Most companies still develop leaders through a patchwork of one-off workshops and hope. A leadership development framework fixes that. It's a structured, repeatable system that defines what good leadership looks like at your organization, assesses where leaders stand today, and builds a clear path to close the gap.
This guide walks through five steps to build one, whether you're a 50-person company or a global enterprise.
Key Takeaways
- A leadership framework aligns leadership growth with your actual business strategy, not generic best practices
- Strong frameworks combine competency definition, honest assessment, tiered programs, and ongoing evaluation
- Personality-based tools accelerate self-awareness faster than skills training alone
- The 70-20-10 model and clearly defined leadership levels give any framework its backbone
Step 1: Define Your Leadership Philosophy and Business Alignment
Before naming a single competency, answer a harder question: what does leadership need to accomplish for this business in the next three years?
A framework built without that answer becomes a binder of generic leadership traits nobody applies. Start with a vision statement describing what leadership looks like at your organization once the framework is working: observable behaviors tied to results, not a list of abstract virtues.
Then identify the core business priority actually driving the effort. Leadership development tied to internal alignment and personalized growth often lowers turnover, so this step protects retention as much as it builds capability.
Sample Core Business Priorities
Common drivers include:
- Revenue growth — leaders who can scale teams without losing quality
- Culture alignment — consistent behavior and decision-making across locations
- Succession readiness — internal bench strength for key roles
- Reduced turnover — better managers who keep people engaged
True Colors International frames this as aligning people, performance, and purpose. Leadership development sticks when it connects to what the business is actually trying to achieve.
Step 2: Identify Core Leadership Competencies
Competencies are the foundation that everything else gets built on. Without them, assessments have nothing to measure and programs have nothing to develop toward.
Start with two sources:
- Stakeholder input — ask senior leaders what separates their best managers from average ones
- Direct observation — watch high performers handle real situations: a missed deadline, a conflict, a tough decision
Look for patterns around communication, decision-making, emotional intelligence, and strategic thinking. These four show up in nearly every credible leadership model, though how you weight them depends on your business priority from Step 1.
Where Personality Insight Fits
Generic competency lists miss something important: how people communicate varies wildly, even among equally competent leaders. Personality and temperament assessments — like True Colors' four-color model (Gold, Orange, Green, Blue) — help identify communication and behavioral competencies specific to your culture, not a generic textbook list.
A leader who's naturally direct and fast-paced (Orange) needs different coaching than one who's naturally deliberate and detail-oriented (Gold), even if both are targeting the same competency: clear communication under pressure.
Personality differences also shape who gets heard and who gets overlooked in meetings and promotions. That is why inclusive leadership belongs in the same competency set from day one, not as a later add-on.
Deloitte's research on inclusive leadership names six traits worth training for:
- Commitment
- Courage
- Cognizance of bias
- Curiosity
- Cultural intelligence
- Collaboration
These work best when developed across the organization, not reserved for people already in leadership roles.
Step 3: Assess Current Leadership Capabilities
You can't build a development path without knowing where people actually stand. Skipping this step is how frameworks end up training people on skills they already have while ignoring real gaps. Use multiple data sources:
- Performance reviews (historical trend, not just last quarter)
- 360-degree feedback from peers, direct reports, and managers
- Validated personality assessments According to ATD's 2012 research on leadership assessment tools, 77% of organizations use 360-degree assessments, the most common leadership evaluation method. MBTI follows at 68% and DiSC at 61%. Self-report personality tools add a layer that 360s miss: they surface communication gaps before they become performance problems. True Colors' ASI-certified assessment, validated on a sample of 10,000 respondents and compliant with the EEOC's 80% guideline, helps surface blind spots between how leaders think they come across and how others experience them. Segment by level before you assess:
- Emerging leaders (new to management)
- Mid-level managers
- Senior leaders
- Executives A 25-year-old first-time supervisor and a VP of ten years need different baselines and different questions.
Step 4: Define Leadership Levels and Build Development Programs
Once you know where people stand, map out what leadership actually looks like at each level. A team lead's job is fundamentally different from an executive's — different scope, different stakes, different skills.
For each level, define core responsibilities, the competencies that matter most at that tier (weighted differently than Step 2's master list), and the development formats that fit the work.
| Level | Focus | Priority competencies | Best-fit development |
|---|---|---|---|
| Team lead | Directing day-to-day work | Coaching peers, feedback, task prioritization | Stretch assignments, peer mentoring |
| Mid-level manager | Leading leaders, cross-team results | Delegation, conflict navigation, decision quality | Action learning, manager cohorts, coaching |
| Executive | Setting direction and culture | Vision, stakeholder influence, system thinking | Advisory boards, external coaching, enterprise projects |
Apply the 70-20-10 Rule
The Center for Creative Leadership's 70-20-10 model, built from over 30 years of research into how executives actually grow, breaks development into:
- 70% challenging experiences and assignments — real projects with real stakes
- 20% developmental relationships — mentoring, coaching, peer learning
- 10% coursework and formal training — workshops, certifications, classes
CCL is clear this is a guideline, not a rigid formula. But it's a useful gut-check: if your framework is 90% workshops and 10% real-world application, you've got the ratio backwards.
Applied well, the ratio shows up as stacked experiences rather than a catalog of classes. True Colors' program structure follows that logic across three connected experiences: Personal Awareness and Success (foundational self-insight), Business Leadership (applied skills for managers and executives), and a Connected Leadership Guided Experience with weekly sessions tied to challenges leaders are facing that week—not hypothetical case studies.
Blend formats on purpose. Some leaders learn best through peer discussion, others through solo reflection, others by doing. Design at least two paths into every level so your framework doesn't quietly favor one learning style.
Step 5: Implement, Measure, and Refine the Framework
A framework that lives in a slide deck changes nothing. Rollout matters as much as design.
Implementation checklist:
- Communicate the framework clearly: what it is, why it exists, and what's expected
- Train managers to reinforce it in one-on-ones and reviews
- Integrate it into performance reviews and succession planning
- Set a realistic timeline (most organizations need several months from assessment to full rollout)
Define Success Metrics
Pick metrics before you launch, not after:
- Promotion rates from within
- Leadership readiness scores
- Retention of high-potential employees
- Engagement scores tied to specific managers
Research supports tracking these outcomes closely. Gallup's manager development research found managers who complete strengths-based development raise their own engagement by up to 22%. Their teams see up to 18% higher engagement and 21–28% less turnover.
The financial case is concrete. DDI's work with Hitachi Energy tied a structured frontline leadership program to plant-floor behaviors and avoided $20 million in turnover-related costs, with 80% lower salaried turnover and 25% lower hourly turnover.
Keep the Framework Alive
Frameworks are not static. Business priorities shift, so a model built for growth will not serve a retention-focused year.
- Revisit competencies at least annually
- Gather leader feedback continuously, not only at cycle end
- Adjust development paths when strategy, structure, or talent risks change
Frequently Asked Questions
What are the 5 C's of leadership development?
There's no single agreed-upon "5 C's" model across major leadership research organizations. Some versions cite character, competence, communication, commitment, and courage as core traits. Treat these as a helpful reference point rather than an industry standard.
What are the 5 phases of leadership development?
No universally cited five-phase model exists across primary leadership research sources. Most credible frameworks instead describe leadership development as a continuous, ongoing cycle rather than fixed sequential phases.
What is the 70-20-10 rule for leadership development?
It's a guideline from the Center for Creative Leadership: 70% of development comes from challenging real-world experience, 20% from mentoring and relationships, and 10% from formal training or coursework.
How long does it take to build a leadership development framework?
Timelines vary by organization size and complexity, but most companies spend several months moving from initial assessment through full rollout. Treat it as an ongoing process, not a one-time project.
How is a leadership development framework different from a training program?
A framework is an ongoing strategic system linking competencies, assessment, and development to business goals. A training program is typically a one-off session teaching a specific skill within that larger system.
Can small organizations create a leadership development framework?
Yes. Small organizations can use a simplified version of the same five steps (fewer leadership levels, lighter assessment tools, and smaller cohort programs) without losing the strategic alignment that makes a framework effective.
