Leadership Development Seminars

In the last 10 years I've designed, delivered and assessed the impact of several large scale leadership development programmes. Want to know how I make sure they actually matter and aren't just a pretty certificate or a report of butts on seats? It's my 6 power questions. Start asking these and you're guaranteed to have leadership programmes that create long lasting behaviour change AND reportable outcomes. 1) What are the core leadership capabilities and behaviours we need both now and in the future? This is where you survey leaders at all levels to identify essential skills. If you're not talking to your audience then you're missing a HUGE piece of the puzzle. And for the love of god please incorporate strategy here too. What does the business need to achieve and what role does leadership play? 2) How will you assess current leadership competencies and development needs across the organisation? Are you using 360 reviews, skills assessments, interviews? 3) What development formats will allow for skills practice, real-world application and feedback? This could include workshops, cohorts, mentoring, job rotations, special project assignments... something that let's them practice is essential. 4) How will leadership development intersect with your talent management processes? The amount of times this isn't considered is staggering. Look at integration points with recruitment, promotion, succession planning and performance management. This is crucial. 5) What measures will define the success of this programme at the participant, leadership bench strength, and organisational level? Identify key leading and lagging indicators. Wanna know what these are? 💡 Leading = participation rates, completions of tasks, engagement surveys, tests etc. 💡 Lagging = leadership pipeline for critical roles, if your programmes affect things like EVP and brand, leadership retention, and your key metrics around profitability etc. Great programmes measure both ⬆️ 6) How will you evolve curriculums over time to meet changing business objectives and leadership needs? Build in processes for continuous review and refresh. This is my biggest non-negotiable. At a push you should review every 3 years but I suggest a review every year in line with strategy and business objectives + engagement surveys and employee data. Leadership development is a serious game friends. It's not just away days and leadership theory. This is how you future proof your organisation, and goes from grass roots through to established leadership. Anything I've missed that you would add?👇

In the last couple years, I’ve spoken to 100+ heads of leadership development about their emerging leader programs, and I noticed something interesting: —> There are three different types of emerging leader programs. Each type is VERY distinct. It has a different: - goal - audience makeup - curriculum - measure of success Here are the three types: ___ 🔵 Engaging Individual Contributors (ICs) These programs aim to engage & retain ICs. The idea is to let in as many ICs as possible and train them in high-value self-leadership skills. How do you choose the right skills? 📌 You choose self-leadership skills that will improve engagement (think EQ, Growth Mindset, and Resilience). ___ 🟢 Exploring 1st-Line Leadership These programs aim to engage ICs AND promote a segment into leadership. The idea is to cast a wide net. That way you engage a large % of top talent AND a subpopulation of your cohort gets promoted. How do you balance engagement with leadership preparedness? 📌 You blend together self-leadership skills and on-the-job exposure (think job shadowing, mentorships, and manager conversations). ___ 🟠 1st-Line Leadership Fast Track These programs aim to fill for 1st-line leader attrition. The idea is to take a small, selective cohort and promote as many people into leadership as possible. How do you properly prepare these leaders when they don’t have a team to practice with? 📌 You give on-the-job exposure AND you use a slew of practice tactics (think simulations, role plays, and observation exercises) ___ No type is "wrong or right" or "best or worst." Each type is "right" and "best" when it aligns with your business needs. So take your time choosing, then stay in your lane! #leadershipdevelopment P.S. The BEST example I’ve seen, and the setup I highly recommend, is at Ferring. Mark Gibson and his team employ both 1&3: 1. A program devoted to a deep dive on self-leadership skills open to all ICs Followed by... 2. A smaller, more selective cohort to fill leadership positions The result? You don't have to split your focus to try to accomplish both goals (like you do in the middle option).

Is your leadership development built to last or built to fizzle? Despite over $60B invested globally each year in leadership development, some studies suggest as few as 5% of leaders apply what they learn in sustained, meaningful ways. Some programs even show a negative ROI. The problem? We treat leadership development like an event when it needs to be a system. In this paper, Jaason Geerts, PhD outlines a set of enabling factors to maximise the outcomes and ROI of leadership development programs. Here’s where the magic (and missed opportunities) often lie: 1. Pre-program Prime the conditions before the learning starts: ⚙️ Involve stakeholders in co-design so the learning addresses real-world problems, not abstract concepts ⚙️ Have leaders create a development plan before the program begins with goals linked to their role, team needs, and the organisation’s strategy ⚙️ Ensure line managers are briefed and bought in. Better yet, include them in onboarding or launch activities ⚙️ And here’s one often skipped: run a barriers analysis. What might stop leaders from applying what they learn and how can you remove those roadblocks now? 2. During the program. Design for use, not just insight: ⚙️ Build in experiential and peer-based learning. Real development requires practice, not passive consumption ⚙️ Create space for in-the-moment reflection and real-time feedback ⚙️ Use "culminating activities" (like project presentations or commitments shared with peers or execs) to raise the stakes on application. 3. After the program. Don't let learning and the intent to use it fade: ⚙️ Remind participants and their managers that follow-up assessments are coming and offer support to prepare for them ⚙️ Build in public sharing of results whether through showcases, storytelling, or impact reports ⚙️ Keep the community alive. Invite alumni back as mentors, facilitators, or contributors. It signals development is an ongoing expectation, not a one-time event. 4. At the system level. Think beyond the program, as this is where the biggest return often is, and the biggest gaps are: ⚙️ Integrate leadership development with talent processes - performance reviews, promotion criteria, succession planning ⚙️ Make leadership a shared expectation across the organisation, not just for those with direct reports. Embed it in your culture, systems, and symbols ⚙️ Develop a leadership development blueprint that visualises how different programs and development experiences connect across the employee lifecycle. In other words, great content isn't enough. If you want behaviour change, build a system around the learning. 💬 Over to you: What’s one thing you've done (or stopped doing) that made a real difference to your organisation's leadership development outcomes? 👇Let's swap notes in the comments. #leadershipdevelopment #leadershipdevelopmentsystem #behaviourchange #organisationaldevelopment

I've built and/or delivered leadership development training for hundreds of companies over the last five years. Here's the formula for the most successful programs: Leadership Behavior Change = Catalyst Event + Systemic Changes Leadership development aims to change behavior. When we're deploying leadership training, it's because we need our managers to be taking different types of actions inside of our organizations. We need the different behavior to either save costs or make more revenue. We need real business impact. But the problem is that training classes do NOT exclusively change behavior. Sending your managers to a one-time manager bootcamp will not result in the changes you're hoping to see. Instead, use in-person events as a catalyst event. In-person events have a very valid purpose. They serve to get people to think differently. During successful leadership development events, leaders agree to reframe their approach. Furthermore, leadership in-person events build community and trust for longer-term peer-based support inside our organizations. Then, once the event is done, we have to focus on making system changes that support our new behaviors. We have to change the processes that feed into the previous cultural norms. Managers need real-time support for the behavior change we're asking of them. This might look like: - Coaching (group or 1-1) - Conversation guides - On-the-job challenges - Cross-training - Stretch opportunities - Mentorship - Internal/external networking - Internal change campaigns Traditional leadership development doesn't create this effect. Only when we combine the two together do we achieve lasting real business transformation. What do you think about this formula? What's missing or what would you change here?

The difference between leadership programs that transform and those that disappoint? It's not about the content—it's about the design. After designing countless leadership development experiences and working with great learning professionals like Rachelle Pereira, Berin McKenzie, Rolf Pfeiffer, Suzanne de Janasz, Ph.D., Teresa Ramos Martin, and Bridget C Harbaugh, I've identified 6 principles that separate high-impact programs from the rest: 🔄 Design for sustained behavior change → Learning journeys span months, not days. Real transformation happens through spaced reinforcement and real-world application between sessions. 🎯 Customize thoughtfully → Generic examples fall flat. I interview participants upfront to develop scenarios that mirror their actual challenges and context. 🤝 Build psychological safety → When leaders feel safe to be vulnerable and learn from each other, breakthrough moments happen naturally. ⚡ Use live case methodology → Participants work on their actual current challenges, not hypothetical scenarios. This bridges the gap between learning and doing. 📊 Iterate systematically → The best programs evolve based on participant and stakeholder feedback, documenting real impact along the way. ✨ Leverage alumni power → Nothing sells future cohorts like authentic stories from leaders whose skills and success genuinely improved. The goal isn't just knowledge transfer—it's creating sustainable behavior change that ripples through entire organizations. Leadership development isn't an event. It's a journey of becoming. What else, in your experience, distinguishes high-impact learning programs? #LeadershipDevelopment #LearningDesign #BehaviorChange #Leadership

One-size-fits-all leadership training is a myth. It always fails. Here’s the structural reason why. For years, I watched high-potential talent disengage. We'd invest in off-site seminars and standardized modules, hoping for transformation. The result? A checked box, not a changed leader. The pain point isn't a lack of opportunity; it's the irrelevance of the format. If your leaders are unique, why is their development so generic? Leadership isn't built in a classroom; it's forged in the flow of work. We must be architects of flexible development that meets them where they are. Ditch the monolithic program. Build a mosaic. This rapid, measurable growth can be achieved by focusing on three adaptable levers: 1. 𝐅𝐨𝐫𝐦𝐚𝐭: Replace quarterly day-long seminars with bi-weekly, 90-minute Sprint Labs. This creates consistent practice and immediate application, cutting time-to-competency by 60%. 2. 𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐭: Shift from "Managing Difficult Conversations" to "Running your Q3 Project Post-Mortem." Context is king. Use their actual projects and problems as the core curriculum. 3. 𝐌𝐨𝐝𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐲: Blend micro-learnings (a 10-minute video on delegation) with real-time, in-the-moment coaching before a high-stakes meeting. This embeds learning directly into performance. Stop pushing your people through outdated programs. Start pulling them forward with a development plan that respects their time, context, and ambition. That’s how you build leaders who are equipped for today, not yesterday. ♻ 𝐑𝐞𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐭 to help your network 🔔 𝐅𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐨𝐰 Diane for more #LeadershipDevelopment #ExecutiveCoaching #StrategicHR #PerformanceCoaching #FutureOfWork

Leadership development has fundamentally changed. I remember sitting in leadership courses and listening to someone talk for hours. Mind-numbing and ineffective, but that is how we used to do it. Now, we know better. Adults learn from one another and through interactive experiences. It's why we design custom, interactive learning experiences where your team doesn't just sit and listen—they interact, collaborate, and learn together. My sessions typically receive 95%-100% satisfaction ratings, and I'm proud of my work, but I also know that it is not about me. It's about how participants in the sessions interact and apply what they learn, in person or virtually. These are not passive participants checking their phones between slides. They are engaged leaders solving real problems, giving each other feedback, and building solutions they could apply Monday morning. Here's what shifted:  ❌ Generic curriculum → ✅ Custom-designed for your team's actual challenges ❌ One-way lectures → ✅ Group coaching and peer learning ❌ Individual workbooks → ✅ Collaborative experiences ❌ Theory-focused → ✅ Applied, interactive assessments When leaders learn together, they build more than skills. They build a shared language, collective problem-solving capacity, relationships, and momentum that carries beyond the session. That's the difference between training that gets forgotten by Tuesday and development that transforms how your team leads. In today's ever-changing organizations, we need leaders who can collaborate, communicate, and adapt. How are you preparing your leaders? Do you have a leadership playbook designed for your organization?