The 5 Reasons Most Leadership Programs Don’t Create the Change HR Wants (and the Business Needs)

You’ve probably lived this loop.

HR invests in a leadership program. People attend. Feedback scores are decent. Everyone says it was “useful”.

And then nothing really changes.

Same meeting overload. Same slow decisions. Same conflict avoidance. Same inconsistent standards. Same managers who are busy but not leading.

The business then concludes one of two things:

• “Leadership development doesn’t work.”
• Or worse: “HR is doing HR again.”

I don’t buy that leadership development is a waste.

But most programs are built in a way that makes real change unlikely.

Here are the 5 reasons I see most often, and what to do instead.

1) They focus on the wrong thing: management, not leadership (you need both)

Most programs say “leadership” but deliver “management”.

They teach:

• planning
• organising
• delegation
• process
• basics of 1:1s
• performance review mechanics

All useful.

But it’s not the full job.

Management is keeping the machine running. Leadership is setting direction, creating clarity, building belief, and making decisions under pressure.

When your organisation is going through change, growth, restructuring, M&A, new operating model, you don’t just need managers who can administer work.

You need leaders who can:

• cut through noise and set priorities
• make and hold decisions
• reduce meeting dependency
• handle difficult conversations fast
• keep standards high when pressure rises
• build trust so execution speeds up

If a program doesn’t explicitly build leadership behaviours, you’ll get better managed chaos.

Practical fix: split the design.

• Management essentials: simple, clean, operational.
• Leadership behaviours: direction, decisions, standards, trust, conversations, execution rhythm. And be honest about which is which.

2) They’re content-heavy: too many slides, too much theory, too little change

A lot of leadership training is like drinking from a firehose.

It feels productive because there’s so much information:

• models
• frameworks
• personality tools
• leadership styles
• neuroscience
• communication theory

But leaders don’t fail because they lack concepts.

They fail because they can’t apply under pressure, in the moment, with real constraints.

When programs go content-heavy, what happens?

People leave with notes and no new habits.

Practical fix: cut the content by 50 to 70% and double the practice.

If you want behaviour change, the ratio should look more like:

• less teaching
• more rehearsal
• more real-case application
• more feedback
• more follow-through

If it doesn’t get practised, it doesn’t get installed.

3) They don’t focus on the problems leaders actually have day to day

This one is huge.

Leadership struggles because of daily friction:

• back-to-back meetings
• unclear priorities
• constant escalations
• inbox debt
• stakeholder noise
• underperformance avoided for months
• decision drift (let’s circle back)
• conflicting goals across teams

Most programs focus on long-term leadership growth in a way that sounds nice and misses the point.

Because leaders don’t need a lecture on vision.

They need a way to handle Tuesday.

If the program doesn’t solve real day-to-day pain, it becomes irrelevant fast, even if it’s “good”.

Practical fix: design around real work.

Ask:

• What are the 5 to 10 recurring friction points that are killing performance here?
• Where is leadership creating drag (meetings, decisions, accountability, handoffs)?
• What do we need leaders to do differently next week?

Then build the program around those situations, not generic scenarios.

4) There’s no implementation support (so people go back to the same environment)

Most programs assume learning transfers automatically.

It doesn’t.

People attend training, then return to:

• the same overloaded calendar
• the same boss expectations
• the same meeting culture
• the same conflicting priorities
• the same lack of authority to change things
• the same habits that created the problem

So even motivated leaders revert.

It’s like passing a driving test and then being told: good luck, now drive in peak-hour traffic with no practice.

You don’t get confident drivers from theory. You get them from practice with feedback.

Practical fix: build the after into the program.

Implementation support can be simple, but it must exist:

• weekly cadence (what to do, when)
• manager-of-manager involvement (so the environment shifts too)
• peer practice groups
• short coaching checkpoints
• on-the-job assignments tied to real outcomes
• accountability for application, not attendance

Change isn’t delivered in the session. It’s installed afterwards.

5) It’s delivered by people who don’t understand commercial reality

This is the quiet killer.

A lot of leadership programs are delivered by:

• L&D professionals (smart, well-intentioned)
• trainers/performers (great facilitation)
• academics (great theory)

But many haven’t been accountable for:

• a P&L
• operational targets
• customer outcomes
• delivery under constraint
• decisions that have real consequences

And leaders can smell it instantly.

If the facilitator can’t speak credibly about:

• trade-offs
• cost vs speed vs quality
• pressure and uncertainty
• organisational politics
• change reality

…then the program becomes “nice” but not respected.

And when line leaders don’t respect it, they don’t apply it.

Practical fix: make commercial credibility non-negotiable.

The best leadership development sits at the intersection of:

• behaviour change
• business reality
• organisational dynamics
• practical execution

Leaders want someone who understands the job, not just the topic.

So what should you do if you’re HR and you want real change?

Here’s the simplest way I’d frame it.

If you want leadership development that actually works, build it like infrastructure:

• target the real friction points
• reduce content, increase practice
• separate management basics from leadership behaviours
• design for application under pressure
• support implementation after the session
• deliver with commercial credibility

And one more thing: measure what matters.

Not “people enjoyed it”.

Measure:

• decision speed
• meeting load
• execution follow-through
• quality of conversations
• team clarity
• engagement drivers tied to leadership
• retention in critical roles

Because you don’t need another program.

You need leaders who make the business run better.

---

When you are ready to find out more, here are a few ways you can connect with me

1. Tired of leadership advice that doesn’t work in the real world? → Get practical insights that actually work
2. Stuck in the leadership weeds and can’t see a way out? → Book your 1:1 Strategic Breakthrough Session
3. Ready to reclaim 6+ hours weekly and lead with confidence instead of firefighting in chaos? → Discover Amplify
4. Exhausted from your team needing constant oversight and direction? → Transform them with WoW
5. Burning out from leadership overwhelm? → Get the antidote (my book)
6. Ready to lead difficult conversations with confidence? → Download the free PIXAR Tool