If a company takes an interest in its young employees’ professional development at all, its efforts to nurture future leaders are often pretty lame. (I’m thinking, for example, of the company I once worked for whose entire staff development process consisted of asking us to write down where we hoped to be in five years time whenever our annual review rolled around). Whether it’s mandatory form filling or a few skills workshops, professional development at many firms is often mere lip service. But when IDEO founder David Kelley talks employee development he has something else entirely in mind.

In an interview with Fast Company, the man who also founded the Stanford design school shared his thoughts on how the design process can be applied to people as well as products. The parallel between design projects like improving Madden football or revamping the seating on Air New Zealand flights and developing employees might not be immediately obvious, but Kelley explains that the same principle underlies all these projects — empathy.

“The main tenet of design thinking is empathy for the people you’re trying to design for. Leadership is exactly the same thing–building empathy for the people that you’re entrusted to help,” he says. So how does Kelley move people from junior positions into leadership roles? After relying on careful listening and intuition to hire the right people, Kelley actively develops his people in a structured way:

When people are defensive or in the wrong mindset, it’s really hard to make them the leaders. But if you have them in the right mindset they can. Leadership is really the same for me as building creative confidence. We teach them a process–here’s how to get better at this. If I’m trying to mentor somebody, I try to give them experiences that build that confidence. You really can’t talk somebody into being a leader. I can’t convince you to be a leader by showing you a PowerPoint deck. But I can give you the confidence that you are a leader by giving some experiences where it comes out better than you thought and you were the leader.

Professional development as an engaged, step-by-step process is appealing. Distinct and manageable steps lead an employee little by little toward greater confidence — eliminating the panic that can come in when facing a huge goal — while hands-on practice ensures that when she reaches that position of leadership she’ll be ready. And empathy definitely sounds nicer as guiding principle for professional development than competition or obligation.

Check out the complete interview for many more insights from Kelley, including what he learned from his bout with cancer. What’s been your experience with companies’ professional development programs — inspirational or painful? And does Kelley’s approach sound like a better alternative?

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