
| The Coaching Habit by Michael Bungay Stanier | Seven questions to build a coaching culture and deepen dialogue. |
| Co-Active Coaching by Henry & Karen Kimsey-House | Proven model for balancing directive and facilitative coaching. |
| The Mentor’s Guide by Lois J. Zachary | Roadmap to planning, launching, and sustaining mentorships. |
| Masterful Coaching by Robert Hargrove | Frameworks for high-impact executive coaching engagements. |
| Radical Candor by Kim Scott | Tools to deliver honest feedback that drives stronger bonds. |
These methods, stories, and tools will help you to forge partnerships that not only fill your skill gaps but also expand your leadership footprint and your network – propelling you toward the C-Suite and beyond, if that’s where you want to go!
5. Integrating Experiential Learning into Your Leadership Development Plan
According to the 70-20-10 model, 70 percent of leadership growth happens on the job, 20 percent from social learning, and only 10 percent via formal courses.
- McKinsey found that leaders rotated through five or more functions and three or more countries become 69 percent more change-ready, while Harvard Business Review reports that broad experiences boost agility by up to 40 percent.
- A 2014 study conducted by Deloitte concluded that over 80 percent of high-performing organizations use structured shadowing programs to disseminate institutional know-how and cultivate bench strength.
Experiential learning anchors development in real-world challenges. Stretch assignments and job-shadowing accelerates skill acquisition, builds resilience, and cements new behaviors.
There is no substitute for witnessing a seasoned leader as they navigate conflict, forge relationships, and solve problems. Find a leader you hope to emulate. Let them know that you would welcome the opportunity to learn more from them. Chances are, they will take you up on it – because true leaders measure their impact in the quality of the leaders they produce.
Launching stretch assignments exposes us to unfamiliar scopes – new functions, geographies or high-impact projects. Pairing stretch tasks with job shadowing provides observational coaching in context.
Shadowing a senior leader during strategy sessions, client negotiations or cross-functional meetings nurtures empathy, shows decision-making in action, and seeds transferable skills.
Stretch Assignments: Key Practices
- Align assignments to targeted competency gaps identified in your assessment.
- Provide clear objectives, guardrails and regular check-ins to prevent overwhelm.
- Debrief each milestone with a mentor or coach to surface lessons learned.
- Balance risk and support: ensure the challenge stretches without setting up for failure.
Job Shadowing: Best Approaches
- Observation-Only: Short-term immersion to watch day-to-day workflows.
- Hands-On Shadowing: Participant takes on tasks under supervision for deeper practice.
- Reverse Shadowing: Senior leaders shadow high-potential talent to understand frontline realities.
- Cross-Departmental Pods: Small groups rotate through multiple functions for breadth of exposure.
Recommended Resources
| Resource | Purpose |
|---|---|
| Stretch by Scott Sonenshein | Techniques to step outside comfort zones and build career-crucial adaptability. |
| Experiential Learning by David A. Kolb | Foundation for designing effective on-the-job learning cycles and reflective practice. |
| The Leadership Pipeline by Ram Charan, Stephen Drotter, James Noel | Blueprint for rotational experiences that develop leadership competencies at every level. |
| Job Shadowing for Success by Brian D. Becker | Video which describes a step-by-step playbook to launch, manage and evaluate impactful shadowing programs. |
| The First 90 Days by Michael D. Watkins | Guides transitions into new roles – ideal follow-up to stretch assignments and shadowing. Be sure to get the updated and expanded version and also check out the accompanying Workbook. |
Next, we’ll explore how to track progress using dashboards, journals, and reflection routines to ensure each experiential opportunity and leadership development activity to undertake translates into measurable growth.
6. How to Track Progress against Your Leadership Development Plan
Research shows that structured progress‐tracking frameworks also enhance decision-making, foster transparency, and drive continuous improvement across teams and individuals.
But it’s not just about ticking boxes. It’s way more than that, and the absolute crux of your leadership development plan.
Systematically monitoring your professional development plan milestones and outcomes helps you to maintain accountability, surface challenges early, and celebrate wins that fuel motivation. You also gather information that can inform your own performance reviews and promotion applications.
Dashboards serve as your command center for real-time insights. Whether you build one in Power BI, Tableau, or leverage project-management tools like Asana or Trello, a good dashboard will:
- Visualize key metrics (KPIs, milestones, completion rates) at a glance.
- Highlight trends and bottlenecks through charts and heatmaps.
- Enable drill-down into specific projects, teams, or competencies.
- Automate alerts for overdue tasks or off-track goals.
By centralizing data, dashboards eliminate guesswork and keep both you and your stakeholders aligned on progress.
Measuring Impact is Essential to Your Leadership Development
Be sure to invest effort in not only capturing the activities you have completed, but the IMPACT of those activities – on both your own competency development and your organization or business. For example:
- Imagine you’ve identified public speaking as a development goal.
- Your plan may include joining a local Toastmasters chapter to deliver at least two speeches per quarter and monthly coaching sessions from a communication specialist.
- It also requires you to record each practice presentation for self-review, to volunteer to speak at team stand-ups, cross-functional workshops, or industry meetups to broaden your audience and adapt your style on the fly.
To measure the impact of your activities, track the number of speaking engagements you complete, analyze recordings for improvements in vocal variety and body language, or enlist your network to gather anonymous audience surveys rating your clarity, engagement, and confidence.
You can also build in a six-month 360-degree check-in to compare stakeholder feedback scores, aiming for at least a 20 percent lift in your average presentation rating.
Journaling provides the qualitative context behind the numbers and your subjective observations are equally important!
Leaders who journal regularly, capturing breakthroughs, struggles, and “aha” moments, report up to 25 percent greater self-awareness and goal achievement.
A personal leadership journal helps you:
- Record reflections on major assignments and stakeholder feedback
- Map emerging patterns in your decision-making style
- Surface emotional or interpersonal blind spots that dashboards can’t reveal
Reflection routines formalize the habit of learning from experience. Dedicate a weekly 15–30-minute slot for a structured debrief:
- Review your dashboard outcomes and journal entries.
- Ask focused prompts (“What went well?”, “What surprised me?”, “What will I do differently?”).
- How would I rate my confidence level with this activity? Has it improved, declined, or stayed the same?
- Update your SMART goals and action plan based on these insights.
- Share key takeaways with a mentor or peer-group for fresh perspectives.
As a core component of your professional development plan, consistent reflection rounds out your data with humanity, turns lessons into leverage, and embeds continuous learning into your leadership DNA.
Resources are available to help even the busiest leaders to begin a journaling habit. Take advantage of them!
Recommended Resources for Leadership Development Plan Progress Tracking
| Title | Purpose |
|---|---|
| The Progress Principle by Teresa Amabile & Steven Kramer | Explores how everyday wins drive motivation and performance. |
| Atomic Habits by James Clear | Offers a framework for building consistent reflection and tracking routines. Also check out the Study Guide and Workbook. |
| Data-Driven HR by Bernard Marr | Guides leaders on designing impactful dashboards and analytics. |
Now, we’ll look at how to integrate peer feedback loops and performance reviews into your professional development plan.
7. How to Integrate Feedback and Performance Reviews into Your Personal Leadership Development Plan
Research shows that leaders who actively seek feedback are 20 percent more likely to hit their development targets.
At the same time, over one-third of employees report they don’t receive enough recognition for their efforts, making structured peer feedback essential for engagement and accountability.
Embedding peer feedback into your development plan creates a continuous cycle of recognition, learning, and improvement. When colleagues exchange positive and constructive comments, they foster trust, uncover each other’s blind spots, and accelerate growth.
A practical peer-feedback loop combines regular touchpoints with clear guidelines.
Schedule brief monthly “skip-level” or peer-to-peer sessions where each participant shares:
- A recent success and its impact
- An area for improvement, phrased as a question
- One actionable suggestion for the coming month
Frameworks like Start-Stop-Continue or the SBI (Situation-Behavior-Impact) model keep feedback focused and respectful.
Platforms such as Officevibe or your organization’s LMS can automate prompts, anonymity options, and tracking, ensuring every voice is heard and recorded.
Performance reviews are your opportunity to translate informal feedback into formal development commitments.
By weaving leadership competencies such as communication, critical thinking, or decision-making into quarterly or biannual reviews, you reinforce accountability and measure progress against SMART goals.
Highlighting leadership skills during performance appraisals not only identifies high-potential talent but also boosts retention: companies that promote from within report 50 percent higher employee engagement and lower turnover.
To make performance reviews more impactful:
- Use competency-based rating scales that mirror your diagnostic assessment.
- Tie each review outcome to one or two new SMART objectives.
- Schedule a mid-cycle “pulse” check to adjust goals and capture fresh feedback.
- Follow up with concrete action plans and recommended resources.
This structured approach ensures feedback loops feed directly into your development roadmap, creating measurable milestones rather than vague intentions.
Frequently Asked Questions about Leadership Development
1. How do I know if I’m ready for a personal leadership development program?
Begin by assessing your current commitments and energy levels.
Rate your stress and availability on a 1–10 scale, journal your motivations, and discuss your intentions with a trusted colleague or mentor.
If major life or mental-health challenges surface, consider addressing them alongside your development plan through therapy, peer support, or scaled-back goals so that you have the headspace to engage fully.
2. What’s the difference between a 360-degree assessment and a trait-based assessment?
A 360-degree assessment gathers feedback from multiple stakeholders such as peers, direct reports, supervisors to highlight observable behaviors and blind spots.
Trait-based tools (like the Big Five) measure underlying personality dimensions that predict leadership style and potential.
Use both in tandem: traits reveal your natural dispositions, while 360 feedback pinpoints how those traits play out in real interactions.
3. How do I choose the right coach or mentor for my goals?
Look for credentialed professionals whose expertise maps to your specific gaps such as communication, strategic thinking, emotional intelligence, etc. Explore:
- Company-sponsored programs (Chronus, Workday) for vetted pairings
- Industry associations (ICF, ATD) to find certified coaches
- Informal networks or alumni groups for peer mentors
Interview candidates about their approach, request references, and pilot a short engagement to ensure cultural fit and chemistry.
4. I worry about balancing professional and leadership development with personal life and mental health. Are there strategies that can help?
Integrate self-care routines (regular exercise, mindfulness, downtime) into your development calendar.
Block time for journaling and reflection so you can spot burnout early.
If personal issues threaten to derail progress, pause or adjust your SMART goals. Sustainable growth depends on resilience, so treat your well-being as a core leadership competency.
5. My company wants quick wins. How quickly will I see results from my personal leadership development plan?
While formal courses can yield immediate insights, most on-the-job stretch assignments, action plans and feedback loops require 3–6 months to produce observable behavior change.
Consistent reflection and tracking accelerate that timeline.
By reviewing professional development dashboards weekly and adjusting goals monthly, many leaders report measurable gains – improved communication or stakeholder influence, for example – in as little as eight weeks.
6. What if my organization doesn’t offer a formal mentorship program?
You can build your own professional development ecosystem by:
- Reaching out to senior leaders for “coffee-chat” mentorships
- Joining professional Slack or LinkedIn groups in your industry
- Attending local chapter events hosted by organizations like SHRM or Toastmasters
- Creating a peer-learning circle with colleagues who share your aspirations
Formalize these connections with agreed-upon cadences and clear outcomes to mirror the benefits of a structured in-house program.
How to Create Your Own Personal Leadership Development Plan
As you move from planning to action, give yourself every advantage by investing in the expert-backed professional development resources we’ve recommended.
Whether it’s the step-by-step SMART-goal framework in Your Best Year Ever, the high-impact coaching models in The Coaching Habit and Co-Active Coaching, or the real-world case studies in Measure What Matters and Stretch, each book and tool is designed to accelerate your leadership development progress.
**Pro-Tip** If a book has a companion workbook, invest in it. The structured exercises will provide you inspiration, save you time, and increase the value you get from the resource.
Treat these resources as your personal leadership “GPS” – guiding you through assessments, mentorships, stretch assignments, leadership training opportunities and feedback loops with clarity and confidence.
By adding them to your library today, you’re equipping yourself with proven roadmaps, practical exercises, and expert insights that turn ambition into achievement.
Choose the titles that resonate most with your goals. They will help sharpen your skills, focus your efforts, and optimize every step of your professional and leadership development journey.
Your leadership evolution begins with a single, focused step. Take it today and start to turn your ambition into achievement and growth.
Thank you as always for reading.
Affiliate Disclosure: Some links in this post are affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate, we earn from qualifying purchases. Thank you for supporting Kindness-Compassion-and-Coaching.com at no extra cost to you.
Joan Senio is the founder of Kindness-Compassion-and-Coaching.com. Joan’s career includes clinical healthcare plus 20+ years as an executive in a nationwide health care system and 15 years as a consultant. The common threads throughout Joan’s personal and professional life are a commitment to non-profit organizations, mental health, compassionate coaching, professional development and servant leadership. She is a certified Neuroscience Coach, member of the International Organization of Life Coaches, serves as a thought-leader for KuelLife.com and is also a regular contributor to PsychReg and Sixty and Me. You can read more about Joan here: Joan Senio.
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