Research Summary

Adults learn by doing. Doesn’t matter if it’s conflict communication, sword-fighting, or the piano - we learn by doing. Imagine trying to learn the piano by listening to an expert talk about it for 8 hours. That’s what most leadership courses do - put you in a room and stuff you full of content then send you back to work to ‘be a leader’.

The research into what helps people become skilled people leaders is very clear and unanimous on what works. It takes time, regular ongoing practice (and mistakes), and ongoing small doses of expert instruction. Practice the piano 15-min a day for a month and the results are vastly different than compressing all the 15-min blocks into one day.

Here is an abridged summary of the research behind our approaches to leadership development - for individuals and for groups.

• Lacerenza et al., 2017: This large meta-analysis of leadership training analyzed 335 studies of leadership programs and found that:
  a) they work, and,
  b) that the approach to program design and delivery matters.
  The authors list evidence-based best practices (needs analysis, multiple sessions, experiential practice, organizational support) and recommend against treating leadership development as a one-shot event.

• The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (2023): This comprehensive review included a meta-analysis of the characteristics of effective leadership training programs and concluded that: “spaced distribution is more effective than one-off trainings” and rates “duration and repetition” as a high-quality moderator. AKA: programs should be longer and repeated/ spaced periodically if you are aiming for effectiveness, rather than shorter or one-off.

• Cepeda et al., 2008: This research explores, from a cognitive science perspective, “How does the timing of study events affect retention?”. Decades of laboratory and applied research show the spacing effect: distributing learning episodes over time produces much better long-term retention than massed (one-off) practice. This is a central cognitive mechanism underpinning why spaced interventions embed skills better.

• Cannon-Bowers et al., 2023: This meta-analysis of workplace coaching and longitudinal leadership development studies show that ongoing coaching, feedback and practice opportunities increase transfer to on-the-job behavior more than single-event training. This supports the value of smaller, targeted follow-ups rather than one intensive event.

Book a free exploratory call to brainstorm what training you might undertake, and explore projected costs.