17 Sep 2025
The Problem: Leadership Training That Evaporates
The Problem: Training That Evaporates
If I were considering investing in a leadership development programme, I’d be cautious. Very cautious.
Of course you would be. The market is crowded with shiny, off-the-shelf solutions, all promising transformation. They’re full of buzzwords and glossy brochures.
And too often in my opinion organisations are not as clear as they should be on the change they seek from investing in leadership development.
And don’t get me started on the deficiencies in measurement that often are associated with such fuzzy thinking.
Taking a glass half full perspective you could say a review f the research suggests that the performance of leadership development interventions is patchy. Sometimes well liked as experiences but lacking any discernible impact for the organisation.
At Mantle we do get asked to do short term and one off leadership training . We often politely refuse but we still get to do the occasional one off in order to be supportive.
We really shouldn’t there is little chance of any sustainable leadership behaviour change for most learners in a stand alone session. I do accept that for a minority of learners the timing might be great and its exactly what they need and therefore they are motivated to do something. Best guess that’s a maximum of 15% of the learners!
Here’s the uncomfortable truth: most leadership development training doesn’t fail because leaders are lazy or unwilling to grow. It fails because we design it to fail.
So here is my list of attributes that I would be considering if I was investing my money in leadership development.
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1. Motivation to Learn: |
Too many programmes treat leaders like empty vessels to be filled with knowledge. But if leaders don’t want to learn, nothing sticks. That’s why motivation matters. The best programmes start with purpose: Why does this matter to me? To my team? To my future? Once that’s clear, learning shifts from compliance to commitment.
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2.Practice & Application “Having an experimenter mindset” |
You wouldn’t learn tennis by watching Wimbledon highlights. You pick up a racket, miss a few shots, adjust, and try again. Leadership is no different. Programmes that are heavy on theory but light on practice produce leaders who can talk about leadership but can’t actually do it. Sticky design means practice in real situations: running meetings differently, testing a new feedback approach, piloting a habit with the team
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3. Feedback Loops support Agility |
Most leaders rarely get honest feedback. Their team won’t risk it. Their boss is too busy or too afraid to ask. So they live in a feedback vacuum — and their habits become more ridgid Meta-analytic evidence is clear: feedback is one of the strongest accelerators of transfer. Live coaching, peer feedback, or even a well-timed 360 assessment all force leaders to face the mirror and adjust
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4. Multiple Delivery Methods |
Expecting a single workshop to change behaviour is like betting your life savings on one roulette spin. It won’t end well. Research shows variety matters. A workshop plus peer coaching. Reflection journals plus digital nudges. In-person blended with virtual. On their own, each method is weak. Together, they act like Velcro — holding tight.
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5.Face-to-Face Engagement: The Human Factor
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In an age of AI tools and digital everything, it’s tempting to think we can automate leadership development. We can’t. Research consistently shows that high-touch, face-to-face engagement beats solo e-learning. Why? Because leadership is contextual and relational. You only learn it in the messiness of human interaction — not by clicking “next slide.”
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6.Spaced Sessions |
Imagine trying to learn a new language in a single, week-long “intensive,” and then never speaking it again. You’d forget most of it before your suitcase was unpacked. Yet that’s how many leadership programmes are designed: one-off immersions. The science is blunt: spacing matters. Short bursts over time, with room to reflect and retry, beat the firehose every time.
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7.The Missing Multiplier |
Here’s the elephant in the room: even the best programme fails if the organisation doesn’t care. Leaders can’t practise new behaviours in a vacuum. When managers, peers, and systems reinforce the change, transfer skyrockets. Without it, development feels like swimming upstream. With it, leaders get the current at their back. |
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The Blueprint for Stickiness
So what’s the formula? It’s not magic. It’s design.
- Engage the heart. Purpose + motivation.
- Strengthen the muscle. Practice + feedback.
- Reinforce the system. Multiple methods + spaced sessions + organisational support.
It can be tough in today’s busy and volatile workspaces to follow the formulae.
We often have to learn and iterate in order to keep improving over time.
When we get these conditions right leadership development stops being a leaky bucket. It becomes a flywheel — gaining momentum with every turn.
If your leadership programmes still look like two-day offsites with PowerPoints and personality tests, you’re not building leaders. You’re burning money.
The science is unambiguous. We know what makes leadership development stick. The only question is: do we have the courage to stop doing what looks good on a brochure and start doing what actually changes behaviour?
If you would like to dip your toe and experience a well designed leadership programme that can be done virtually and blends human and technology seamlessly we invite you to check our public programmes here .
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