This document describes a leadership development program called Breakthrough Leadership that is designed to help mid-level managers become more effective leaders. The program focuses on three key areas: managing yourself, managing your network, and managing your teams. It uses a blended learning approach over six months with online and in-person elements. The goals are to transform managers' mindsets, provide practical skills in areas like coaching and delegating, and allow participants to apply their learning to their jobs through activities. The program is based on research from Harvard professors and aims to help organizations by developing their mid-level talent into strong leaders.

1. HIGHLIGHTS
➔➔ Modern Curriculum: The program
helps managers become true
leaders by focusing on the
transformational mind shift
required to drive behavior change.
➔➔ Expert Voice: Hill and Lineback
have been deeply involved in
program development and share
their thought leadership through
video clips and vignettes providing
personal insights from established
leaders.
➔➔ Case Study: A purpose-built
case for each module provides
a learning experience tied to the
imperative content.
➔➔ On-the-Job Activities:
Predefined, on-the-job activities
align with program content
and provide opportunities for
immediate application.
➔➔ Automated Platform: The
platform provides a rich learning
environment and reduces the
administrative burden typically
associated with delivery of a
blended program.
➔➔ Assessments: Self-rating
assessments help managers
evaluate their behaviors at key
junctures throughout the program.
BREAKTHROUGHLEADERSHIP®
A New Approach and Mind-Set for a Vastly
Different World
As the workplace becomes a more complex environment, leadership
development becomes increasingly more important. Midlevel
managers are profoundly affected by the factors—globalization,
rapid change, economic uncertainty, organizational flattening—
underlying today’s complexity. At a time when they have become the
driving forces behind new initiatives and serve as the glue that holds
far-flung teams together, they find the workplace a vastly different
world—one where influence trumps direct reporting relationships.
This world requires a new approach and mind-set.
Breakthrough Leadership is a blended, cohort-based program
designed to help organizations transform midlevel managers
into more effective leaders. Based on the research and writings
of Harvard Business School Professor Linda A. Hill and former
business executive Kent Lineback, this solution outlines the three
imperatives that successful and effective leaders follow: manage
yourself, manage your network, and manage your team.
With its integrated, straightforward framework, Breakthrough
Leadership enables midlevel managers to approach their roles,
prioritize their actions, and deliver stronger and more effective
results. Its six modules, typically delivered over six months,
focus on three objectives: learning by doing, learning through
others, and personal reflection. Learners interact with content
through self-paced study; self-rater assessments; online study-
group case discussions; live, facilitated debrief sessions; and
on-the-job activities.
TRANSFORMING GOOD MANAGERS INTO
GREAT LEADERS

2. PROGRAM MODULES
PROGRAM ARCHITECTURE
The six-module program is designed to transform good managers into great leaders:
BENEFITS TO YOUR
ORGANIZATION
➔➔ Content Expert: Professor
Hill’s leadership development
curriculum ensures that your
midlevel managers are armed
with the latest and most critical
tools to advance their careers.
➔➔ Exceptional Learning Experience:
Our learning technology
platform provides the optimal
environment, allowing
participants to embed learning
into work more systematically.
➔➔ Flexibility: Our solution allows
you to customize the offering
based on your needs in terms of
learner size, topics, and program
duration.
➔➔ Contextualization: The program
offers opportunities to provide
context that demonstrates
how the program fits with your
organization, helping drive
application use and behavior
change.
➔➔ Measurability: Integrated
assessments provide visibility into
the behavioral changes managers
undergo throughout the course
of the program, and into their
impact on the business.
START YOUR
JOURNEY
This introductory module kicks off with a live, facilitated virtual
session that sets program context. Learners enter the online
curriculum and meet their peer study group—a subset of the cohort.
MANAGE
YOURSELF
Leadership starts with who managers are as people. What
managers think and feel, including their beliefs and values, matters
to those they must influence, whether or not those people report to
the managers. In this module, managers learn about influence and
trust and how to develop both to become more effective leaders.
MANAGE YOUR
NETWORK
Effective leaders must influence individuals over whom they
may have no formal control. Most managers build inadequate
networks because they work with colleagues only when a need
arises, typically around a problem that requires joint effort to
resolve. In this module, managers learn how to build and maintain
a web of ongoing relationships, a network focused on mutual
advantage and comprising those they need (and who need them)
now and in the future.
MANAGE
YOUR TEAM
A team is a group of people who do collective work and are
mutually committed to a common purpose and goals related to
that purpose. But not all groups are truly teams. In this module,
managers learn what it takes to create a true team—to define
a team’s future and create a culture that builds powerful bonds
among members—and how to manage work through members.
CONTINUE
YOUR JOURNEY
This module concludes the program’s framework portion and
provides managers the opportunity to evaluate their progress
and create a tailored development plan. This plan can serve as a
conversation starter for the learners and their managers.
DRIVE YOUR
EFFECTIVENESS
In this module, managers are provided an opportunity to hone
essential operational and tactical skills—coaching, feedback,
developing employees, and delegating—all delivered through
Harvard ManageMentor®, Harvard Business Publishing’s online
learning and performance support platform. Organizations have
the ability to tailor topics to fit their specific organizational or
cohort needs.
START YOUR
JOURNEY
MANAGE
YOURSELF
MANAGE
YOUR NETWORK
MANAGE
YOUR TEAM
CONTINUE
YOUR JOURNEY
DRIVE YOUR
EFFECTIVENESS
CONTEXT
SETTING
INFLUENCE
TRUST
NETWORKING
PARTNERING WITH
YOUR BOSS
PLANNING
TEAM CULTURE
DEVELOPMENT
PLAN
COACHING
FEEDBACK
DELEGATING
DEVELOPING
EMPLOYEES
MODULE 1
WEEK 1
MODULE 2
WEEKS 2 – 7
MODULE 3
WEEKS 8 – 13
MODULE 4
WEEKS 14 – 19
MODULE 5
WEEK 20
MODULE 6
WEEKS 21 – 24
LEARN MORE
PHONE 800-795-5200 (Outside the U.S. and
Canada, call 617-783-7888)
EMAIL corporate@harvardbusiness.org
MAIL 60 Harvard Way, Boston, MA 02163
ONLINE harvardbusiness.org
© 2013 Harvard Business School Publishing.
Harvard Business Publishing is an affiliate of Harvard Business School.
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