Latest Research on Leadership Development
Evidence-based research on leadership development programs, manager effectiveness, coaching habits, and building leadership capability at scale.
What the evidence shows
- Most leadership development programs fail to change behavior because they lack on-the-job application and reinforcement after the classroom experience.
- First-time manager transitions are the highest-leverage intervention point; habits formed in the first 90 days persist for years.
- Coaching-oriented managers produce teams with measurably higher engagement, retention, and performance outcomes.
Common mistakes
- Investing heavily in senior executive programs while neglecting frontline and mid-level manager development where the largest impact occurs.
- Treating leadership development as an event (a workshop or offsite) rather than as a sustained practice with accountability built in.
- Selecting leaders for development based on tenure or technical skill rather than demonstrated people leadership potential.
Why more organisations are extending leadership training beyond the management ranks - hcamag.com
This article reports on findings from an Association for Talent Development (ATD) report, sponsored by SIY Global, examining the organisational benefits of extending leadership development beyond trad...
A High-Level Lens for Leadership
This article addresses current trends in leadership development as observed and practiced by members of the Training Hall of Fame — organizations recognized for sustained excellence in training over m...
High Tech + High Touch = Effective Leaders
This article presents findings from the 10th annual Leadership Development Survey, a longitudinal study conducted jointly by Training magazine and Wilson Learning, drawing on responses from more than ...
The gender pay gap: Why C-suite accountability matters more than ever
This article addresses the persistent gender pay gap in the UK, arguing that the primary obstacle to progress is misplaced organisational accountability rather than a lack of data or reporting mechani...
5 Ways Objective Talent Assessments Improve Leadership and Succession Planning
This article addresses the challenge HR and L&D professionals face in conducting objective, bias-reduced succession planning and leadership development. The author argues that scientifically valid, be...
How HR leaders can align talent development with business goals - hcamag.com
This article addresses the gap between organizational investment in talent development and the strategic value that structured learning programs can deliver, with a particular focus on Canadian employ...
News - Navy HR leaders sharpen skills through virtual, enhanced training course - DVIDS
This article addresses the U.S. Navy's annual Human Resources Professional Development Training Course (HRPDTC), conducted July 9-11, 2025, at the U.S. Naval War College, Naval Station Newport, Rhode ...
Employee Engagement Speaker: What to Know Before You Book - Adam Mendler
This article, authored by Adam Mendler, a professional keynote speaker and founder of Thirty Minute Mentors, addresses the topic of employee engagement and the role of external speakers in improving o...
Upward Feedback: 22 Employee Examples to Aid Development
This article, published by Leapsome, addresses the practice of upward feedback — the process by which employees provide structured input to their direct managers — as a mechanism for leadership develo...
6 Areas of Improvement at Work for Performance Reviews
This article, published by Leapsome, addresses how performance reviews in 2026 can be structured to identify and support employee development across six defined focus areas. The author's central argum...
AI in L&D: Its Uses, What to Avoid & Impacts on Learning & Development | Cornerstone - Cornerstone OnDemand
This article, published by Cornerstone OnDemand, addresses the growing integration of artificial intelligence into organizational learning and development (L&D) functions. The authors argue that AI en...
Training Accountability: How to Build it in from Day One
This article addresses the persistent gap between leadership training delivery and observable behavioral change in organizational settings. The author, a training consultant, argues that the primary c...
How HR can harness the performance management revolution - HR Magazine
This article addresses the fundamental flaws in traditional performance management systems, particularly annual reviews that compress months of behavior into single high-stakes documents. The author a...
The evolving HR agenda in the GCC: A conversation with Mohammad Abu Al-Rob - Consultancy-me.com
This article addresses the evolving human capital agenda facing HR leaders across the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), framed through a practitioner interview with Mohammad Abu Al-Rob, CEO of Procapita...
‘Please provide examples’: Amazon looks for specifics in performance reviews - HR Reporter
The article examines Amazon's revised 'Forte' performance review process, which requires corporate employees to provide specific examples of accomplishments and growth plans. Academic Christian Cook f...
Higher wages, toxic workplaces shaping employee attraction, retention in 2026: experts - Benefits Canada.com
This article reports on findings from a Conference Board of Canada survey presented during a recent webinar, focusing on the key drivers of employee attraction and retention heading into 2026. The cen...
'Management essentials' | Google makes play for multi-billion dollar leadership development market - HR Grapevine
Google has launched 'People Management Essentials,' a public leadership development course marking its entry into the multi-billion dollar leadership training market. The program translates Google's t...
Evidence-Based Training Equips Sutter Nurses for Leadership Success - Sutter Health
This article addresses the challenge of preparing emerging nurse managers for leadership roles within a large not-for-profit health system. Sutter Health has adopted the American Organization for Nurs...
Leadership Training in an AI World and Why Human Skills Are Still Key - hrnews.co.uk
This article addresses the question of what role human-centred leadership development plays in an increasingly AI-driven workplace. The author argues that as artificial intelligence automates more ope...
Once upon a time | How storytelling training for managers & leaders could drive employee engagement - HR Grapevine
This article addresses the role of narrative and storytelling as a leadership communication tool in driving employee engagement and managing organizational change. The author's central argument, suppo...
How Siemens Rebuilt Its Leadership Training Program - Newsweek
This case study examines Siemens' comprehensive overhaul of its leadership development program across its 45,000-person Americas workforce. The company transitioned from a high-quality but limited-rea...
Fostering A Strong Workplace Culture to Drive Business Growth - Hunt Scanlon Media
This article, published by Hunt Scanlon Media and drawing primarily from a Protis Global report and a TalentRise commentary, examines the relationship between workplace culture and business performanc...
Leadership Training Programs for Managers - U.S. Chamber of Commerce
This article addresses the challenge of selecting appropriate leadership training programs for managers, noting that 83% of organizations anticipate needing new leadership skills according to DDI's 20...
Management Leadership Program Shows Cast Members a Whole New World at Disneyland Resort - Disney Experiences
This article addresses the challenge of developing hourly operations employees into effective salaried managers within a large hospitality and entertainment organization. The author's central argument...
A week in the life of: A Leadership Development Manager - Training Journal
This article presents a first-person account by Andy McConville, Leadership Development Manager at ResQ, describing the day-to-day responsibilities of a contemporary leadership development role within...
Why business leaders must empower managers to get the very best from their teams - HR Magazine
This article addresses the widespread phenomenon of undertrained managers in UK organisations, arguing that insufficient investment in management and leadership development is a primary driver of unde...
Two in five employees do not think their manager is trained enough, survey finds - People Management
This article addresses the widespread gap in formal management training across UK organisations, drawing on two surveys: Unmind's Closing the Leadership Skills Gap report (n=6,000) and the Chartered M...
Why Your Organization’s Success Hinges on Effective Manager Training—and How to Get It Right - Spring Health
This article, published by Spring Health, addresses the organizational importance of manager effectiveness and the case for structured manager training programs. The central argument is that managers ...
The Art of Leadership: Uncovering Three P&G Secrets to People Development - Procter & Gamble
This article addresses how Procter & Gamble (P&G) has built a long-standing reputation as a leadership development organization, often described as an 'academy for future CEOs.' The central argument, ...
Employee engagement: 10 best practices for improving your culture - cio.com
This article addresses the challenge of employee disengagement in modern organizations, referencing the phenomenon of 'quiet quitting' and its estimated $7.8 trillion cost to the global economy in 202...
5 lessons on building a culture of innovation - Culture Amp
This article examines building innovation culture through insights from two leadership experts, Dr. Linda Hill and Seth Godin. The authors argue that innovation stems from collective rather than indiv...
A minute with Holly Lett, head of talent development - Fermilab (.gov)
This article is a brief profile interview with Holly Lett, Head of Talent Development at Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (Fermilab), a U.S. Department of Energy facility. The article addresses t...
HR veteran on teaching next generation: ‘Training and development is still in my blood’ - hcamag.com
This article profiles Mike Rude, a long-tenured HR executive and current Gartner executive partner, using his career trajectory as a frame to examine two interconnected workforce topics: the evolving ...
53 trade unionists graduate from IndustriALL MENA leadership academy - industriall-union
This article reports on the graduation of 53 trade unionists from the IndustriALL MENA Leadership Academy in December 2022, bringing the total number of graduates since the programme's founding in 201...
Human Resources for Health leadership and management: Overview - World Health Organization (WHO)
This document addresses the global shortage of qualified leaders and managers in Human Resources for Health (HRH) by presenting a structured curricula package developed by the World Health Organizatio...
Investigating Women’s Leadership Development in Sudan - The London School of Economics and Political Science
This article introduces an ongoing collaborative research project titled 'Understanding Barriers and Enablers to Women's Leadership in Sudan,' conducted by Dr Souad Mohamed and Aida Abbashar in partne...
Leadership and talent development with a hybrid twist at Master Halco - Chief Learning Officer
This article addresses the challenge of implementing formal leadership development and talent management programs in a large industrial manufacturing company — Master Halco, a wholesale fence distribu...
18 Proven Employee Retention Strategies for 2026 (Examples & Tools) - Vantage Circle
This article, published by Vantage Circle — an employee engagement and recognition software vendor — addresses the problem of voluntary employee turnover, framed through the cultural lens of 'The Grea...
Why Leadership Development Feels Broken: And How We’re Fixing It - Josh Bersin
This article, authored by Josh Bersin, addresses what it characterises as a systemic failure in corporate leadership development — a market exceeding $14 billion annually yet producing persistent pipe...
Performance Appraisal Comments: A Manager's Playbook With 100+ Examples - Vantage Circle
This article addresses a widely documented problem in organizational performance management: the tendency of managers to write vague, backward-looking, and infrequent appraisal comments that fail to d...
Five questions with Kara Hannigan, Training and Organizational Development Manager, Human Resources Division - kcemployees.com
This article is a short Q&A interview with Kara Hannigan, the newly appointed Training and Organizational Development Manager in the Human Resources Division of King County (Washington State). The pie...
A randomized waitlist-controlled trial of operant-based leadership training
This article addresses the persistent challenge of achieving lasting improvements in managers' performance feedback behaviors through leadership training. The author, Martin Grill, argues that operant...
The dark side of leadership: ineffective training and poor ethics education
This study addresses the influence of ethics training and education on unethical leadership behavior within Algerian public companies, a context marked by persistent administrative corruption and limi...
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