Dream, Diagnose, Dialogue & Deliver: Lessons Learned from a ‘4D’ Leadership Development Intervention in a High-performing Pharmaceutical Company

Globally, many organisations face leader shortages, and developing a new generation of leaders remains a challenge to most. One way of addressing this issue is to delivering learner-specific, business-aligned, experiential interventions that are contextual, transfer-focused and line-manager supported. However, given the plethora of leader development methods, which methods work for whom is not very clear. We report an innovative leader development programme that aimed to infuse into leadership learners, energies for dreaming, diagnosis, dialogue and delivery (4D). We present our theory-based, leader development programme (LDP) that combined four distinct development methods delivered in a high-performing, British pharmaceutical company. By sequencing the administration of visioning exercises, psychometric tests, coaching sessions and action research projects, this purpose-built LDP was seen to yield surprising results at personal and organisational levels, developing both leaders and leadership. We explore its effectiveness and advocate a precision-oriented, method-sequenced, industry-university partnerships-based, 4D approach to work-based leadership learning programmes.