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Dave Basarab Consulting has elevated the training experience, offering an end-to-end comprehensive approach that includes training strategy, instructional design, development, delivery , post program training transfer, and evaluation (via the unique Predictive Evaluation methodology). Virtual Chief Architect Dave Basarab has combined all of these individual training elements with his user-friendly, comprehensive Learning to Performance approach, which significantly increases companies' training ROI.

Why we are different

  • Innovation: Our primary focus is creating learning programs using a Learning to Performance approach.
  • Expertise: Dave offers the depth and breadth of his experience, including working internally at prestigious companies (Motorola, Ingersoll Rand and Pitney Bowes) as well as his knowledge and expertise as a highly-respected, sought-after consultant.
  • Partnership: Basarab collaborates with companies, serving as their own Chief Learning Officer whenever they need to plan, strategize, or implement training initiatives.

Training Services

Enterprise Learning Strategy

Enterprise Learning Strategy

At Dave Basarab Consulting, we're experts in creating Enterprise Learning Plans. We work with you to develop your company's learning strategy and direction.

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Custom Design, Development, & Delivery

Custom Design, Development, & Delivery

Custom training is an effective way of developing the capability required to execute your strategy. We are a custom design house that creates programs specific to your business.

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Learning Burst Development

Learning Burst Development

We can create and deliver your courses via our unique Learning Burst Method - keeping your employees at their jobs while receiving world-class training.

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Predictive Evaluation

Predictive Evaluation

We predict the ROI for your courses and establish success gates. We then evaluate the course against the success gates to show value realized and continually improve results.

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Leadership Development

Leadership Development

Turn-key virtual custom leadership development program that combines world-class leadership speakers/educators with post-event personalized coaching to provide you with a cadre of highly skilled leaders.

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Predictive Evaluation

Leadership development for high-potential employees: a targeted plan

High-potential employees are often identified by current performance, ambition, adaptability, and the capacity to take on broader responsibility. Yet potential alone does not guarantee effective leadership. Without a deliberate development path, promising professionals may remain excellent individual contributors while struggling with influence, judgment, or enterprise-level decision-making.

A targeted leadership development plan turns talent identification into measurable readiness. It combines practical assignments, coaching, relevant learning experiences, and business-focused evaluation so participants build the capabilities required for future roles rather than completing generic management training.

Define potential through business-relevant criteria

The first step is to establish what “high potential” means in the organization. Performance ratings can provide useful evidence, but they should be balanced with indicators such as learning agility, strategic thinking, collaboration, resilience, and the ability to motivate others. Clear criteria reduce favoritism and help managers explain why employees are entering the program.

Potential should also be connected to the organization’s future needs. If the business expects international expansion, candidates may need cross-cultural leadership and commercial judgment. If digital transformation is a priority, the development experience should emphasize innovation, change leadership, and data-informed decisions.

Connect development to strategic outcomes

Leadership training creates greater value when participants can see how their growth supports organizational priorities. Begin by identifying the capabilities most likely to affect revenue, customer retention, operational efficiency, risk management, or workforce engagement. These priorities should shape the program’s learning objectives and practical assignments.

A clear link between learning and performance can be built through business and learning alignment. For example, a participant might apply stakeholder-management skills to shorten a product approval process or use coaching techniques to improve team productivity. The assignment becomes evidence of leadership growth and business contribution.

Design a differentiated leadership journey

High-potential employees rarely need a single standard curriculum. Their development needs depend on career stage, current role, leadership experience, and the competencies required for likely next positions. A skills diagnostic, manager input, and self-assessment can reveal the most important gaps.

The journey should blend formal instruction with application. Custom instructional design may include workshops, simulations, peer learning, executive exposure, coaching, and short learning bursts that reinforce one concept at a time. Each experience should have a specific purpose and a way to demonstrate transfer to the job.

Development element Primary purpose Evidence of progress
Strategic thinking sessions Connect decisions to enterprise priorities A well-supported business recommendation
Coaching practice Build employee performance and engagement Documented improvement in a team member
Cross-functional assignment Strengthen influence beyond the home department Stakeholder feedback and project results
Executive mentoring Expand organizational perspective More confident judgment in complex situations
Learning bursts Reinforce essential behaviors over time Improved scores in follow-up practice
Action learning project Apply capabilities to a real business issue Measurable operational or commercial impact

Use stretch assignments with structured support

A stretch assignment should be challenging without being reckless. Assignments might include leading a cross-functional initiative, managing a temporary team, presenting to senior leaders, or resolving a customer or operational problem. The work should expose participants to ambiguity while keeping the business risk within acceptable limits.

Support is essential. Each participant needs a sponsor who creates access and visibility, a manager who provides regular feedback, and a coach or mentor who helps interpret setbacks. Reflection sessions can turn experience into insight by asking what happened, which assumptions proved wrong, and how the participant would act differently next time.

Measure adoption, behavior, and impact

Attendance and satisfaction are weak indicators of leadership development success. A stronger evaluation model tracks whether participants use the new behaviors, whether managers observe improvement, and whether the program contributes to meaningful business results. Measures may include promotion readiness, retention of critical talent, team engagement, cycle time, quality, sales performance, or customer outcomes.

A practical evaluation process can use a training adoption scorecard to monitor progress after the learning event. Baseline data should be collected before launch, with follow-up checkpoints at intervals such as 30, 60, and 90 days. Predictive Evaluation can help estimate likely adoption and return on investment early enough to adjust the program rather than waiting for an annual review.

Make accountability part of the program

The strongest leadership pipelines are supported by shared accountability. Participants should own their development goals, managers should create opportunities to practice, and senior sponsors should remove barriers and reinforce the importance of the program. Talent reviews can then examine evidence rather than relying on informal impressions.

Use these practices to keep the plan focused:

  • Define three to five leadership capabilities tied to upcoming business needs.
  • Give every participant a documented development goal and a measurable application assignment.
  • Schedule manager feedback before, during, and after each major learning experience.
  • Combine cohort learning with individualized coaching and targeted learning bursts.
  • Review adoption, behavior change, and business outcomes at agreed checkpoints.

A focused program should evolve as evidence emerges. If participants understand a concept but fail to apply it, the organization may need better manager reinforcement, more realistic practice, or a different assignment. If business results improve, those patterns can guide future leadership cohorts and strengthen the organization’s succession strategy.

Build the plan around the roles your business will need next, equip high-potential employees to practice those capabilities now, and evaluate the change in both behavior and results. A targeted leadership development effort can then become a reliable pathway from emerging talent to confident, business-ready leadership.

Learning to Performance

Learning to Performance, a complete training approach, gives companies world-class training to drive significant return. This approach includes upfront work (Impact Mapping, design), training (for staff and company executives), and post-training efforts to ensure training transfer. This unique recipe - the key for successful training and adoption - is changing the way companies implement training. This methodology could work with any content for organizations in any industry.

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