The Center for Creative Leadership Handbook of Leadership Development, Third Edition

Chapter 3. Feedback-Intensive Programs

Sara N. King

Laura C. Santana

The Center for Creative Leadership's (CCL) feedback-intensive programs (FIPs) represent best practice in leader development. At the heart of CCL's work for more than thirty-five years, FIPs have incorporated research on effective leader behaviors and learning processes, affording individuals a deeper understanding of their leadership strengths and development needs, and enabling them to develop action plans to leverage that knowledge for greater effectiveness in their work and personal lives. The impact of an FIP can stretch beyond the individual to the groups, teams, and even organizations of which they are a part. However, for this chapter, our attention will be primarily on the design and impact of FIPs for individuals.

In this chapter we identify features, mechanisms, and underlying principles of an FIP. We use the ACS (assessment, challenge, and support) model to articulate how an FIP works and what we know about the outcomes of a well-designed FIP. We also include new information on using online tools to follow through with coaching and assessment of behavior change. The Internet-based changes we have made to our process over the past five years have produced some new learning for us. The chapter also tells how FIPs work globally and how to best leverage the investment.

WHAT IS A FEEDBACK-INTENSIVE PROGRAM?

An FIP is a process that comprehensively assesses an individual's personality and leader effectiveness, ...