I came across notes from a conference from 2008, where I listened to fellow conference speaker Francoise Morissette present her findings from an important study she co-lead from Queen's University. For more details, see: http://www.leadership-canada.com/en/about.aspx

In this important exploration of leadership development in Canada, Ms. Morisette noted that the most effective means of developing leaders is through an apprenticeship/mentoring process. She outlines the components of such a process as:

• Education so that aspiring leaders can learn frameworks, models and concepts.

• Practice to hone their leadership skills through carefully selected and monitored applications

• Self-Discovery to understand one’s identity as a leader and become aware of motivations and
impact.

• Support to alleviate growing pains and sustain development with the help of coaching.

• Community to minimize the sense of isolation and provide opportunities for sharing, problem
solving, and networking.

An important question for us then as leaders becomes, how are we developing the "bench strength" of leadership within our organizations? And using Ms. Morissette's model, what education are we providing for these leaders, what practice are we giving them, what opportunities for reflection and self-discovery, what support as coaches are we providing and what communities are we providing so that they learn from others?

May this week be filled with opportunities to help another leader, or aspiring leader grow a little bit more.