Leadership Pipeline

Create an Effective Leadership Culture

What is the Leadership Pipeline?

The leadership pipeline is one of the most widely discussed and influential theories in leadership, management, and talent development in recent decades. The theory is based on the assumption that effective leadership depends on the context of what you are leading. The requirements for good leadership change from one level to the next – what works for a frontline manager may not work for a leader of leaders.

Simply put, the leadership pipeline is a framework for developing effective leadership at all levels of an organization. It requires a shared language and understanding of what effective leadership means. The model provides organizations with a framework for defining the requirements, criteria, and qualities expected at each management level.

In Denmark, the leadership pipeline is particularly prevalent in the public sector, partly due to wicked problems such as large cohorts of leaders nearing retirement, smaller generations replacing them, and competition with the private sector for pay and conditions. These challenges also strongly affect private organizations. With the pipeline model, organizations can build an internal pool of leaders, making them less vulnerable to these issues.

The Leadership Pipeline Model

The theory spread through books such as “The Leadership Pipeline,” “What Got You Here Won’t Get You There,” and “Leadership Pipeline in the Public Sector.” While approaches differ on the number of transitions (some cite six, others three or four), all agree that context determines how to tailor and implement the generic typology.

Key groups in the model include:

Individual contributor (delivers results through personal effort)
Leader of individuals (delivers results through others)
Leader of leaders (delivers results through other leaders)
Functional manager (delivers results through a segment of the organization)
Top executive (delivers results through the entire organization)

Four Levels

Transitions between levels are challenging—they require leaders to adapt their skills, priorities, and values to fit new roles. Failure to do so can lead to significant setbacks for both career and organization.

First level

Leader of individuals

Often, skilled professionals are promoted to lead others. New leaders must now be motivated by achieving results through their teams, not just by personal accomplishments. New skills include recruiting, delegating, setting goals for others, and evaluating performance.

Second level

Leader of leaders

Transitioning to lead other leaders brings new priorities. This role is more strategic and long-term, requiring a horizontal focus on connecting teams and departments.

Third level

Functional manager

Reporting directly to top executives, this role carries broad strategic responsibility across multiple management layers. It requires engagement with political stakeholders and alignment of organizational structures with strategic priorities.

Fourth level

Top executive

The CEO role involves understanding the organization’s place in society – advising, mediating, navigating political frameworks, and building a loyal executive team focused on holistic rather than short-term or local goals.

Case: Aleris Hamlet - Implementing a New Leadership Pipeline

Aleris has become one of Denmark’s largest private healthcare companies. To continue its growth journey, it introduced a new leadership framework—necessary given its increasing complexity. With more employees and business areas, Aleris needed sharper focus on defining the leadership role.

Benefits of the Leadership Pipeline

The model is so widely adopted because it brings several advantages:

Greater clarity on management levels and expectations—defining key competencies, tasks, and accountability at each level.
More appropriate promotions, based on potential for future performance rather than on current achievements
Stronger internal talent pools – preparing future leaders within the organization.
A shared language and understanding of what successful leadership looks like, making it easier to answer “What does good leadership mean here?”
Transparency for ambitious employees and leaders about what it takes to move up.

How LEAD can help you implement the leadership pipeline

At LEAD, we dare say we are among Denmark’s leading experts in this area – we have authored best-selling books grounded in research and practical experience and have helped numerous organizations implement pipeline thinking to transform their approach to leadership.

We use our deep knowledge to help create effective, coherent management chains – ensuring every level understands its responsibilities and mandate and aligns regularly. This leads to better leadership at all levels, and greater job satisfaction as expectations become clear.

We take a pragmatic approach: organizations should not adapt to theories – theories should be tailored to serve organizational goals.

Three main ways we approach implementation:

Full implementation: We develop and implement a tailored version aligned with your framework and broader organizational involvement.
Ripple effect: We apply pipeline thinking in targeted areas first, and let it spread organically.
Strategic implementation: We use pipeline principles to strengthen key strategic initiatives by supporting roles/leadership behavior.

How we can help you

We offer leadership and organizational sparring sessions, research-based education, presentations on the leadership pipeline as well as training programs specifically focused on equipping you with general management competencies.

See examples of our services here:

Presentations

Inspirational research-based presentations on learning culture for all levels within your organization.

Sparring

Advisory support regarding your organizational development or key initiatives.

Workshops

Facilitation of active workshops focused on competence development at management or executive level.

The consulting team working with the leadership pipeline

Kim Martin Nielsen

Partner

MA in Education and Master of Management Development

Phone +45 31 37 74 62

E-mail: kmn@lead.eu

Contact us for more information about what we can do for your organization

Are you facing organizational change? Do you need strategic advice or a cultural development program?

Contact us so we can tailor together a program that develops precisely those competencies and structures needed to strengthen and future-proof your organization.

Anne-Birgitte Albrectsen

Managing Director & Partner

Master of Law

Mobile: +45 22 42 18 11
Email: aba@lead.eu