Articles / Leadership Training and Learning: How Leaders Actually Develop
Development, Training & CoachingDiscover how leadership training and learning work together for development. Learn the science of how leaders learn and how to design effective development.
Written by Laura Bouttell • Fri 9th January 2026
Leadership training and learning represent two interconnected but distinct concepts—training provides structured development experiences, whilst learning is the internal process through which leaders actually develop capability—and understanding how these work together enables more effective leadership development than either concept alone. The gap between training attended and learning achieved explains why so much leadership development investment produces disappointing results.
Organisations invest billions in leadership training annually, yet research consistently shows that much of this investment produces limited behaviour change. The problem often isn't the training itself but a failure to understand how adult learning works, what conditions enable genuine development, and how to bridge the gap between classroom insight and workplace capability.
This guide explores how leadership learning actually occurs, what training approaches maximise learning, and how to design development experiences that produce lasting capability improvement.
Understanding leadership learning requires examining the mechanisms through which capability develops.
Research on leadership development consistently points to experiential learning as the primary driver of capability growth.
70% Experiential Learning Leaders develop primarily through challenging experiences—stretch assignments, new responsibilities, crisis situations, cross-functional projects. These experiences force adaptation and create learning that training alone cannot provide.
20% Social Learning Learning from others—mentors, coaches, peers, role models—accounts for substantial development. Observation, feedback, and relationship provide perspectives and insights unavailable through solo experience.
10% Formal Learning Structured training, courses, and programmes contribute the smallest portion of development. This isn't an argument against training, but recognition that training works best when complementing experiential and social learning.
| Component | What It Means | Development Implication |
|---|---|---|
| 70% Experience | Learning happens through doing | Create challenging experiences |
| 20% Social | Others accelerate learning | Enable mentoring, coaching, feedback |
| 10% Formal | Training provides foundation | Design training to complement experience |
The model doesn't suggest abandoning formal training—it suggests designing training that prepares leaders for experiential learning and helps them extract maximum learning from experience.
Adult learners differ from children in ways that shape effective leadership development.
Self-Direction Adults want to direct their own learning, choosing what to learn and how. Imposed training that ignores learner preferences produces resistance.
Experience Base Adults bring experience that serves as both resource and obstacle. Development must build on experience whilst sometimes challenging assumptions formed through it.
Relevance Orientation Adults learn what they perceive as relevant to their real challenges. Abstract learning disconnected from practical application fails to engage.
Problem-Centred Focus Adults learn best when addressing real problems rather than accumulating subject knowledge for future application.
Internal Motivation Adults respond to internal motivators—professional growth, job satisfaction, self-esteem—more than external requirements.
Not all training produces learning. Understanding what distinguishes effective development helps design programmes that work.
Psychological Readiness Learning requires openness to change. Defensive learners protect existing beliefs rather than developing new capabilities. Creating psychological safety enables the vulnerability learning requires.
Motivation to Learn Without genuine motivation, training attendance doesn't translate to development. Learners must want to develop, not merely comply with organisational requirements.
Relevance to Reality Learning accelerates when connected to genuine challenges. Abstract frameworks learned in classrooms often fail to transfer to messy real-world situations.
Practice with Feedback Capability develops through practice, not understanding. Knowledge without practice produces limited behaviour change. Feedback enables practice to produce improvement.
Reflection and Sense-Making Experience without reflection produces limited learning. Structured reflection helps leaders extract insight from experience and integrate new understanding.
Support for Application Learning requires application to stick. Without opportunity and support to apply new learning, knowledge decays and behaviour returns to pre-training patterns.
| Enablers | Barriers |
|---|---|
| Psychological safety | Defensive climate |
| Genuine motivation | Forced participation |
| Relevance to role | Abstract disconnection |
| Practice opportunity | Knowledge-only focus |
| Feedback availability | No performance data |
| Reflection time | Action without thinking |
| Application support | No opportunity to apply |
| Manager reinforcement | Manager indifference |
Effective training design aligns with how learning actually works.
Start with Real Challenges Frame training around genuine challenges learners face, not generic content. When learners see direct relevance, engagement and transfer increase dramatically.
Balance Content and Practice Allocate time to practice, not just content delivery. Most training over-weights content and under-weights application. Flip this ratio.
Create Application Plans Before training ends, have learners plan specific applications. Connect classroom learning to workplace situations with concrete commitments.
Enable Peer Learning Design for learners to learn from each other, not just from instructors. Peer exchange surfaces diverse perspectives and builds learning relationships that continue beyond training.
Include Reflection Build reflection activities into training—not just doing but thinking about doing. Reflection consolidates learning and deepens insight.
Connect to Experience Relate training content to learner experience. Use examples from their contexts. Have them apply frameworks to their situations.
Space Learning Over Time Distributed learning (spread across sessions) produces better retention than massed learning (intensive single event). Allow time for application between sessions.
| Design Element | Traditional Approach | Learning-Optimised Approach |
|---|---|---|
| Content focus | Subject coverage | Problem solving |
| Time allocation | Heavy content, light practice | Balanced content and practice |
| Application | "Figure it out later" | Planned, supported, tracked |
| Peer interaction | Minimal | Central |
| Reflection | Occasional | Structured, frequent |
| Connection | Generic examples | Learner-specific application |
| Timing | Intensive event | Distributed over time |
Experience provides the primary learning laboratory for leadership development.
Complexity Engagement Real leadership situations contain complexity that training cannot fully simulate. Experience exposes leaders to actual complexity that develops judgement.
Consequence Reality Decisions in real situations have real consequences. This stakes reality focuses attention and encodes learning more deeply than risk-free practice.
Identity Development Leadership identity develops through acting as a leader, not just thinking about leadership. Experience builds the sense of self as leader that training cannot directly create.
Tacit Knowledge Much leadership knowledge is tacit—known but not easily articulated. This tacit knowledge develops through experience, observation, and practice, not explicit instruction.
Research identifies several experience types as particularly developmental:
Challenging Assignments Taking on unfamiliar responsibilities, managing difficult situations, operating with insufficient resources. Challenge forces adaptation.
Hardship Experiences Business failures, mistakes, career setbacks. Hardship, whilst painful, often produces profound learning unavailable through success.
People Challenges Managing difficult employees, handling conflict, inheriting troubled teams. People complexity develops interpersonal leadership capability.
Course Corrections Situations requiring fixing predecessors' problems, turning around failing operations, changing strategic direction.
New Territories International assignments, cross-functional moves, start-up contexts. Unfamiliarity forces learning and adaptation.
| Experience Type | What It Develops | When to Use |
|---|---|---|
| Increased scope | Strategic thinking, delegation | Ready for larger responsibility |
| Fix-it assignment | Problem diagnosis, resilience | Needs turnaround experience |
| Start-up | Building from scratch | Needs entrepreneurial development |
| Cross-functional | Breadth, collaboration | Too narrow expertise |
| External interface | Stakeholder management | Internal focus too strong |
| Boss challenges | Managing up, influence | Needs political development |
Learning from others—the 20% in 70-20-10—accelerates development in ways solo learning cannot.
Mentoring Relationships with more experienced leaders who provide guidance, share experience, and open doors. Mentors offer perspective unavailable to those still learning.
Coaching Structured support from trained professionals helping leaders develop through powerful questions, reflection support, and accountability. Coaches enable deeper self-awareness and behaviour change.
Peer Learning Learning from colleagues facing similar challenges. Peers offer relatable perspectives, shared struggles, and mutual support.
Role Modelling Learning through observation of leaders worth emulating. Models demonstrate what good looks like and inspire aspiration.
Feedback Information from others about performance and impact. Feedback reveals blind spots and enables targeted improvement.
For Mentoring:
For Coaching:
For Peer Learning:
Effective development integrates all three elements rather than treating them separately.
Before Formal Training:
During Formal Training:
After Formal Training:
| Phase | Training Element | Experiential Element | Social Element |
|---|---|---|---|
| Preparation | Pre-reading, assessment | Identify stretch project | Meet mentor, coach |
| Core Learning | Workshop, content | Begin stretch project | Peer cohort launch |
| Application | Just-in-time resources | Execute project | Coaching, peer support |
| Consolidation | Reflection sessions | Complete project | Mentoring, community |
Measuring whether training produces learning enables continuous improvement.
Level 1: Reaction Did learners find training valuable? Satisfaction surveys measure reaction but don't assess learning. Necessary but insufficient.
Level 2: Learning Did learners acquire knowledge and skill? Assessments, tests, and demonstrations measure learning but not application.
Level 3: Behaviour Did learners change behaviour on the job? Observation, 360 feedback, and performance data measure behaviour change.
Level 4: Results Did behaviour change produce business results? Business metrics measure results but isolating training impact proves difficult.
| Level | What It Measures | How to Measure | Limitation |
|---|---|---|---|
| Reaction | Satisfaction | Surveys | Doesn't predict learning |
| Learning | Knowledge/skill | Tests, demonstrations | Doesn't predict application |
| Behaviour | Job performance | Observation, 360, data | Attribution challenges |
| Results | Business outcomes | Business metrics | Many confounding factors |
Pre-Post Assessment Measure capability before and after development to assess change.
Behaviour Observation Observe leaders applying skills in real situations, not just demonstrating in training.
360 Feedback Comparison Compare 360 results before and after development period.
Goal Achievement Track achievement of specific development goals set during training.
Application Documentation Have learners document applications of learning, creating evidence trail.
The 70-20-10 model describes how leadership development occurs: 70% through challenging experiences (stretch assignments, new responsibilities), 20% through social learning (mentoring, coaching, feedback), and 10% through formal training (courses, programmes). This research-based model doesn't dismiss training but positions it within broader development. Effective programmes integrate all three elements rather than relying on training alone.
Leadership training often fails to produce learning because it ignores how adult learning works: lacking relevance to real challenges, providing knowledge without practice opportunity, missing application support after training, or forcing participation without genuine motivation. Training that produces learning connects to real problems, includes practice with feedback, supports workplace application, and engages learners who genuinely want to develop.
Adults bring experience that shapes interpretation of new learning. They want to direct their own learning rather than being told what to learn. They need to see relevance to real challenges they face. They learn best through problem-solving rather than subject accumulation. They respond to internal motivation more than external requirements. Effective leadership training honours these adult learning principles.
Research identifies several developmental experiences: challenging assignments beyond current capability, hardship experiences including failures and setbacks, people challenges requiring interpersonal navigation, turnaround situations requiring course correction, and unfamiliar territories like international or cross-functional roles. Common across these: challenge, novelty, and stakes that force adaptation and learning unavailable through comfortable situations.
Feedback is essential for leadership learning because leaders often can't see their own impact accurately. Feedback reveals blind spots invisible to self-perception. It enables targeted improvement rather than unfocused effort. It holds leaders accountable for behaviour change. Without feedback, practice may reinforce bad habits rather than build capability. Effective development includes multiple feedback sources and ongoing feedback opportunities.
Leadership training can happen online, but some elements transfer better than others. Knowledge acquisition works well virtually. Skill practice is more challenging—role-plays and simulations require adaptation for virtual environments. Social learning requires deliberate design to enable connection. Experiential learning by definition happens in real work situations, not virtual classrooms. Effective online training designs for these realities rather than simply digitising classroom approaches.
Sustaining learning requires application support (opportunities to use new skills), social reinforcement (coaching, peer support, manager engagement), performance feedback (data on application effectiveness), reflection practices (structured thinking about experience), and accountability mechanisms (commitments, check-ins). Most training decay happens because organisations invest in events but not ongoing support. Sustained development requires sustained attention.
Leadership training and learning work together when organisations understand how learning actually happens. Training provides frameworks, awakens motivation, and creates readiness—but learning occurs through challenging experience supported by relationships and reflection. Effective leadership development integrates formal training with experiential challenge and social support, creating conditions where genuine capability development becomes possible.