Why Your Leadership Training Isn't Working (And How to Fix It)
I can predict with near-certainty whether your leadership training will work.
It has nothing to do with the content, the instructor, or even your leaders' willingness to learn.
It has everything to do with one question: Do your leaders know why they're learning this?
The Training Problem Nobody Talks About
Last month, I had a conversation with a client about the next steps in their organization's development.
For years, they had offered training for their supervisors: communication skills, delegation skills, etc.
When I asked how it went, they predictably said: "Training was good…but the impact wasn't there."
Here's why: training divorced from your organization's strategic priorities will always fall flat.
Think about why you bring training to your organization.
It's likely because there is a deficiency being experienced in some capacity.
This deficiency causes pain: employee engagement suffers, retention rates drop, productivity is harmed, etc.
So, you invest in training.
But here's what I've learned: buyers of training rarely explain the strategic initiative behind it.
They just assume that everyone gets it.
But they don't.
The Forest Through the Trees Problem
They don't see the forest through the trees, because they aren't ASKED to see the forest through the trees.
I've had leaders tell me flat-out in leadership development sessions: "I have no idea why I'm here!"
So, when a random mandatory training event shows up on their calendar, even with the best intentions, your leaders assume that they are in trouble or did something wrong.
And that's a missed opportunity.
As we've been discussing with skills vs. identity, when your leaders struggle to make the desired impact, it's rarely a skill issue and almost always an identity issue.
If your training efforts aren't directly tied to who you need your leaders to become, then the impact of your investment will always fall flat.
The Power of Strategic Context
Which statement means more to you:
Option 1: "We are offering communication training for supervisors this year, and we need you to go."
Option 2: "We need our supervisors to become leaders who give better feedback because we're measuring employee engagement this year. That's why we're transforming how we communicate as a leadership team."
The first statement is solely focused on transaction (you = bad leader, so go to class).
The second focuses on transformation (we have an opportunity, so we ALL will grow together).
If you want to make a huge difference in your organizations, focus on transformation over training.
A Real Transformation Story
In working with my client, we had this same conversation.
They told me that they were tired of programs and wanted to elevate beyond "required training" into something more impactful for their organization.
They felt the strategic mandate to change their organization for the better, not just offer more required training.
So, we put together a long-term, transformation-centric engagement designed to shift the identities of their leaders in a strategic, intentional way.
We start with their strategic priorities as an organization, then identify the skills needed to achieve those priorities, then assess their leaders' current capabilities. Only then do we design the training content as a catalyst for change.
This is how you start to turn training into transformation.
What This Means for Your Leadership Development
If you're investing in leadership training right now, ask yourself:
Can your leaders articulate why they're learning this skill?
Do they understand how it connects to your organization's strategic priorities?
Are you measuring behavior change, or just attendance?
If you hesitated on any of those questions, that's telling.
Your leaders might be showing up to training, but they're not transforming into the leaders you need them to become.
The difference isn't in the content you're teaching, it's in how you're framing the transformation you're asking them to make.
Your Assessment Exercise
Think about your last leadership training initiative. Now finish this sentence:
"We need our leaders to become _______________ so that _______________."
If you struggled to fill in those blanks with something concrete and strategic, your training is probably falling flat.
And if you're reading this thinking, "This is exactly what's happening in my organization," trust that instinct. That recognition is your signal that something needs to shift.
Ready to Transform Your Leadership Development?
Are you seeing this pattern play out across your leadership team? Contact me to discuss whether your team needs training or transformation. Let's explore how to connect your leadership development to your strategic priorities for lasting impact.