Can you develop people remotely?  New technologies are being created at a rapidly increasing pace.  And high unemployment combined with the current economic malaise has forced many companies to cut back on middle-managers and travel.  All of this creates a toxic environment for leadership development.

Traditionally developing leaders is a mentoring activity.  Mentoring is difficult over distance.  Many organizations moved high-achieving potential leaders to the home office for job assignments that would expose them to corporate leadership and give them opportunities to change departments and experience mentoring relationships with home-office executives.  This type of opportunity has been a right-of-passage for many an up-and-coming executive in the corporate world.

<blockquote>Virtual Leadership Development: Mastering the Seven Impact Points</br>When: Tuesday April 19, 2011 2 PM ET (11 AM Pacific)</br>Where: Online - <a title="Register Now" href="http://bit.ly/fVuFOV" target="_self">Register Now</a></blockquote>
But with the cutbacks many organizations are experiencing, high-potential individuals are at risk because their career development may not be progressing along with their expectations.  As the job market improves many high-potential leaders may leave for greener pastures, when they appear.  How can we as leaders develop our high-potential remote leaders?  What can we do to invest in and develop our best people?

Roger Courville (@1080Group) of 1080 Group and I will be presenting a free webinar: <a title="Virtual Leadership Development Webinar" href="http://bit.ly/fVuFOV" target="_blank">Virtual Leadership Development: Mastering the Seven Impact Points</a> Tuesday April 19, 2011 at 2 PM Eastern Time.  We will outline seven strategies to utilize as you develop leaders on your team using virtual communication tools.  Space is limited so please register <a title="Virtual Leadership Development" href="http://bit.ly/fVuFOV " target="_blank">here</a> and join us April 19.

<span style="font-size:xx-small">Photo iStockphoto © ilkeryuksel</span>