Leadership development Archives - Great Place To Work® | Global Authority on Workplace Culture

Indian organizations are dealing with significant chaos, churn, and change in the business world. There is competition in every aspect of their business, and one constant they have to manage is their employees. Employee retention and loyalty affect the organization at several levels, and leadership plays a significant role in this.

This blog explores the leadership qualities that drive the growth of leading organizations across the country. With employees more aware of their options, their need to balance work and personal lives, and their need to be understood and nurtured, leadership will play a pivotal role in organizational growth. At Great Place to Work®, we work with companies to help them evaluate their culture, build leadership capability, and reduce employee attrition.

This blog will examine leadership qualities from employees’ perspectives, supported by data from employee surveys.

How Do Leadership Qualities Affect Employee Loyalty and Retention?

The impact of leadership can be summed up by this famous quote: “People leave managers, not companies.” While employees may be drawn to join a company because of the brand, remuneration package, career growth prospects, and learning opportunities, they stay because of the leadership.

What Does Leadership Mean?

Leadership can be defined by the culture, communication, career definition, support systems, listening skills, and managerial input they provide to their team. When an employee joins a company, their main touchpoints are with the HR department, team, and their team leader. While the HR department helps with settling-in matters and the team handles daily tasks, leaders play a crucial role.

Leaders or managers ensure that the employee:

Knows what is expected of them, both in the short and long term
Makes them feel valued in terms of their role and how they work with the team
Feels that they can share new ideas, which, when viable, they can work on
Ensures that good work is appreciated and recognized within and outside the team
Connects their work to the company’s purpose and mission
Supports them when they face difficulties in their professional and personal lives

In Indian organizations, managers and team leaders hold significant influence, power, and responsibility. Any employee, new or old, looks up to their leaders for guidance and support, and when this need is not met, they feel let down, disconnected, or disillusioned.

Which Leadership Qualities Are Crucial to Ensure Growth and Loyalty?

Here’s a look at some key leadership qualities that employees seek to grow with the organization and feel they should be loyal to.

Leadership Quality #1: Caring and Empathy

Studies on this aspect indicate that leaders who show a caring and empathetic side when required are five times more likely to retain employees. Caring in this context does not mean that leaders have to solve all problems. It means having a more present and connected attitude.

Employees appreciate leaders who interact with them regularly and listen to their input. They appreciate leaders who:

Lead discussions on the work they are doing, understand where they are, enquire about any roadblocks, and provide solutions where possible.
Understand work pressures, streamline processes, and help the team work cohesively to meet their goals.
Show empathy when employees face a crisis, whether personal or professional, and offer resources to help resolve it.
Help employees understand how their work contributions matter and how this will affect their career growth.

When leaders display empathy and care, they earn employees’ trust, which, in turn, supports employee growth and retention.

Leadership Quality #2: Inspiration and Guidance

Studies show that when a leader inspires and guides employees in times of need, employees are 5 times more likely to stay with the same company. This factor ranks equally with leaders being caring and empathetic. Indian employees aspire to be like their managers and team leaders when a leader inspires their team to do their best and guides them through difficult situations.

Employees are more likely to show loyalty when their manager inspires rather than controls. They will look up to leaders who:

Have understood the nuances of their work, appreciate it, and help them do it better, either through process changes or by adapting technology.
Showcase growth opportunities by mentoring employees through difficult periods and providing them with resources to grow more.
Lead the team by setting an example and adapting to systemic and technological advances without hesitation.

Leaders who inspire and guide will likely ensure employees feel valued and continue to stay and grow with the company.

Leadership Quality #3: Acknowledge, Recognize, and Reward

In most companies, the rewards and recognition event occurs annually and is based on a complicated process. However, the daily life of employees is full of challenges and small wins, and a leader who recognizes and acknowledges them is appreciated.

Studies show that employees whose work is acknowledged, recognized, and rewarded are twice as likely to stay with the company. They like leaders who give them credit for the work they do by:

Taking the time to recognize employees’ work, acknowledge the results in public, and reward them with small gifts, certificates, etc.
Giving employees credit for their ideas; if possible, involve them in the project in a leadership or consultant role.
Encouraging team members to appreciate each other, creating an atmosphere of peer-level appreciation and camaraderie.

Leadership Quality #4: Active Listening and Responding

Leadership is often associated with being good orators who communicate their thoughts and share their knowledge with their teams. However, an underrated and often-overlooked leadership trait is being a good, open listener. Leaders who take the time to listen to what employees say and understand what goes unsaid tend to be good at retaining their teams and inspiring them to do their best.

According to a study, employees are twice as likely to stay at companies where their managers and leaders listen to them. They like it when leadership:

Takes the time to ask them relevant questions, listens to their response with an open mind without bias, and follows up with actions where applicable.
Understands team dynamics and provides support as needed to foster a better work environment.
Steps up to solve customer issues when the team lacks the skills or resources to do so.
Takes a proactive approach to keeping the team updated on potential career opportunities and encourages them to take on new challenges.
Interacts informally with the team and occasionally engages them in fun activities to help everyone feel included.

These interactions can provide powerful insights into what employees think and feel, and the problems they are dealing with before they become bigger issues.

Leadership Quality #5: Sharing Values, Information, and Plans

When leaders take the time to share and live the company values, the team follows the example and ensures everyone is on the same page. Teams feel included when leaders take the time to keep them updated on the company’s plans and share information that helps them work better.

Here’s how sharing by leadership helps employees feel motivated:

They understand the tasks that must be prioritized as per the company’s long-term plans and work accordingly.
Being included in the company’s growth plans is a great way to increase employee growth and loyalty towards their job and the organization.
Sharing progress on previously shared plans shows employees that their work matters and that they are part of the company’s growth journey.

Leadership that encourages two-way communication and is transparent about the company’s plans (to the extent possible) builds teams of loyal and growth-oriented employees.

Leadership Quality #6: Making Good Hiring Decisions

Employees spend half their waking hours, five days a week, with their team, and their interactions with their colleagues shape their day, mood, and outlook. When leadership ensures the hiring process considers factors beyond skill and experience, it positively impacts growth and loyalty.

The onus is on the leadership team to evaluate candidates for team fit, organizational culture, and values to ensure the team is comfortable working together. This demonstrates that leadership cares about the below-given aspects:

Team morale and the ability to work together without any problems
Considers the team dynamics and reduces the need for micromanagement
Helps the team improve customer experience with ease at all times

Leadership Quality #7: Enabling Career Growth

Career ambitions and aspirations are common factors that motivate employees to remain loyal to the company. Leadership can play a big role in paving the path for employees to grow in their careers. When a leader takes time to explain the goals and signposts employees must meet to grow, provides support through learning and training opportunities, and mentors them to grow further.

People are more likely to stay loyal and want to grow with the organization when leadership offers:

Two-way communication about the company’s growth plan and how employees can align their career goals with this.
Encouragement for employees who want to expand beyond their area of expertise and move into other areas by offering resources to learn and grow.
Empower the human resources department to counsel employees on what to expect when they move up the career ladder and offer resources to help them adapt.

Leadership goes beyond management, control, or dominance. Leadership is about two-way communication, support, and an open approach to managing challenges.

How to Develop Leadership in Today’s Business Environment?

In most Indian organizations, leaders are appointed based on their experience, technical skills, and ability to communicate. This is a good starting point, as it ensures that the leadership team has a holistic view of the company’s inner workings, has earned the respect of employees, and has earned the trust of customers.

However, leadership is a skill that requires unlearning certain behaviors and learning new ones. Here are some aspects that leadership must be trained on.

Open Listening Skills

Excellent listening skills and great communication is the hallmark of a good manager or team leader. In cases when a manager rises from the ranks, there is a chance that they are good at technical skills but may need some training on the softer aspects of leadership.

People Management

In many cases, leadership is seen as authority and guidance rather than managing people alongside deliverables. However, people management is a big part of the leadership team, which includes understanding how people interact with each other, reading silences, anticipating issues before they occur, and motivating people to do their best.

Cultural Mindset

The onus of living the company’s values and culture visibly is on leadership as people under them emulate their actions. Part of leadership training is ensuring they understand which cultural aspects they must work and help them develop the areas in which they are lacking.

Remove Biases

As human beings, leaders are also prone to their prejudices due to their lives and experience. It is crucial for leaders to be aware of their biases and ensure that it does not affect their decision-making adversely. As leaders, it is important for them to be percieved as fair and just to ensure employees respect and obey them.

360-Degree Feedback

Another critical aspect that leaders must be trained on is to ask for feedback from their team members. This can be done anonymously. Leaders must be encouraged to view the feedback analytics and tweak certain aspects of their managerial style based on that. When team members feel heard, they are more likely to be motivated to do their best.

Leadership Qualities Are the Foundation for Growth and Loyalty

Any organization in today’s competitive market can future-proof their growth trajectory and the loyalty of their people by investing in leadership development. The discerning employee of today wants a competitive remuneration package, good working conditions, and leaders that inspire them.

In a world where growth aspirations and mentorship is critical, it is important for organizations to be equip their leadership with the soft skills that will make a difference. When this happens, it will permeate every level of the organization and directly impact all stakeholders. The key to building maximum customer lifetime value is by ensuring growth of the organization and employee loyalty.

At Great Place To Work India, our team works with your leadership team to build leadership capability. Our employee surveys help you understand their pulse. We also provide culture consulting services to help you act on the results. Want to take this forward? Click here to connect with us.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is it possible to train leaders on soft skills required for growth and loyalty?

Yes, it is possible to train leaders on soft skills as long as they have an open mind and are willing to adapt to the changing needs of the workforce. In many cases, the leaders are not aware of the areas in which they need to improve and making them aware of these areas and training them will help.

Why is effective leadership critical for organizational development?

In any organization, all the stakeholders like the employees, vendors, suppliers, contractors, shareholders, and all other parties look up to the leadership when assessing a company. When a company’s leadership consistently presents a charismatic, communicative, and controlled front, it leaves a positive impression on all the stakeholders and wins their confidence.

Do authority and control continue to be valuable leadership qualities?

Yes, authority and control are valuable leadership qualities and become even more effective when the leadership is open to input from others, good at communication, takes responsibility, offers guidance, and lives the company’s values.

How can leaders be trained on the required soft skills to help them succeed?

Leaders can be trained on the required soft skills through interactive workshops, case studies, gamification, self-learning modules, and practical classes. It is important to ensure that leaders are open to the training and understand the importance of these skills for the training to be effective.

Walk into almost any organization in India today and you will find the same quiet experiment happening at every level of management. A team lead is using AI to draft a project update faster. A department head is using it to spot patterns in attrition data. A first-time manager is using it to prepare for a tough performance conversation. None of them were handed a manual. Most of them are figuring it out in real time, between meetings, while still trying to lead their teams the way they always have with attention, fairness, and trust.

This is the real story of AI for managers in Indian workplaces right now. It is not a story about robots replacing them. It is a story about managers rewriting what good leadership looks like, one decision at a time, often faster than their own organizations can formally keep up with.

Great Place To Work® India’s Voice of CHRO research on AI, spanning 2025 and 2026, captures this shift with unusual clarity. It shows that while technology is moving quickly, the definition of good management is still being written. CHROs across industries admit that expectations of managers are changing because of AI, but very few organizations have actually caught up and formalized what that change should look like. Into that gap have stepped a set of managers who are, in effect, becoming the playbook themselves.

This blog looks closely at how India’s smartest managers are using AI, not as a replacement for leadership, but as a way to become better at the parts of leadership that were always the hardest: judgment, fairness, growth, and trust. In other words, this is what good AI for managers looks like in practice, not in theory.

What Does AI for Managers Actually Mean?

Leading with AI does not imply giving up choices to a dashboard. It does not imply replacing one-on-one meetings with automated summaries or performance discussions with generated scorecards. For managers that get this right, AI is getting closer to a very fast, extremely capable assistant that handles the mechanical aspects of the work, freeing up more energy for the human elements.

In practical terms, this means utilizing AI to help managers produce the first version of a report, then applying judgment to determine what it missed. It entails applying AI to identify patterns in team performance and then having a conversation with the employee about what those patterns indicate for their development. It means using AI to prepare faster, not to lead colder.

The managers who are doing this well share one instinct in common that they treat AI as something which changes how work gets done, not something that changes why people matter. That distinction sounds simple, but it is exactly where most companies are struggling to keep pace, and exactly where individual managers are quietly getting ahead of their own companies.

How India’s Smartest Managers Are Leading With AI?

Across industries, a clear pattern is emerging among managers who are adapting well to AI. They are not waiting for perfect policies. They are not waiting for certainty. They are leading through ambiguity in ways that keep their teams engaged, supported, and growing. Here is what AI for managers looks like in practice.

1. They Are Writing the Rulebook As They Go

Most managers in India are learning to lead in an AI-enabled workplace without a formal guide to follow. According to Great Place To Work India’s Voice of CHRO research, 36% of CHROs say they know manager expectations need to change because of AI, but they have not yet defined what those new expectations should be. Only 21% of CHROs say they have formally updated and communicated manager expectations to their teams.

That gap between recognizing change and formalizing it is significant. It means that for the vast majority of managers, there is no official document explaining what “good AI-enabled leadership” looks like at their organization. And yet, many managers are not waiting around for one.

The smartest managers are treating this ambiguity as an opportunity rather than an obstacle. They are experimenting cautiously, observing what works for their team, and adjusting their own leadership style before their organization gets around to writing it down formally. They are having informal conversations with their own teams about how AI is changing daily work, setting expectations on the fly, and course-correcting when something does not land well.

This matters because employees are watching closely. When a manager can speak honestly about what is still uncertain, while still providing enough direction to feel supported, it builds a different kind of trust than a polished policy document ever could. Confidence, in this early stage of AI adoption, is not about having every answer. It is about being present and responsive while the answers are still being worked out.

For CHROs and HR leaders, this points to an immediate opportunity: capture what these early-adopting managers are already doing well, and use it as the foundation for the formal manager expectations that the rest of the organization is still waiting for. The playbook for AI-enabled management does not need to be written from scratch. It is already being tested, informally, on the ground.

2. They Make Sure No One Gets Left Behind

One of the most significant discoveries from the Voice of CHRO study is also the most uncomfortable. 44% of CHROs believe that great performers are leveraging AI to pull ahead of their peers, while others on the same team are falling behind, and that this disparity is becoming the most evident cultural friction point across businesses today. Separately, 29% of CHROs believe employees do not fully comprehend the value and impact of AI in their current employment.

Together, these two numbers describe a subtle but significant risk. AI is not causing one evident problem that is simple to identify and resolve. It is creating an uneven playing field in which one segment of the workforce accelerates while another quietly disengages, unsure how or not they fit into the new way of working.

Managers who get this right recognize that their objective is not to encourage their fastest adopters accelerate even further. Its purpose is to ensure that the entire team benefits from AI, not just the two or three people that picked it up instinctively. That involves actively observing who in the team has not yet begun experimenting with AI technologies and asking why, rather than assuming apathy.

In reality, this appears to be managers allowing space in team meetings for colleagues to share how they use AI in their own work, normalizing queries rather than presenting AI as something people should already know. It appears that confident early adopters are put together with hesitant coworkers as a natural aspect of how the team operates, rather than as part of a systematic mentorship program. Managers appear to be openly stating, aloud, that utilizing AI successfully is a talent like any other, requiring practice and the freedom to make mistakes before doing it right.

This is where good management becomes a genuine equalizer. Left unmanaged, AI adoption will naturally favor employees who are already comfortable with technology, curious by disposition, or simply have more bandwidth to experiment. A manager who actively works against that default is doing something that no company-wide AI policy can fully replicate: paying attention to who is being left behind, in real time, and doing something about it.

3. They Lead With Judgment, Not Just Answers

As AI becomes faster and more capable, one might expect the value of human judgment to shrink. The data suggests the opposite is happening. According to the Voice of CHRO research, 17% of CHROs are concerned about employees over-relying on AI instead of exercising their own judgment, and 32% of CHROs say employees struggle to know which AI outputs should be trusted and which ones need to be checked more carefully.

That second number is worth sitting with. Nearly one in three CHROs believe their employees cannot confidently tell the difference between an AI output that is ready to use and one that needs a closer look. That is not a technology problem. It is a judgment problem, and judgment has always been one of the core responsibilities of good management.

The managers who are handling this well have stopped treating AI-generated work as automatically finished. Instead, they are modeling a habit of checking, questioning, and contextualizing before anything gets used or shared further. They ask their teams simple but pointed questions: What does this output assume that might not be true here? What context does the AI not have? Would this decision look different if a client, a regulator, or a competitor saw it?

This kind of questioning is not about slowing teams down or being suspicious of the technology. It is about restoring a habit that faster tools can accidentally erode: the pause before action. Managers who build this pause into their team’s normal workflow are protecting their organizations from a specific and growing risk, output that looks polished and confident but has not actually been thought through by a human being who understands the stakes.

In many ways, this is the clearest evidence that AI has made human leadership more important, not less. Technology can generate an answer in seconds. Only a manager, with context, accountability, and experience, can decide whether that answer is actually right for the situation in front of them.

4. They Help Their Whole Team Grow Alongside AI

The final pattern among India’s most effective managers is perhaps the most optimistic one. According to the research, 57% of CHROs say reskilling and internal mobility is their organization’s preferred response to AI-driven workforce change, and 56% are prioritizing building workforce capability to work alongside AI rather than around it. Encouragingly, 73% of CHROs say employees are already positive about using AI at work.

That last figure deserves attention. Despite all the uncertainty around expectations, fairness, and judgment, a strong majority of employees are approaching AI with a fundamentally positive attitude. That is a significant asset, and the managers who are using AI well are not wasting it.

Rather than treating AI capability as something employees either have or do not have, these managers treat it as a skill to be built deliberately, the same way they would approach any other capability gap on their team. They are creating small, low-pressure opportunities for team members to practice using AI tools on real work, rather than sending people to a generic training module and hoping it translates. They are connecting AI fluency to visible career growth, making it clear that learning to work well alongside AI is not a side skill but a genuine part of how someone advances in the organization.

This is where reskilling stops being an abstract HR initiative and becomes something employees can feel in their day-to-day experience of work. When a manager takes the time to help a hesitant team member get comfortable with a new tool, celebrates the first time someone uses AI to solve a real problem well, and openly discusses how roles are evolving, employees stop experiencing AI as a threat to their relevance. They start experiencing it as an extension of their own growth.

The organizations that get this right are not the ones with the most sophisticated AI tools. They are the ones where managers have made it safe, normal, and rewarding for every employee, not just the naturally curious ones, to build this new capability alongside their existing strengths.

Common Challenges and How to Overcome Them

Managers Are Improvising Without Formal Guidance

With only 21% of CHROs having formally updated and communicated manager expectations around AI, most managers are left to interpret what good leadership looks like on their own. Organizations can close this gap by observing what their strongest managers are already doing informally and turning those real behaviors into the basis of formal guidance, rather than starting from a blank page or an untested framework.

AI Adoption Is Creating Visible Inequality Within Teams

When 44% of CHROs report that high performers are pulling ahead while others fall behind, the risk is not just a skills gap, it is a trust and morale gap. Managers should be equipped and encouraged to actively track who on their team has not engaged with AI tools yet, and to create structured, low-pressure ways for those employees to build confidence rather than being left to catch up on their own.

Employees Cannot Always Tell When to Trust AI Output

With 32% of CHROs noting that employees struggle to judge which AI outputs are reliable, organizations need to build a simple, repeatable habit of verification into everyday workflows. This does not require complex governance frameworks. It requires managers consistently modeling the pause-and-check habit until it becomes second nature for their teams.

Reskilling Needs to Feel Personal, Not Generic

While 57% of CHROs favor reskilling and internal mobility as their response to AI-driven change, generic, one-size-fits-all training rarely builds real confidence. The organizations seeing the strongest results are the ones where managers translate broad reskilling strategies into specific, individual opportunities that connect directly to each employee’s actual role and career path.

Conclusion

The real story of AI for managers in India is still being written, and right now, much of it is being authored not by policy documents or technology vendors, but by managers making good decisions in real time. They are filling the gap between what organizations know needs to change and what has actually been formalized. They are noticing who is being left behind and doing something about it. They are protecting the value of human judgment even as machines get faster. And they are turning reskilling from an HR initiative into something employees genuinely experience as growth.

What makes these managers effective is not that they have mastered every AI tool available to them. It is that they have not let the tools change what leadership is fundamentally for: helping people do their best work, feel valued while doing it, and grow because of it. Great Place To Work India’s research makes clear that the organizations getting this right are not the most technologically advanced ones. They are the ones where managers have kept the human side of leadership intact while building genuine fluency with AI alongside it.

For CHROs and HR leaders watching this unfold, the opportunity is clear. The best practices are not hypothetical, they already exist inside your organization, in the way your strongest managers are quietly leading their teams through this transition. The work now is to notice them, learn from them, and give every manager the support to lead the same way.

Frequently Asked Questions

How is AI changing the role of managers in India?

AI is shifting managers away from repetitive, administrative tasks and toward judgment-heavy work like coaching, verifying AI outputs, and helping teams build new skills. Most organizations are still formalizing what this shift means, so many managers are adapting ahead of official guidance.

What is the biggest risk of AI adoption at work, according to CHROs?

According to Great Place To Work India’s Voice of CHRO research, the biggest visible risk is not job loss but an internal gap, where high performers use AI to pull further ahead while other employees fall behind, creating friction within teams.

How can managers help employees trust AI outputs appropriately?

Managers can build a habit of checking and contextualizing AI-generated work before it is used, asking what assumptions the AI made and what context it may be missing, rather than treating outputs as automatically finished.

What should CHROs prioritize to support managers leading through AI change?

CHROs should prioritize reskilling and internal mobility, formalize manager expectations around AI use, and ensure every employee, not just early adopters, has structured opportunities to build AI capability.

Is AI reducing the need for human leadership?

The answer is no. Research shows human judgment is becoming more important as AI adoption grows, since employees increasingly need managers to provide context, accountability, and direction that AI cannot supply on its own.

As compared to a few decades ago, women being part of the workforce has become the norm. However, while this has been viewed as a positive change, there is a noted lack of women in leadership. According to our DEIB report, ‘Despite women making up 26% of the workforce (a figure unchanged for three years), their representation sharply declines at each managerial level. The “broken rung” phenomenon persists, with only 8% of CEOs being women. Career interruptions post-maternity, lack of flexible work models, and unclear promotion pathways contribute to attrition and stagnation.”

At Great Place to Work®, we help companies evaluate women’s representation in leadership, how existing employees feel about the current situation, and advise them on how to improve the workplace. This article will delve into the challenges, benefits, and strategies to help women in leadership thrive at work.

What Does Women in Leadership Entail?

Women have been part of the workforce since the 1900s and part of the corporate world for over the past five decades. However, the one factor that stands out is that even today, women are not a huge part of leadership. This statistic shows this clearly: ‘In 2025, 21% of women have not had the experience of leadership development opportunities.’

Women in leadership are women holding higher positions on the corporate ladder, with immense decision-making power, influence over the company’s direction, and responsibility for leading significant aspects of the business.

Women in leadership, in most companies, will include:

Being part of the executive leadership team of the company

Having a voice on the board of directors regarding the company’s strategy

Leading teams and managing several aspects of their work and responsibilities

C-suite executives who head a particular aspect of the company’s operations

Heading the company as a managing director or chief executive officer

Women in leadership make it easier for other women to join the ranks of leadership, enabling a diverse workforce to create a force that moves the organization in the right direction.

Why Is It Critical for Women to Become Part of the Leadership?

A study of a well-functioning and highly productive work environment will show that these outcomes result from balance, open communication, and a positive approach. Women and other under-represented groups in the workplace and in leadership are part of ensuring all the above-mentioned factors. Here are the benefits of women in leadership:

Women bring an emotional intelligence angle to decision-making through balance

Organizations gain a different and broader point of view

The culture and outlook of the organization become more diverse

It helps structure the benefits offered by the organization in a better way

Businesses are better able to understand and serve customers

Builds a better image of the business among all stakeholders

Increased productivity and improved customer satisfaction positively impact the bottom line

Challenges Women Face in Leadership Roles and Strategies to Overcome Them

When women take on leadership roles, they face more challenges than their male counterparts. This can be due to societal, familial, and corporate pressures on them. Let’s look at some of the challenges.

Challenge #1: Stereotyping and Gender Bias

Often, women face a lot of gender bias from peers and leadership, which even they may not be aware of. There’s a lot of stereotyping around the kind of roles women can play and the skills they have.

Some examples include:

Assuming that women may not want to work on jobs that require manual skills or site visits where they have to be actively involved in physical tasks.

Building a narrative where women use emotions for decision-making rather than logic and statistics.

Viewing women as the weaker gender, not possessing the ‘killer instinct’ attributed to men who lead teams.

Women lacking mechanical skills like repairing cars or working with software coding, making them incapable of leading in such roles

Women leaders being uncomfortable leading a team of ambitious and aggressive men with a firm hand.

Leadership assuming that women may not be ambitious because of the mother-wife roles they play along with their careers.

Hormonal changes which are part of the woman’s life affecting their ability to work consistently and productively.

Strategy # 1: Train Leadership to Overcome Bias

Any change in the company’s outlook, culture, and overall attitude starts with the leadership team’s visible acceptance of these qualities. For the organization to overcome unconscious bias and the stereotyping of women, leadership teams must be trained. When leadership demonstrates a gender-neutral, merit-centric approach to work, this attitude permeates the rest of the organization.

Here are some steps to make this strategy effective:

Create and implement training programs that help people overcome their biases against women and other under-represented factions.

Make it clear that any biases or gender-offensive attitudes will be dealt with strictly and will not be tolerated at any level.

Provide mechanisms that enable women to record, report, and request support when they face such biases.

Design recruitment processes to eliminate unconscious bias and standardize performance evaluations to avoid personal bias.

Challenge # 2: Restricted Access to Leadership Roles

Today, most companies welcome women into their ranks with open arms; however, not into leadership teams. It is often assumed that women will take career breaks to fulfill their personal commitments, which, in turn, makes them unsuitable for leadership roles. Another assumption is that women may not want to step into roles that require more responsibility.

Some examples include:

When companies consider potential leadership candidates, they focus mainly on service length, and women could show some gaps due to personal commitments

Judging women by their leadership styles, as they may not always be the same as those of their male counterparts.

Restricting women in leadership due to paucity of time they have for social and networking activities.

Strategy# 2: Create Women-Specific Tracks and Leadership Programs

It is a given that men and women think and act differently, which will also affect their leadership styles. However, to ensure that the company does not restrict women based on their working style, it is crucial to create women-specific tracks and programs.

Here are some steps to make this strategy effective:

Help women candidates identify their strengths and train them to improve in areas where they lack, ensuring they have a well-rounded skill set and can take on leadership roles.

Aggressively promote mentorship programs to prepare women for their leadership roles by providing overall support on technical and emotional skills.

Encourage existing women leaders within and outside the company to address women employees.

Offer support in the form of training programs, certifications, courses, and sponsored workshops to prepare women for leadership roles.

Challenge # 3: Interrupted Career Path Due to Personal Reasons

Biology and nature have assigned women to caregiving and reproductive roles, which results in career gaps. Many women have successfully managed both these responsibilities, but this has also hindered their growth in the company.

Some examples include:

Women feel disoriented when they return from maternity leave due to changes in their roles and within the company.

Some women have found themselves moved off the promotion track once they get married, on the assumption that their priorities have changed.

Enable online meetings for important events, key client account handling, and crucial team events to keep the woman on leave updated on all changes and developments.

Women with family responsibilities, such as caring for elderly parents or raising children, are often viewed as not suitable for leadership programs.

Strategy #3: Enable Mentorship and Input During Such Situations

Today, companies have become more understanding about supporting people, especially women as a whole, rather than only at a professional level. This strategy focuses on creating support systems and mentorship programs, and providing the right input to ensure that women on the leadership track move forward, no matter what.

Here are some steps to make this strategy effective:

Talk to women leaders to understand how they overcame these challenges to stay on track for leadership roles.

Create programs that support women when their personal responsibilities create gaps in their schedules. For example, create a one-on-one support person for women who are on maternity leave. This person can keep the woman updated on developments in their work, clients, and any company changes. Furthermore, this person can also act as a liaison between the woman and the team to keep the link going.

Partner with childcare services to ensure the woman leader can focus on work without worrying about missing any child-related issues.

The Human Resources department can provide a forum for women with varied family commitments to seek guidance and support in difficult situations.

Challenge # 4: Women Needing to Balance Work and Personal Life

The world is evolving at a faster pace, and society’s outlook toward what women are responsible for has also changed. However, despite these changes, women still need to balance their personal and professional responsibilities. This could be due to societal pressures, specific skills that only women possess, and biological differences that confer traits men do not have.

Some examples include:

Women have more child-centric responsibilities, especially in their early years, due to the need to nourish their children during the first two years.

Since women are often considered skilled at multitasking, they are expected to take on more household responsibilities than their male counterparts.

Even when roles are divided equally, women often take on more of the personal load due to their nature.

Strategy #4: Build a Flexible and Sustainable Hybrid Work Situation

Companies seeking to encourage more women to take on leadership roles can adopt a strategy of offering flexible hybrid work arrangements that also measure productivity objectively. With hybrid working models, women can continue to perform at their best without sacrificing any aspect of their professional or personal responsibilities.

Here are some steps to make this strategy effective:

Identify all roles that can be performed without requiring employees to commute to the office and that support a viable hybrid work model.

Empower these women with the right apps and tools to make communication with internal teams and external stakeholders easy and seamless.

Enable them to create a professional, comfortable work setup at home to maintain a seamless experience when they interact with external parties.

Set up mechanisms and establish metrics to measure performance without any bias and with complete transparency.

Challenge # 5: Self-Doubts and Imposter Syndrome

Historically, women have been placed in more subservient roles, and this has resulted in many women becoming victims of the ‘imposter syndrome’. When women doubt themselves, they often shy away from taking up leadership roles.

Some examples include:

Women in leadership roles often feel they have the skills but lack the confidence to lead a team with the necessary authority.

Women are often unable to express their opinions or offer input in a male-dominated setting due to a lack of authority.

Colleagues often put down women for being emotional, leading them to doubt the logic and merit of their input.

Strategy #5: Offer Career Counseling and Support Services

For women on the leadership track, it is often not a lack of skills or aptitude but doubt and a lack of confidence that lead them to shy away from such opportunities. Companies seeking to encourage more women to take on leadership roles must adopt a strategy that helps them discover their potential.

Here are some steps to make this strategy effective:

Build programs and support workshops to help women build their confidence and realize their complete potential.

Highlight and share the achievements of women employees consistently, both within and outside the company.

Offer courses on public speaking, mentoring, and discovering the power within to all those employees who show leadership potential.

Identify leaders to mentor potential candidates in mentorship programs, helping them build confidence and learn new leadership skills.

Challenge #6: Limited Networking Opportunities

Traditionally, networking opportunities are restricted to clubs and night events where men meet and interact, resulting in an old-boys-club, which is a tight clique. Often, women either feel uncomfortable at such events or are unable to attend due to other commitments. In such cases, women miss out on crucial networking opportunities.

Some examples include:

Night events in clubs and places where entry is traditionally men-only in certain areas, restricting women from entering.

Hunting, shooting, golfing, or other such events where men discuss business while participating, where many women may feel out of place or even unwelcome.

Networking events that require investing time beyond work hours, which may not work for many women due to their personal responsibilities.

Strategy #6: Build Professional Networking Events That Are Women-Friendly and Accessible

While it is true that many business deals occur in social settings, it is important to have a strategy to ensure women do not miss out on opportunities to network, increase visibility, and close deals. The strategy is simple: schedule business events around times that work for the entire leadership team, including women.

Here are some steps to make this strategy effective:

Schedule events and meetings at times and places where women can also participate. For example, move the meeting to a hotel luncheon rather than a game night at a club.

Form specific groups and forums where women can represent their skills. This can be at a board meeting or a client-based event where the celebrations occur only when business negotiations are concluded.

Enable women to attend evening or night events by offering them the required support in terms of transportation, childcare, and accommodation as required.

How to Ensure the Growth of Women in Leadership Roles Going Forward?

The world is recognizing the need to recruit women actively, encourage their growth, and support their advancement into leadership roles. Having a well-balanced team with representation from all segments creates a positive and productive work environment. The starting point is to check the organization’s pulse through employee surveys.

Another great way to kickstart this is to talk to an expert about DEIB to assess the current position and move forward. Change must start at the leadership level and permeate to lower levels to ensure the proper implementation of any women-in-leadership initiatives. At Great Place To Work, our team of experts can guide the process and ensure tangible results. Click here to connect with us.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why is it crucial to develop women in leadership roles?

Women bring a different perspective and skills to any role they take on. With women in leadership roles, the company will benefit from increased productivity and creative solutions. Having women in leadership also builds a better image of the company internally and externally.

What are the steps to take to encourage women to take leadership roles?

Companies can start by identifying women leaders among existing employees and offer them training and support to encourage them to take on leadership roles. Moreover, women-specific initiatives can support women across various phases of their personal and professional lives, helping them continue their career trajectories.

What programs can support women in leadership?

Programs such as young executive boards, mentorship, networking events, and targeted soft-skills training can help women discover and develop their innate leadership skills. Support facilities such as hybrid working, maternity leave support, and opportunities to interact with other women leaders can also help.

What issues do women in leadership face?

Women in leadership can face issues at both personal and professional levels. At the personal level, a need to focus on their family, having babies, travel limitations, etc., can be some of the issues. At the professional level, challenges can include male colleagues not accepting them, a lack of confidence and networking opportunities, and a poor understanding of their specific needs.

Some organizations bend under pressure. Others build through it. The gap between the two rarely comes down to strategy or resources. It almost always comes down to leadership. Not leadership as a title or a position in an organizational chart. Leadership is a practiced set of skills that show up daily in how managers communicate, how they make decisions, how they respond to failure, and how they create the conditions for others to give their best.

Great Place To Work® India’s research, conducted across 540 IT companies and 3.4 lakh employee voices, puts hard numbers to what many organizations sense but struggle to prove: the leadership skills managers carry determine business outcomes, not just culture scores.

What Are Leadership Skills?

Leadership skills are the specific behaviors, capacities, and decision-making patterns that allow an individual to guide, influence, and build others toward shared outcomes. They are distinct from technical expertise or functional knowledge. A brilliant engineer or a sharp analyst does not automatically become an effective leader. Leadership skills are learned, practiced, and refined over time.

Also Read: 5 Leadership Levels That Shape Workplace Culture

In the workplace, leadership skills show up in concrete moments: how a manager responds when an employee shares a concern, whether a senior leader makes decisions that others can understand and trust, whether a team feels psychologically safe enough to flag a problem before it becomes a crisis.

Great Place To Work’s research identifies 9 core leadership behaviors that matter most to employees across India’s workforce:

Hiring & Welcoming: Attracting the right people and ensuring they feel genuinely included and valued from the very first day.

Caring: Being genuinely present for the team, not just operationally available but personally invested in their wellbeing and growth.

Celebrating: Recognizing contributions consistently and making people feel seen and appreciated for their effort and hard work.

Inspiring: Helping colleagues understand how their role connects to larger business goals and a purpose that goes beyond day-to-day tasks.

Speaking: Communicating with clarity and honesty while creating an environment where open dialogue is welcomed, and differing views are never penalized.

Sharing: Using data insights to make fair and transparent decisions so that information flows equitably and people trust the process.

Listening: Genuinely hearing alternative perspectives before acting, making people feel truly understood rather than simply heard.

Developing: Investing in the long-term capability of individuals, building their confidence and readiness to think and execute at scale.

Thanking: Expressing sincere and timely gratitude in ways that reinforce trust, belonging, and a culture where people know their efforts matter.

Taken together, these are not only soft skills. They are business-critical competencies with a measurable impact on performance, retention, and growth.

How Do Leadership Skills Directly Impact Business Performance?

People are the drivers through which every business strategy gets executed. Strategy lives in documents, but execution lives in people. And how people execute depends almost entirely on the leadership environment they work within.

When Great Place To Work analyzed data across Certified™ and non-certified companies, the gap was quite visible. Employees working at Certified workplaces rate their leadership experience significantly higher, scoring 25% higher than in typical workplaces. That gap does not stay confined to culture surveys. It translates directly into whether employees choose to stay, innovate, adapt, and go the extra mile.

Employees who experience positive leadership are 61% more likely to intend to stay; compared to just 39% among those who do not. That difference is the business case for leadership development.

The research also reveals a compounding effect. When employees have strong confidence in their leadership’s judgment, 87% show significantly positive responses to AI-related experiences, meaning they are excited about new tools, open to learning, and hopeful about change. Leadership trust does not just retain people; it determines how readily an organization can absorb transformation.

The impact of leadership is also not uniform across levels. Individual contributors score their leadership experience at 55%. C-level executives score it at 78%. That 23 percent gap is one of the most underappreciated risk factors in Indian organizations today.

Top Leadership Skills That Drive Business Success

Across industries and generations, employees share a remarkably consistent picture of what they need from their leaders. The skills below are not aspirational checklists; they are the behaviors that show up in the data as the true drivers of trust, performance, and retention. Understanding them is the first step to building leadership that actually works.

1. Purpose Alignment

People do not just want to do their jobs. They want to know why their job matters. The most effective managers are the ones who take time, whether in a quick team to huddle or a one-on-one conversation, to connect everyday work to a bigger picture. When employees understand how their contribution fits into something meaningful, they bring more energy, stay more focused, and push through challenges more willingly. Moreover, employees most frequently identify aligning their work with a clear purpose as the experience that best reflects their current manager.

2. Empathy and Emotional Intelligence

Great managers pay attention to people, not just performance. They notice when someone is struggling. They ask the right questions. They create space for honest conversations. This is what empathy looks like in a workplace setting, and it is quite questionable practice as well.

When employees feel genuinely understood by their manager, they are more likely to speak up early, take initiative, and stay committed even when things get hard. Empathy and emotional intelligence ranked highest at 44% among the qualities that will define great leadership in 2030.

3. Consistent Recognition and Trust-Building

A simple thank you at the right moment can do more than a formal reward program. What employees want is to feel seen for their effort, consistently and fairly.

The problem in many workplaces is not only the absence of recognition but also the inconsistency of it. When some individuals are celebrated while others doing equally good work are overlooked, it quietly damages the trust within a team. Managers who make recognition a regular habit, not an occasional gesture, build teams that genuinely want to give their best.

4. Strategic Decision-Making

Employees are not just frustrated by bad decisions. They are frustrated by decisions that feel unclear, unexplained, or disconnected from reality.

What builds confidence in a leader is not perfection but transparency. When managers communicate clearly about what they decide, why they decide it, and what it means for the team, people feel informed and respected. That clarity is what allows teams to move quickly and execute well without second-guessing every step.

5. Adaptability

Things change, plans fall apart, and unexpected challenges come up. What employees remember is how their leader responded. Did they step in or step back? Did they adjust or hold rigidly to a plan that was no longer working?

Adaptable leaders do not have all the answers but they stay calm, stay present, and help their teams navigate uncertainty without panic. That steadiness is what gives people the confidence to keep going when things get difficult.

6. Tech Readiness and AI Literacy

Employees are not just looking for leaders who understand technology. They are looking for leaders who help them feel confident about it. Change brings anxiety, and when a manager is visibly comfortable with new tools and willing to guide the team through them, that anxiety reduces significantly. Leaders who engage openly with technology, including AI, signal to their teams that learning and adapting is safe. That is more empowering than any training program.

7. Psychological Safety

When employees do not feel safe to speak up, the best ideas within an organization remain unheard. Psychological safety creates the conditions for honest, productive dialogue at every level. It enables individuals to raise concerns before they escalate, respectfully challenge decisions without fear of repercussion, and acknowledge gaps in knowledge without hesitation.

Leaders who build this environment do not simply improve team morale. They build organizations that are sharper, more responsive, and better equipped to handle complexity.

8. Active Listening and Openness

There is a meaningful difference between a manager who hears what an employee says and one who actually listens to. Active listening means engaging with what is being shared, asking follow-up questions, and being genuinely open to changing course based on what you learn. When employees feel truly heard, they trust their leader more, communicate more honestly, and raise concerns earlier. When they feel ignored, they stop sharing, and organizations lose access to some of their most important signals.

9. Integrity and Reliability

At the end of the day, employees want to know they can count on their manager. They want consistency, fairness, and follow-through. They want a leader who says what they mean and means what they say. Integrity is not about being liked. It is about being trustworthy. And in high-pressure environments where change is constant, a reliable and fair manager becomes the anchor that holds a team together.

How Do These Skills Improve Business Performance?

When employees experience all nine behaviors in combination, the business outcomes are not marginal. They are multiplicative:

Business Outcome	Multiplier Effect
More likely to adapt quickly to organizational change	2.3x
More likely to look forward to coming to work	2.3x
More likely to intend to stay long-term	2.1x
More likely to receive innovation opportunities	1.9x
More likely to put in extra effort	1.7x

These outcomes are consistent across IT, BFSI, Retail, Manufacturing, and Pharma, suggesting the relationship between leadership quality and business performance is not industry specific. When employees trust their manager, they communicate openly and problems get caught early. When people feel valued, they keep giving their best without burning out. When leaders create psychological safety, teams take the small risks that lead to real innovation. All of these are the compounds of the above-mentioned business outcome.

Conclusion

Leadership skills are not a soft business investment. They are direct drivers of retention, adaptability, innovation, and extra effort. Great Place To Work India’s Voice of India 2025 study and the 9 Leadership Behaviors analysis across six sectors and thousands of companies make this connection explicit and quantifiable.

The organizations that will outperform in 2026 and beyond are the ones that treat leadership development as seriously as product development or financial planning, with rigor, measurement, iteration, and investment.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the link between strategic thinking and profitability?

Strategic thinking drives focus on high-value opportunities and faster adaptation, which is a key to executing strategy and improving profitability.

Can leadership skills improve employee engagement and retention?

Yes, employees with positive leadership are significantly more likely to stay and remain engaged.

How does emotional intelligence affect organizational success?

It builds psychological safety, enabling open feedback, faster problem-solving, and stronger innovation.

How long does it take to develop strong leadership skills?

With consistent feedback and coaching, noticeable improvements typically occur within 6 to 12 months.

Every organization wants strong leaders. But the first step starts with getting intentional about building leaders who are future-ready. There are employees who are exceptional in their skills and talent but fail when it comes to leadership roles. Leadership gaps don’t usually come from a lack of talent, they come from a lack of structured development. High performers get promoted, critical talent gets stretched, and suddenly, individuals are expected to lead without ever being prepared for it. The result is inconsistent team experiences, declining trust, and missed business outcomes.

At Great Place To Work®, one insight consistently stands out. Great workplaces are built by leaders who create high-trust, high-performance environments – not by policies alone. This is why Leadership Development Programs must evolve with changing requirements and trends. They cannot be limited to training sessions or one-time interventions. They must become intentional systems that build leadership capability through experience, exposure, and behaviour.

What Are Leadership Development Programs?

The goal of leadership development is to improve an individual’s ability to lead, motivate, and influence people within their team and inside a company. The objective is to develop critical leadership skills including communication, decision-making, emotional intelligence, and strategic thinking. These abilities enable both present and future leaders to effectively manage difficult situations and adjust to changes.

Leadership development concentrates on the more ethereal traits that characterize exceptional leaders, whereas general management training concentrates on the practical and administrative abilities required to oversee daily operations. It places a strong emphasis on self-awareness, personal development, and the capacity to inspire and empower others.

Basically, leadership Development Programs are structured approaches organizations use to build leadership capability across levels. But the most effective ones go beyond skill-building.

They focus on developing:

Decision-making under ambiguity

Ability to influence without authority

Trust-building within teams

Inclusive and fair leadership behaviours

Adaptability in fast-changing environments

In simple terms, they prepare individuals not just to manage work, but to lead people and culture.

Why Organizations Need Leadership Development Programs?

Organizations that do not invest in leadership development often experience uneven manager effectiveness, lower employee trust, higher attrition among top talent, and reduced innovation and agility. Leadership is the multiplier of culture. Effective leaders steer their groups toward shared objectives, boosting output and effectiveness. They make strategic choices that have the power to influence an organization’s destiny and provide an atmosphere in which employees may flourish. In the end, this enhances an organization’s long-term viability, financial performance, and competitive edge.

When leaders are strong, teams thrive. When leadership is inconsistent, even the best strategies fail. Therefore, investing in leadership learning and development also guarantees that employees have a greater stake in the success of their company. Even strong Leadership Development Programs help organizations in building a future-ready leadership pipeline, improve employee experience, strengthen culture consistency across teams, and drive sustained business performance. Additionally, leadership development coaching offers focused, individualized advice that helps leaders overcome certain obstacles and accelerate their progress.

Leadership Development Starts Earlier Than You Think

One of the biggest mistakes organizations make is starting leadership development too late. Leadership does not begin with a title. It begins when individuals start to:

Take ownership beyond their role

Influence decisions

Collaborate across teams

Step up during uncertainty

Organizations that build strong leadership pipelines identify these signals early and invest in them. Because by the time someone becomes a manager, their behaviours are already shaped. The goal is to build leadership early.

Who Should Be Included in Leadership Development Programs?

Leadership development should be focused, not generic. Here are two group of people who are critical to be included in the leadership development programs:

1. Next in-Line Leaders

These are individuals expected to move into leadership roles in the near future based on their existing position in the company. They may already be leading projects, guiding peers, and taking ownership beyond their role. Investing in this group ensures smoother transitions and reduces the risk of ineffective first-time managers. This also ensures that if any of the existing leaders cannot perform their duties, then you’ll always have someone ready to take ownership. At this point, you’ll not have to figure out how to get started because you already have a ready pipeline.

2. Critical Talent

This includes high performers and individuals who are difficult to replace.

You can identify such people if they typically:

Go beyond their role and expectations

Deliver strong business outcomes

Hold key institutional knowledge

Influence team performance

Take ownership of a team project

It is even more important to develop this group because if not done effectively, they might become disengaged or exit. But if developed well, they become the next generation of leaders.

Top 5 Leadership Development Programs That Actually Work

The most effective Leadership Development Programs are not standalone initiatives. They are built through a combination of learning, exposure, and real-world responsibility.

1. Classroom Training

Classroom training still has a role, but only when it goes beyond theory. This is the most traditional kind of training program that not only provides knowledge but also changes behaviour. These are structured meetings focused on roles, responsibilities, strategic thinking, and emotional intelligence of an individual. Now, these sessions can be conducted in different forms and capacities.

a. Tie-ups with External Programs (Sending People Out)

Organizations can partner with institutions or curated learning experiences to expose employees to:

New perspectives

Structured leadership frameworks

Cross-industry insights

Employees are made aware of the industry’s best practices, structures framework, and a lot of other things that they can take back to their organization and implement in phases. Here, the real value does not lie in attending the sessions but in the post-learning application.

b. Bringing in External Experts

The other form of classroom can be inviting external experts into the organization, which allows learning to be:

Contextual to business challenges

Scalable across teams

Interactive and discussion-led

The major benefit of this form of training is that your employees will be able to gain outside perspective and knowledge. This will prepare them to deal with industry-related concerns.

c. Focus on Behavioural Capabilities

Modern leadership is behavioural, not just technical. Leadership today is about managing complexity, not just executing plans. The programs do not only focus on the skills required by an individual based on his or her job roles, but also on other basic skills that are required for leadership, such as:

Agility – navigating constant change

Resilience – sustaining performance under pressure

AI-readiness – understanding how technology impacts decisions and teams

2. Exchange Programs and External Exposure

Leadership expands with exposure. Building a healthy pipeline requires exposure beyond your internal practices. Learning from experiencing how other people and organizations operate can lead to a different perception for your people, and this is how a company grows.

a. Attending External Events

Encouraging employees to attend industry events helps them understand emerging trends, learn from peers, and build external networks. This exposure often translates into fresh ideas internally.

Also Read: How Levels of Leadership Shape Workplace Culture

Great Place To Work is committed to bringing these experiences to you in the form of our biggest event, For All Summit, which takes place every year in February. Not only this, but we also conduct The Great Connects in different cities like Pune, Bangalore, Chennai, Delhi, and Ahmedabad to make networking more accessible for you.

b. Sending Employees as Speakers

This is a powerful leadership accelerator. When employees represent the organization externally, they build confidence, refine their thinking, and develop executive presence. It also signals trust, which in itself builds leadership behaviour.

3. Shadow Boards

A shadow board is a group of high-potential employees who work alongside senior leadership. This is one of the most impactful leadership development programs. The loop starts with identifying critical talent and bringing them into important conversations.

By involving employees in key meetings, organizations enable them to understand strategic decision-making, see real business challenges, and contribute fresh perspectives. This is leadership development in its most authentic form, which is not simulated, not theoretical, but real.

4. Mentorship Programs That Build Real Growth

Mentorship programs are often practiced and seen as real growth builders. Companies often implement such programs but rarely optimize them to achieve the best outcome.

a. Relatable Mentors and Coaches

Before scheduling any mentorship program, the organization must decide on the group of people who will attend this program and what the intended outcome is. For example, if most of the people who’ll be attending this program are from the sales and marketing department, then the mentor should be a chief marketing officer or someone who has already served in a higher position in marketing. This is crucial because effective mentorship depends on alignment. Similarly, if the group attending the session is leaders from across the organization, then the mentor can be someone who can help them with critical thinking and decision making. The brownie point will be if he has worked in diverse industries at different positions, so that he is capable of guiding the people of different departments.

Also Read: What Great Managers Do Differently?

Moreover, a mentor should be approachable, experienced in relevant challenges, and capable of providing honest and actionable feedback. This could include internal leaders or external coaches.

b. Combining Mentorship with Coaching

Mentorship provides direction, and coaching builds self-awareness. Together, they help individuals reflect on behaviors, improve decision-making, and grow consistently over time. Leadership can’t be taught; it can be developed through reflection and feedback.

5. Strategic Project Mapping and Cross-Functional Exposure

Nothing builds leadership like responsibility. High-potential employees can be mapped to strategic initiatives, cross-functional projects, and business-critical challenges. This helps them understand the organization holistically, collaborate across teams, and make decisions with broader impact. This is where leadership capability becomes visible. Because leadership is not learned in isolation, it is learned through everyday action.

What Makes Leadership Development Programs Truly Effective?

Many organizations implement some of these initiatives. But effectiveness depends on how they are connected. Strong leadership development programs are:

Continuous

Leadership is built over time, not in isolated sessions. Therefore, one session will not do the needful; you’ll have to plan a series of sessions, which can be a mix of the above-mentioned programs as per your requirement.

Experience-Led

Real-world exposure matters more than theoretical knowledge. Therefore, you should consider external exposure and exchange programs as part of your L&D strategy for leaders.

Behaviour-Focused

Leadership is about how individuals show up, not just what they know. These training programs will not focus on an individual’s specific skill sets but on overall behaviour.

Aligned with Culture

Leadership development must reflect the organization’s values and expectations. Such programs should be designed to align with the organization’s culture because leaders are also culture makers.

Reinforcing Leadership Through Recognition

Leadership development does not end with programs. It is reinforced through everyday behaviours. Leaders repeat what organizations recognize. When behaviours such as:

Inclusion

Collaboration

Ownership

Innovation

are consistently recognized, they become embedded in culture. This is where leadership capability-building programs like Giftwork® play a critical role. By enabling real-time, value-based recognition, organizations can reinforce leadership behaviours at scale, build a culture of appreciation, and make leadership visible across levels. Because leadership is not just developed in structured programs. It is strengthened in everyday moments.

Know More About GiftWork

Conclusion

Leadership development programs that actually work are not about sending employees to training. They are about building an ecosystem where leadership can grow. Organizations that succeed are the ones that identify potential early, provide meaningful exposure, create opportunities to lead, and reinforce the right behaviours consistently. Because leadership is not created overnight, it is built through experience, trust, and culture.

Therefore, organizations that invest in building leaders don’t just strengthen their pipelines. They build great workplaces where people and performance thrive together.

Frequently Asked Questions

1. What are Leadership Development Programs?

They are structured initiatives designed to build leadership capability, behaviour, and mindset within an organization.

2. Who should be part of Leadership Development Programs?

Next-in-line managers and high-potential critical talent should be prioritized for leadership development programs.

3. What makes leadership development effective?

In order to ensure the effectiveness of leadership development, there should be a combination of learning, real-world exposure, mentorship, and continuous feedback.

4. How can organizations build future leaders internally?

Future-ready leaders can be built by providing structured opportunities, strategic exposure, and reinforcing leadership behaviours through culture.

In today’s competitive world, businesses are looking for ways to gain a competitive advantage over others. One way to do that is with inclusive leadership. Until a few years back, inclusivity in the workplace was a good-to-have factor that most companies showed insincerity to.

However, in today’s world, DEIB (Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging) forms the foundation of growth and profitability for businesses. As per the report on the State of DEIB in 2025, ‘Organizations are moving beyond symbolic actions toward structural change, prioritizing fairness in access and opportunity. Data from our Great Place To Work® Voice of CHRO survey suggests that 64% of CHROs report a strong sense of belonging across their organizations, signaling a shift toward cultures of equity, inclusion, and shared growth.’

The Great Place to Work® team works with its customers to understand where an organization stands on DEIB initiatives and helps them implement the right measures.

What Does Inclusive Leadership Mean?

Inclusive leadership is a proactive approach that ensures diversity is part of the organization’s DNA. With a top-down approach, an inclusive leader helps all team members, regardless of gender, orientation, age, disability, or other factors, feel respected, valued, and included. They ensure that all voices are heard, an atmosphere of encouraging inputs is maintained, and that diverse perspectives are welcomed.

To be effective and inculcate a culture of inclusivity at every level, an inclusive leader will display the following traits:

Committed to inclusivity: As a leader, the inclusive leader will actively and consciously demonstrate their commitment to making inclusivity a priority.

Courage to question: Inclusive leadership will need leaders who dare to question what is happening, examine the status quo, and hold themselves responsible, where required.

Recognize bias: An inclusive leader will evaluate their personal biases, study organizational biases, and work to create processes to mitigate them.

Be voraciously curious: Inclusive leadership is based on curiosity, open-minded listening, and seeking input from all levels of the organization.

Culturally aware: Building on their curiosity to learn about others, an inclusive leader will learn about other cultures and show sensitivity in situations involving cross-cultural interactions.

Collaborate continuously: As an inclusive leader, it is crucial to collaborate with others and encourage teams across the organization to do the same.

What Is the Link Between Inclusive Leadership and Performance?

Inclusive leadership brings a host of benefits that influence both short and long-term aspects of a business.

Improved employee commitment

Employees are more committed to the organization when they feel accepted, included, and valued. Inclusive leaders ensure they listen to employees’ input without bias, accept suggestions, and appreciate their work. This results in improved productivity, reduced absenteeism, and better retention rates.

Inclusive and better decision-making

When an inclusive leader leads a team, team members are likely to feel comfortable enough to share their unique perspectives. This, in turn, results in informed decisions, out-of-the-box solutions, and better business outcomes.

Innovative approach to problem-solving

People from different backgrounds, ages, and experiences approach the same issue from different angles, which can lead to unique solutions to business problems. Inclusive leadership encourages people to be innovative and to develop diverse solutions that benefit the organization.

Positive impact on the company’s image

A company that is truly committed to inclusive leadership is more likely to launch new products, move into new territories, and offer unique solutions to existing problems. By doing so, the company will gain a reputation for offering excellent products or services and for being an excellent employer, attracting customers and top talent.

Enhanced financial performance

Businesses with inclusive cultures often have a stronger presence in the market and can keep up with changing market needs. As a result, they often see an uptick in revenue, a consistent increase in market share, and improved customer satisfaction.

How Does Inclusive Leadership Encourage Innovation?

The foundation of innovation in any field is the ability to develop diverse approaches, and inclusive leadership lays the groundwork to enable this. Inclusive leadership encourages people at all levels and from all backgrounds to think differently and contribute their input.

When this happens, innovation results as employees have the freedom to challenge the status quo, seek new opportunities, and offer creative solutions.

With inclusive leadership at all levels, the company can ensure that:

Ideas are not limited to a particular department or hierarchy

Employees feel secure enough to share their ideas and take risks

People have the wherewithal to collaborate across the organization

Inclusive leadership weaves innovation and participation into the organization’s culture rather than treating them as forced initiatives. Different levels of leadership shape workplace culture in different ways.

What Are the Best Practices to Build Inclusive Leadership?

The culture of an organization permeates from the leadership level to the rest of the organization, and the best practices for building a culture of inclusive leadership start at the top.

Emotional intelligence workshops

Set up and offer emotional intelligence workshops to people at various levels. Work on aspects like active listening, recognizing unconscious bias, and inclusive communication. Running workshops like this regularly, or gamifying these concepts, will help people work toward becoming more inclusive.

Create safe channels

Employees are often not forthcoming about their ideas and feedback because they fear rejection, repercussions, or mockery. Ensure that your company has safe spaces, people, and channels where people can offer their input. Allow people to acknowledge and learn from their mistakes as required.

Inclusive decision-making

Inviting diverse perspectives, encouraging participation, and removing barriers, such as hierarchy in decision-making are great ways to ensure inclusive leadership.

Feedback loops

Check the pulse of employees through regular surveys and town hall sessions to encourage people to share their feedback. Collate the feedback, pinpoint the aspects to be implemented, and share it with the larger team.

Rewards and recognition

Establish a rewards program to recognize people who have offered unique perspectives that have resulted in success. Recognize contributions both at the individual and team levels.

Impact	Measure	Importance
Brand perception	Employee and customer surveys	Helps in talent retention and improving Lifetime Customer Value (LCV)
Innovation and product launches	Product feedback and customer complaints	Offers insights into where the company is lagging and areas for improvement.
People outcomes	A mix of people from different backgrounds, and how well they feel supported	Talent acquisition and ensuring that performance is on the uptick

How to Leverage the Benefits of Inclusive Leadership?

In conclusion, businesses need to realize that inclusive leadership is not an option but a critical aspect of their growth strategy. It is about ensuring that people from all walks of life feel valued, secure, and motivated to perform at their best. At Great Place To Work, the team helps companies transform their culture with culture consulting services.

Want to know how to take this forward? Click here to connect with us

Frequently Asked Questions

Why is inclusive leadership crucial for the growth of a business?

Inclusive leadership makes it easier for a company to attract and retain the top talent in the industry, meet customer expectations, offer innovative products, and maintain a good public image.

What is the first step to becoming an inclusive organization?

The first step to becoming inclusive is recognizing and acknowledging that talent is not limited to a particular age, gender, or type of person. Making it part of your company policy to accommodate people from all walks of life based on their talents or skills, and to offer them a good working environment, also helps.

How does inclusive leadership help us become profitable?

With inclusive leadership, the company becomes more innovative, solves problems, and ensures continuity. This, in turn, lowers costs, expands the customer base, and builds a positive market reputation, making the company profitable.

Whose responsibility is ensuring inclusive leadership?

While the process of ensuring inclusive leadership starts at the top, it is the responsibility of everyone in the organization to ensure an inclusive environment.

Is inclusive leadership a one-time exercise or a continuous process?

Inclusive leadership is a continuous process in which every member of the organization commits to working hard to overcome biases and become more inclusive.

About Us

Mission

Methodology

Our CEO

Our Team

Careers

BFSI

Information Technology

Manufacturing

Pharma & Healthcare

Retail

Construction & Real Estate

Global Capability Center (GCC)

Professional Services

Mission

Methodology

Our CEO

Our Team

Careers

CERTIFICATION

WATCH NOW

How to earn Great Place To Work Certification [On Demand]

JOIN THE LIST

FEATURED LIST

POPULAR LISTS

Employee Survey

Change and Culture Consulting

Certification

DEIB

Best Workplaces

Leadership Capability Building - Giftwork

Blogs

Podcasts

Reports & Insights

Case studies

CHRO Interviews

Press Release

Newsroom

CASE STUDY

Certification Nation Day 2026

For All Summit 2027

WhatsApp Community

How Do Leadership Qualities Affect Employee Loyalty and Retention?

What Does Leadership Mean?

Which Leadership Qualities Are Crucial to Ensure Growth and Loyalty?

Leadership Quality #1: Caring and Empathy

Leadership Quality #2: Inspiration and Guidance

Leadership Quality #3: Acknowledge, Recognize, and Reward

Leadership Quality #4: Active Listening and Responding

Leadership Quality #5: Sharing Values, Information, and Plans

Leadership Quality #6: Making Good Hiring Decisions

Leadership Quality #7: Enabling Career Growth

How to Develop Leadership in Today’s Business Environment?

Open Listening Skills

People Management

Cultural Mindset

Remove Biases

360-Degree Feedback

Leadership Qualities Are the Foundation for Growth and Loyalty

Frequently Asked Questions

Is it possible to train leaders on soft skills required for growth and loyalty?

Why is effective leadership critical for organizational development?

Do authority and control continue to be valuable leadership qualities?

How can leaders be trained on the required soft skills to help them succeed?

What Does AI for Managers Actually Mean?

How India’s Smartest Managers Are Leading With AI?

1. They Are Writing the Rulebook As They Go

2. They Make Sure No One Gets Left Behind

3. They Lead With Judgment, Not Just Answers

4. They Help Their Whole Team Grow Alongside AI

Common Challenges and How to Overcome Them

Managers Are Improvising Without Formal Guidance

AI Adoption Is Creating Visible Inequality Within Teams

Employees Cannot Always Tell When to Trust AI Output

Reskilling Needs to Feel Personal, Not Generic

Conclusion

Frequently Asked Questions

How is AI changing the role of managers in India?

What is the biggest risk of AI adoption at work, according to CHROs?

How can managers help employees trust AI outputs appropriately?