What to Look for in Licensable Leadership Development IP

Developing a curriculum for leadership development from the ground up is time-consuming and costly. This is the reason that many organizations prefer using licensable leadership development IP rather than creating one on their own.

What Counts as Licensable Leadership Development IP?

Typically, licensable leadership development IP includes:

• A documented framework

• Supporting materials

• The rights to use them inside an organization, sometimes with a facilitator certification process attached.

This is the opposite of a one-off workshop. The idea behind a licensable framework is the ability to use it again and again, teach it internally, and apply it consistently in various departments/offices.

This is particularly important when the scale is large. While a workshop may do just fine for a small team of ten people, a company operating on three continents will require the framework, which will remain consistent regardless of the facilitator of the week.

Some common formats of licensable leadership development IP are:

•  A core model, like a set of leadership practices or behaviors

• Facilitator guides and training materials

• Assessment tools tied to the framework

• Certification for internal staff to teach the content themselves

Why Companies Opt for Licensable Leadership Development IP

Building an original leadership framework takes real research, testing, and iteration. Skipping that process and writing generic content instead usually produces something forgettable.

However, if you opt for licensable leadership development IP, you will solve a few problems at once:

• It saves time in developing the framework, as the framework is already made.

• Also, it has a proven track record, as the framework has been used in other firms before licensing.

• Furthermore, it lowers the chances of failure of the in-house framework due to lack of testing.

The tradeoff is fit. A licensed framework needs to actually match the company's culture and leadership challenges, not just sound impressive in a pitch deck.

A model designed for rapidly developing technology startups will not necessarily apply to a manufacturing business that operates on a different rhythm altogether. Fit is as important as lineage.

Example: A Proprietary Leadership IP Portfolio

HumanityWorks' Five Practices model is one example of a proprietary leadership IP portfolio, built around a specific, documented framework rather than a loose set of ideas.

The five practices- creating safety, working together, claiming values, owning your impact, and daring not to know- are each tied to a measurable outcome, from trust to engagement. The framework anchors HumanityWorks' own programs, including Executive Pause, Influential Leader, and Resilient Manager, and its book, Humanity Works Better.

A documented model like this shows what a licensable framework typically needs to include:

• A clear structure

• A consistent vocabulary

• A direct line to measurable outcomes

• An inspiring idea. 

Companies evaluating whether to get licensable leadership development IP or build their own framework can use this kind of model as a benchmark for what "documented" actually looks like.

Organizations interested in what a program built on this model looks like in practice can review HumanityWorks' own coaching and manager training programs, which apply the framework directly.

Questions to Ask Before You Go For Licensable Leadership Development IP

Here are some questions you should ask before you get a licensable leadership development IP:

• Is the framework based on actual results from clients, or only testimonials?

• What materials are included, and what has to be built internally afterward?

• Does the framework include a certification program for internal facilitators, or do you need an external trainer in all cases?

• How adaptable is the framework to a specific industry or company size?

Getting clear answers to these questions upfront avoids a common problem: licensing a framework, then discovering it needs a full rebuild to actually fit the organization.

Also, you might want to consider the period of time that the vendor spent perfecting the framework as well. A model that was refined through several years of client projects will have more robustness than a recently developed framework.

HumanityWorks' Five Practices model is a documented example of a proprietary leadership IP portfolio, already built into programs like Resilient Manager and Influential Leader. Visit humanityworks.com to see the full framework and learn how it is applied inside real coaching and training engagements.