Leading with honesty: Developing a leadership essentials program

Across the technology industry, individual contributors are often promoted and then expected to become great managers overnight. We recognize that people leadership and effective management are skills that need to be learned and honed through training and application on-the-job.

As our company has scaled up and more people have stepped into leadership roles, we’ve realized there’s a need for specialized training that supports managers who are leading in a high-growth, scaling company. We created the People Leadership Essentials (PLE) program to empower managers and senior managers and help them lead in a way that’s aligned with our company values and leadership best practices.

How did we get started?

First, we consulted with leaders across the business to determine what core areas the program should focus on and how we could best address skill and knowledge gaps. Conducting these surveys and one-on-one conversations across departments gave us clarity on what managers and senior managers needed to develop and grow as leaders.

We also leveraged external studies to understand what other companies were focusing on for leadership development. Finally, we got critical buy-in from executive leadership when Sara Teare, our founder and Chief Customer Experience Officer, joined us for the program kickoff.

What did we focus on?

We knew that if we tried to teach every expected leadership behavior at once, we would overwhelm our learners. Instead, we decided to address six foundational behaviors that align with our company values. After finishing our program, we expect leaders to be able to:

1. Create a safe, inclusive space where team members feel they can speak openly, admit mistakes, and bring their full selves to work without fear of negative consequences.
2. Set clear expectations around performance and growth.
3. Give real-time, actionable feedback in two-way conversations.
4. Adapt their leadership styles according to the needs of each team member.
5. Use coaching to facilitate employee self-awareness, reflection, problem solving, skill development and accountability.
6. Have open and honest conversations to promptly diagnose and address performance gaps.

What impact did the program have?

Thirty-five leaders have successfully graduated from the program to date. We now have two cohorts of 66 learners currently completing the program. Our goal is to have a total of 101 graduates by the end of Q2 2025.

Here are some numbers that reflect the success of the program:

• 100% of alumni felt they were more knowledgeable about the six expected leadership behaviors.
• 80% of alumni reflected that they demonstrated these behaviors more consistently at work.
• 89% of current learners found the content relevant and meaningful to their daily work.

But don’t just take our word for it! Here’s what some of our learners had to say about the program:

Liz Davidson - Manager, Talent Acquisition

“PLE has been really informative and provided me with new tools to add to my leadership toolkit. As leaders in different stages of our careers, it can be daunting to be vulnerable and say: ‘I don’t know how I would handle that.’ But this training provided us with a safe space to share and learn from each other. I enjoyed hearing from my colleagues, troubleshooting relevant scenarios together by applying the frameworks we were taught, and realizing that even though we work in different departments, we all have similar shared experiences.”

Pooja Gada – Engineering Manager

“PLE made me more self-aware of my leadership style. It helped me gain insights into my personal strengths and weaknesses and helped me understand how my behaviors can influence everyone around me. It enhanced my decision-making skills as a leader, teaching me how to make more informed and thoughtful decisions that take into account both immediate and long-term consequences. By investing in leadership development, 1Password demonstrated its commitment to continuous improvement and learning, highlighting how much the company truly values its leadership group.”

What’s next?

We will invite more new leaders to participate in the program in 2025, and partner with departments across the company to apply frameworks and principles shared in PLE.

We apply a continuous improvement approach to our program, constantly refining the content and delivery to meet learner needs and align to external best practices. We’ve increased learner interaction, the usage of guest speakers, reinforcement of consistent frameworks, and developed a more streamlined learner experience.

Creating a leadership development program from scratch is no easy feat. We’ve learned that building it in partnership with the business – and iterating based on the feedback we receive – is the best way to create a program that can grow as we do.

Nadia Kasenda

Manager, Learning and Development