Leadership development is one of the most popular learning and development topics within the training industry and has been for some time. Leadership development can be a hard area to address if employees recognise the need instead of the leaders themselves - after all telling a senior figure in any organisation that they need further development can be more than a little awkward. Having said this, leadership development needs to be addressed, as leaders play an active and vital role in any organisations' future success.

Leadership development has evolved over the years and the number of options available to organisations is constantly increasing. Learning and development is no longer restricted to the teacher-pupil style format and because of this, the levels of complexity when designing development programmes has also increased.

The main reason for the increased complexity in learning and development is the realisation that a 'one-size fits all' approach does not work. The development of leaders depends greatly on what style of leader the delegates are, the client organisation and the delegates' personal experience, as well as their own individual learning style.

All of these aspects are important to get right and deal with effectively within the development programme for it to be a success. A good leadership development programme needs to have the right balance of leadership development sessions and supporting activities for all delegates. This gives the delegate the knowledge of the new skills they need in a supportive environment, which aids the transfer of learning.

Another aspect that needs consideration is which delivery option is best for your leadership development project. The delivery medium is very important as this helps to set the tone for the development programme. A leadership development programme can be delivered in many ways and some options that are available include a completely bespoke programme, designed completely around the organisations' needs, a ready-to-run programme, an experiential event or a development award.

Over the past couple of years experiential events and development awards, like the ILM, have become popular methods for developing leaders. The reason for this growing popularity is because experiential events remove all classroom boundaries and allows the delegates' natural leadership style to be seen and not the one they create. A development award enables an organisation to get their leadership programme recognised by an accredited body in the field, which can add extra credibility to the programme.

There is no right or wrong delivery option as all have different positive aspects. The key to selecting the best method is by evaluating the delivery option and course content against the proposed leadership development project's critical success factors.

Often many organisations keep to previously used routes of development without looking into the other development mediums. The reason for this is because of the confusion generated by the 100's of options available, as well as the perceived lack of help in finding the right option. However, there are many learning and development specialists, like Righttrack Consultancy, who have a wealth of experience in leadership development that are here to help.

Many specialists throughout the UK help organisations find the right development programme to meet and exceed their expectations, as they are more concerned with the right solution than the sale. Therefore, it is definitely worth investigating the options available when looking for a solution to a leadership development need.