Leadership development is a large investment. The Josh Bersin Company puts corporate learning spend at around $400 billion a year. Much of it is designed for convenience more than behaviour change.
Good design follows how leaders actually develop. Lacerenza and colleagues' 2017 meta-analysis found leadership training works, and design choices made a clear difference.
How leaders develop
Leaders grow most through challenging experience, supported by relationships and some formal learning. The Centre for Creative Leadership's 70-20-10 rule of thumb captures that balance.
Experience develops leaders when it stretches them, carries real stakes and comes with reflection and feedback. DeRue and Wellman found feedback helped leaders keep learning from tough assignments.
So the central design question is: which experiences will we create, and how will people learn from them?
Five design mistakes
Classroom-heavy design. Sessions build shared frameworks and safety. On their own they rarely change behaviour.
No individual commitments. Group programmes need personal commitments and follow-up.
One-off events. A two-day workshop can spark insight. Spaced practice over months builds capability.
Ignoring the participant's manager. Baldwin and Ford identified support at work, including from supervisors, as a key condition for transfer. Involve managers from the start.
Evaluation as an afterthought. Kirkpatrick's model covers reaction, learning, behaviour and results. Many organisations measure only reaction.
Build this capability in your organisation
Growth Performance designs bespoke programmes that turn insight into measurable behaviour change.
A better design
Start with a capability model. Define the observable behaviours your strategy needs.
Build around stretch assignments. Use real work that matters. Let sessions support it with frameworks and reflection.
Space the learning. Return people to work between modules so they apply each idea before the next.
Add coaching. A few coaching conversations help leaders turn insight into new behaviour.
Measure behaviour. Agree the expected change in advance. Use 360-degree feedback before, after and six months later.
Lacerenza's review supports this: needs analysis, spaced sessions and practice with feedback all improved results.
Designing for the AI era
What leaders need to learn is changing fast. McKinsey's State of Organizations 2026 found 72% of leaders say their organisations are not fully ready for the changes ahead.
Bersin describes a shift "from static training to dynamic enablement". Programmes should help leaders keep learning as tools and roles shift.
Build in three capabilities: helping people take on change, working well with AI agents and staying ready as change speeds up. These are the three conditions in our Human Advantage Programme.
The third, Acceleration, is whether the organisation is ready as change keeps speeding up.
Try this
Before commissioning a programme, answer three questions. Which observable behaviours do we need more of? What at work currently blocks them? What evidence will show the programme worked?
Then take the free Leadership Needs Profiler, or see our leadership training.