What leadership training methods have you found most effective in developing strong leaders? Have you personally participated in any specific programs or workshops that significantly improved your leadership skills?

Using the Birkman Method, the personality assessment tool not only has help provide insight to new leaders joining the team and learning from them, it is also a valuable tool to know your people and have insights into their motivations, stress behaviors, and social expectations.  It puts a new perspective on how you uniquely lead those individuals not just the team as a whole.

LEAD training by Nash Consulting. It has changed our organization's culture.

The most effective leadership training methods I’ve found focus on three key elements: experiential learning, peer discussions, and practical application.
Personally, some of the most impactful programs I’ve participated in include :
1. Shadowing senior leaders
2. Reverse mentoring

I found that servant-leadership is one of the best models of leadership and have applied it across my teams. I was pleasantly surprise when I changed jobs 2.5 years ago to a Hospital that was run by Mayo Clinic, and in my first leadership meeting they were talking and teaching about servant-leadership, something the executives wanted to become the standard model of leadership for the whole hospital.

This made a huge impact in the culture of the organization empowering innovation, projects, commitment and collaboration.

The training for the whole organization was given in different ways. There were some basic courses, yes, but mostly coaching, or short presentations addressing different aspects on how it is rolled out practically.

Personally I have used coaching with my direct reports setting an example for them to observe live, and then giving them task to replicate what they saw. It was useful that the training for Agile Scrum methodology also implements this leadership style so that acted as an initial training.

I was surprised how quickly people embrace the idea, particularly those coming from cultures where the leadership is more vertical: they love it. Maybe those that have been doing an autocratic style will not like it as they feel losing power and this requires close follow up.  

Occasionally, in a company that has a mix of leadership styles, some may mistake a servant-leader as being weak or dumb, and would try to take advantage, but of course, not being weak or dumb, you set guardrails to prevent it and to ways to respond.

It depends on the career point to some extent.
When starting basics like time management and focus are perhaps more relevant than they have ever been!
As I gained some experience I found general training through an MBA made me more comfortable understanding the business and being credible as a relatively junior exec.

When you are younger you need knowledge and techniques. I found courses on how to think were usefu, l particularly things that encouraged me to see different perspectives.
Courses which helped me understand and read the impact I and others were having on people  in realtime sharpened sensitivity and intuition. These included Change Management and associated communications skills. I found Simon Sineks 'Start with Why' powerful and use it almost daily in communication. I find others rarely do!

Key skills that can be difficult to make time for are listening and reflection. We had a custom course including principles from 'Time to Think' by Nancy Klein which encouraged these and was well received. Coaching/Mentoring can also help here as stepping in at an appropriate moment and knowing the right questions to ask to encourage reflection and learning is priceless.

As you become 'more experienced' your style will likely change and the reflection becomes even more important. While maintaining specialist knowledge is still required, a lot of value comes from being able to integrate different insights with the wisdom gained. This is difficult to teach but Leadership skills at this level should focus on strategy, influencing and where necessary culture change.