Start a Leadership Development Program Over Lunch

When I bring up leadership development or mentoring programs with small business owners, I watch their faces fall. It sounds enormous — like something that requires a dedicated staff member and a budget you don't have.

It doesn't. Let me show you how simple this can be.

Start With a Book and a Couple of Lunches

Buy your team a book. Something like Raving Fans, or Ideal Team Player — one of my favorites. Then the CEO walks through it with them over a couple of lunches.

That's it. That's leadership development. You just did it.

Another easy option: free or inexpensive webinars on knowing yourself and leading yourself — what it's like to be on the other side of you, what your EQ actually is. These are terrific tools and they cost you almost nothing.

Why It's Worth Doing

Being able to say "we have a leadership development program" is great for recruiting. But it's even better for retention.

Mentoring programs are especially sticky in both directions. Your veteran employees stay engaged because they're passing something on. Your younger employees stay because they're learning.

And that second group is hungrier for this than most owners realize. Younger workers are actively looking for learning, mentoring, and development. Many of us never even knew to ask for it — they do, and they ask.

The Line-Out-the-Door Offer

Here's something that will genuinely differentiate you. Tell candidates that in their first year, 5% or 10% of their time will be spent on development.

You will have a line out the door. Not because it's expensive — because almost nobody is offering it.

Think of it as one more hiring lever. When you can't win on salary, this is a lever the big companies rarely pull with any sincerity.

The Bottom Line

You don't need a full-time "leadership development guru" on staff. You need a book, a couple of lunches, some good webinars, and the intention to keep going.

Want help putting a simple development or mentoring program in place? That's something we help clients build all the time. Grab a free 30-minute session with one of our HR experts, and let's map one out.