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A comprehensive guide to training new business leaders
Vocational training is now an essential pillar, both for employees who want to progress in their careers and for companies looking for dynamism and competitiveness.
But what about those who take the helm of a business? Supporting new CEOs is also a major challenge. Why is the training of business leaders crucial? What skills do they absolutely need to acquire?
What types of training should they turn to according to their objectives and constraints?
We take stock of all these questions, in this guide dedicated to the training of new leaders, as well as on the solutions that exist to finance the training of this audience.
Because even if no official diploma is required to run a company, it is essential to give new CEOs — whether they are already in office or in the process of becoming one — the resources they need to meet their challenges and succeed in their mission.
Managing a business means being versatile and facing permanent challenges: financial management, development and deployment of a commercial strategy, compliance with legal obligations, management of human and social relationships...
The success of a CEO therefore depends largely on his ability to develop a base of varied skills and to constantly enrich them.
When setting up a business or taking office, whether it is a takeover or an appointment, new CEOs must particularly focus on acquiring these key skills and be part of a continuous learning dynamic.
This is the only relevant option in order to stay in line with the changes that are constantly transforming the business environment.
What are the essential skills to master for a business leader, especially when taking up a position?
Overview of essential executive training, to be explored without moderation.
Knowing how to build and transmit a clear vision, define a sustainable strategy, define a sustainable strategy, transform your organization, transform your organization, continuously innovate, manage acquisitions, measure performance and stimulate your teams: these are all essential skills for a CEO that must be the subject of methodical training.
Indeed, a business executive must be able to take a step back from daily life in order to anticipate the future, analyze market developments and guide his teams towards common goals.
This involves being discerning in decisions, understanding the strengths and limitations of your organization, but also mobilizing resources and monitoring results rigorously.
Before leading others, A leader must get to know himself : identify its values, its motivations, its strengths and its areas of progress. This personal awareness nourishes an authentic vision and gives meaning to his action as well as that of his company.
Working on yourself, the development of personal skills, is therefore essential to take the lead of a company.
But leadership is not limited to yourself: a great leader makes his teams grow, develops other leaders, knows how to inspire, train and face crises with exemplarity.
Leadership training is therefore the second essential step in developing the skills of a new business leader.
It means learning to convince, to stimulate cooperation, to support change and to negotiate effectively.
These management courses integrate communication and emotional intelligence as well as change management or the development of managerial skills. They create a climate of trust, conducive to collective performance and innovation.
The development of communication skills is another important area for exercising a leadership role.
Indeed, to mobilize and unite, this professional must know how to transmit his messages clearly, as much through speech as through his attitude or body language. Successful communication reinforces transparency and creates a climate of trust.
Being a good communicator also means knowing how to listen.
Leaders who practiceActive listening better understand the needs of their teams and respond to them in a relevant way.
This skill becomes even more crucial in times of crisis, where leaders are expected to inform honestly while reassuring and maintaining cohesion.
In a context of rapid change, the ability to manage innovation is essential to remain competitive.
Leaders must therefore develop soft skills that encourage creativity and learn to create a corporate culture where everyone can offer ideas without fear.
Concretely, innovation management requires the development of two qualities:
In a market that is constantly evolving, businesses must be agile to adapt quickly.
Change management is therefore a key skill for any CEO who must know how to support and manage transformation.
It requires a clear vision, but also know-how to successfully implement it with conviction, without neglecting to anticipate the reactions of the team.
For this last point, a CEO must learn to identify the obstacles to change and to put in place appropriate strategies to reduce the resistance of his employees to the necessary changes.
A good leader must therefore know how to support his employees throughout the transformation process, by providing resources (such as internal mentoring), by planning targeted training and by carrying out Feedback regular.
And that can be learned.
Emotional intelligence is now also an essential skill for business managers.
It allows you to better understand and regulate your own emotions, while knowing how to decode those of others.
A CEO who masters this type of intelligence promotes a climate of trust and strengthens cohesion within his teams.
He knows how to manage difficult situations while maintaining a constructive work climate.
The essential qualities that must be shown to develop this skill are:
But a business leader is not just a strategist. In addition to soft skills, he must also master very concrete skills.
Depending on the size of his company and the sector of his activity, as responsible for the management and development of his company, an entrepreneur may in fact be required to:
In addition, there is the need to know how to manage commercial relationships, to master marketing and to stay on the lookout for the latest technological developments (digital transformation, AI, etc.).
In summary, taking on the highest responsibility within a company meansacquire a solid foundation to find out:
And even when these skills seem acquired, it is important to make sure they are updated regularly.
In France, too many leaders are not formed very often once in office.
Thus, according to the INSEE study Lifelong learning, In 2022, only 36% of business leaders completed continuing education, compared to almost half of the working population (47%).
Several reasons explain this observation: studies that are often long to access this position, an overloaded schedule, a lack of awareness of their rights to training... or simply the conviction that training is not essential.
However, regardless of the explanation for this situation, faced with the acceleration of transformations both nationally and internationally, this lack of updating skills (including of a young graduate) can hinder the success of a company.
It is also well known that The leaders who perform best are those who know how to question their practices, adapt their strategy and integrate market developments.
Investing time in continuing education, as a new CEO or experienced CEO, therefore means strengthening the sustainability and competitiveness of your company.
And there is no shortage of training opportunities to meet all the goals and concerns of business leaders.
Whether they opt for a long and degree-long course or a short course of study, new business leaders can develop a variety of skills that are essential for the growth of their business.
There are different profiles of business leaders. And to meet this diversity and the varied needs they may experience, it is essential to know that they can benefit from both long courses and short courses such as internships.
Indeed, we often associate diploma courses to students in initial studies.
However, they are also open to professionals who are already active. Resuming studies to obtain a bachelor's degree or even a master's degree is therefore entirely possible, even after several years of career.
These courses, which are generally longer, correspond to those who aim for real recognition.
Conversely, the qualifying or certifying training are more suitable for people who want to evolve quickly or to enhance their profile without necessarily starting a full university cycle.
Qualifying courses offer the acquisition of concrete and practical skills, sanctioned by a follow-up certificate.
Certification courses, on the other hand, provide an additional level of recognition since they lead to an official title: either a professional certificate registered with the RNCP, or a CQP, specific to a profession or a professional branch.
Training formats are not only limited to content: pedagogical approaches are also multiple, in order to adapt to the sometimes very tight agenda constraints of a company leader, but also to his personal learning style.
Thus, as for any learner, a CEO can choose his training according to several parameters:
The choice of the most effective modality always depends on a detailed analysis: professional objectives, learner profile, and above all the nature of the skills to be acquired.
However, it is important to remember one reality: one does not become a leader simply through theoretical courses.
Leadership is not imposed, it is built.
Sure, some basics can be taught, but The essentials are learned in the field : in action, exchange with peers and personal reflection.
This is why, for a CEO, the most relevant training courses are not always the most academic.
Some, such as the dual training offered by CCI of France (“Business leader, SME developer”), or even individualized coaching programs, are much more suited to the development of real management skills.
This is precisely the approach of the executive coaches of VISCONTI Partners : supporting each business leader to value their experience, identify their decision drivers and give meaning to their current role.
Our support is based as much on the sharing of experience as on the opening of the professional network, thus making it possible to learn from the careers of other CEOs and to strengthen one's own leadership posture.
For a CEO who is just starting out, knowing how to maintain and develop his network with other professionals or company CEOs is indeed not a simple asset, but a key skill among the famous Soft Skills.
While some succeed spontaneously, others must acquire it through practical training supervised by coaches, who favor active methods such as simulations or role-playing games.
Far from being incidental, this learning plays a major role: it stimulates the emergence of ideas, promotes future collaborations, paves the way for new business opportunities and, sometimes, even generates leads.
Many leaders are hesitant to train because of the cost of the programs. However, several public and professional mechanisms exist to reduce, or even take care of, these expenses.
Various training financing tools can be adapted to the situations and profiles of candidates for the position of company leader:
Financing training often remains complicated for small and medium-sized structures, which do not always have the means to invest in the training of their employees, and even more so in the training of the company CEO himself. But a solution has been put in place to respond to this problem.
In fact, since 2019, the OPCO (Competence operators) specifically support companies with less than 50 employees in terms of training. They cover 11 major groups of sectors, representing more than 300 professional branches.
Their missions: to raise awareness about training, but also to facilitate access to training through partial coverage of costs.
The principle is based on mutualization : contributions from large companies can finance training for micro-SMEs, thus allowing CEOs and employees of these companies to benefit from quality programs.
As you can see, it does exist various solutions to enable the training of a business leader, which is essential both to the success of its assumption of office and to the sustainability of its action.
To conclude, Taking over the management of a business cannot be improvised.
It means combining strategic vision, technical skills, emotional intelligence and the ability to inspire.
Training is therefore an essential lever, not only to adapt to daily challenges, but also to anticipate the future and guarantee the sustainability of your organization.
By investing in their personal and professional development, CEOs not only offer themselves performance tools, but also an authentic leadership position, capable of sustainably transforming their business.
While there are academic or technical courses offered by various organizations, it is important to be aware that many skills related to soft skills and leadership are acquired through practice and by working on yourself.
It is to meet these very specific needs that Visconti Partners has designed a tailor-made training offer for business leaders provided by the coaching of experienced CEOs. They have, in fact, followed a training to become an executive coach.
To find out more about the support that Visconti Partners executive coaches offer their peers, discover our offers.
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