Building a Leadership Pipeline Requires Time, Strategy—and the Right Support
You know firsthand how important leadership development is to the health and future of your organization—but let’s be honest: developing leaders takes time—and time is one thing most of us are short on.
Between managing day-to-day operations, supporting employee relations, handling compliance issues, and responding to ever-changing organizational needs, it can feel nearly impossible for HR leaders to carve out focused time to build a strategic, scalable leadership development program. So how much time does it really take to build a strong leadership pipeline?
The Real Time Investment Behind Leadership Development
While leadership development programs can vary in size and scope, the time commitment required to plan, implement, and sustain them is significant. Consider the following estimated breakdown of time needed to support just one program or cohort:
- Assessing leadership needs and aligning with strategy: 10–20 hours annually
- Identifying high-potential talent: 5–10 hours per quarter
- Designing or sourcing development content and experiences: 40–60 hours per program
- Facilitating or coordinating training sessions: 6–12 hours per cohort
- Following up with participants and stakeholders: 5–10 hours per program
- Measuring impact and reporting results: 10–15 hours per cycle
Taken together, it’s not unusual for organizations to invest 75–100+ hours of HR or L&D time to effectively manage a single leadership initiative. And that time only multiplies when addressing leadership development across multiple levels—emerging, mid-level, and senior leaders.
HR Leaders Are Strategic Players—But Still Stretched Thin
The role of HR has evolved. Today’s HR leaders are increasingly expected to contribute at the executive level—driving strategy, advising senior leaders, and shaping culture. They have earned a seat at the table, but often without a proportional increase in time, team capacity, or budget.
This creates a tension: HR leaders are tasked with thinking long-term and delivering business outcomes, yet are still pulled into the operational demands of managing complex programs like leadership development. The result? Strategic initiatives often stall—not due to lack of vision, but due to lack of bandwidth.
So Whose Job Is It, Anyway?
Leadership development is ideally a shared responsibility. Senior leaders, people managers, and the HR or talent development function each play a role in identifying and growing future leaders.
However, in practice, much of the operational burden often rests with HR professionals or small learning teams responsible for:
- Mapping development to organizational strategy
- Aligning programs to current business needs
- Developing, selecting, or vetting effective content and vendors
- Securing budget and enlisting executive sponsorship
- Facilitating or coordinating delivery
- Managing communication and logistics
- Communicating and marketing programs
- Gathering feedback, evaluating outcomes, and adjusting strategies as needed
Without sufficient time or resources, even the most committed teams can find it challenging to deliver meaningful, scalable leadership development programs (not to mention complete all the other tasks their jobs require!) That’s a lot of pressure to design a system that shapes your organization’s future.
Why an External Partner Makes Strategic Sense
To deliver on both the operational and strategic expectations of leadership development, many organizations turn to external partners. Partnering with a trusted provider offers:
- Time savings: Offload content development, facilitation, and logistics
- Proven programs: Access to research-backed frameworks like The Leadership Challenge®, Everything DiSC®, or Management Vitals™.
- Expert facilitation: Certified facilitators who engage learners and drive real behavior change
- Strategic support: Help aligning leadership initiatives with broader organizational goals
- Measurable outcomes: Tools and reporting that demonstrate progress
For HR leaders under pressure to do more with less, outsourcing aspects of leadership development can be a strategic advantage. A partner like FlashPoint Leadership can help build high-impact programs that meet today’s leadership challenges—without overwhelming internal teams.
FlashPoint brings deep expertise, practical tools, and flexible solutions designed to meet leaders where they are. By partnering with an experienced provider, HR professionals can focus on strategic impact—while still delivering the development experiences that leaders and organizations need to thrive. Ready to lighten the lift and elevate your leadership programs? Contact us to schedule a consultation or product demo and discover how FlashPoint can support your leadership development goals
