Research Summary

Adults learn by doing. Doesn’t matter if it’s delegation, conflict communication, sword-fighting, or playing the piano - we learn by doing.

Most leadership courses put you in a room and stuff you full of content then send you back to work to ‘be a leader’. It barely adds any value.

The research into what helps people become skilled people leaders is very clear and unanimous on what works. It takes:

1. Time;

2. Regular ongoing practice (and mistakes); and

3. Ongoing small doses of expert instruction.

Consider the impact of practicing the piano for 15-min a day for a month, compared to cramming all of the 15-min blocks into one day. One teaches a little piano, the other creates a piano player.

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.