Issues with today’s leadership training
Most leadership training looks good on paper. A brilliant program. Big budget. Inspirational words like “transformational leadership.”
Then reality sets in. On Monday morning, a newly trained manager talks to the team. Conflict intensifies. Someone’s performance suffers. Or someone starts crying one on one. Suddenly, the neat model you got in training is no longer useful.
That’s the problem. Leadership training is too structured for the classroom rather than the workplace. And if you’ve ever been a manager, you know the difference is huge. I’ve been there too. I looked across from the person who was upset or resistant, trying to find the right words to say, while also trying to calm myself down. There was no training manual for that.
So let’s get real. Leadership training doesn’t stick because it’s missing the very things that make leadership difficult. And until we fix that, all the money and time poured into development programs will continue to go to waste. According to a recent TalentLMS survey, 45% of managers say their companies aren’t doing enough to develop future leaders. The gap is not due to effort. It’s about the approach.
Why leadership training doesn’t work
1. No personalization
Leadership is not one size fits all. A first-time manager leading a team of three people doesn’t need the same skills as a director managing four different departments. But as it stands, most programs have the same exact format: slide decks, case studies, outdated manuals, and one-off sessions.
I remember a standard manager training session that we used to do once a year early in my career. It was the exact same thing every time. Was it helpful? Yes, in theory. But actually…not that much. It was the same thing every year. I didn’t learn anything new, and even what I learned was very basic. I was learning theory but not applying it in practice. Thanks to that, nothing stuck. I still had the same team management problem, but I didn’t know how to solve it (not that it magically solved it, of course).
Personalization is not a nice-to-have. It’s the difference between theory and practice. Leadership is a messy and very human thing. Each situation comes with different personalities, emotions, and pressures. Training should reflect that. Otherwise, it’s irrelevant.
2. No repetition
This is where most programs completely miss the point. They treat leadership development like a one-time vaccine. Attend seminars, complete courses, and you’re good to go. But leadership doesn’t work that way.
Think about fitness. You can’t just go to the gym once, do some weight training, and walk around in good health all your life. You can build strength by showing up again and again, even when it’s uncomfortable. The same goes for leadership. It’s practice. It’s a habit. It’s about making mistakes, reflecting, and trying again.
And if you don’t strengthen your muscles through repetition, you won’t develop any real skills. And you end up falling into old patterns that don’t really work.
It’s like the confidence you feel after that first difficult conversation, only to find yourself fumbling in the next one. Even after several tries, it can be difficult to get everything right. That’s why practice and repetition are so important.
3. There’s no room for troublesome things.
This is the part most people avoid. Real leadership is neither sophisticated nor predictable. It’s emotional, awkward, and sometimes downright unpleasant. That’s when someone rebels against you in front of the entire team. This is when you have to give feedback that you know won’t be reflected well. That’s when you have five people with five different opinions and you have to make a call knowing that not everyone is going to like it.
Most trainings skip all of this. They want leadership to look decent. But it’s not pretty. And if your training avoids such moments, it’s not really preparing you to lead someone.
So…as a manager, I may understand what “radical candor” is, but can I actually apply it? That’s the real challenge.
What helps make leadership training effective
So what works? Once you remove the fluff, here’s what’s left:
Personalization. Training should feel relevant to the leader’s role, team, and challenges. Otherwise, it’s just a theory. Consistency. Leaders require continuous practice, reflection, and reinforcement. Not just once, but continuously. realism. Don’t avoid the hassle. Build your training around it. Because that’s what leaders are actually facing.
When designed with these three things in mind, training becomes less about completing a program and more about building actual competency. Core skills like giving feedback, dealing with conflict, and building trust are a good place to start, and there are many ready-made courses on leadership fundamentals that cover just that.
Where is online training suitable?
Online training gets a bad rap if it’s just a presentation with scattered slides. But when done properly, with the right people and the right training software, leadership training can actually be beneficial.
Practice without worrying about the aftermath. Give managers a place to try things out before they become too risky. You can ask questions if you want, confuse yourself with mock conversations, and practice at your own pace. Don’t fumble in front of the actual team. Let’s be specific. AI allows you to create training tailored to a person’s role and challenges. New managers in healthcare don’t need the same role models as senior leaders in technology. But too often, the same cookie-cutter content is provided. Always within reach. Leaders don’t need to compile notes from last year’s workshop into a binder. Right before a difficult conversation or performance review, you need something to remember quickly. It gets stronger over time. Skills are not established in one lesson. Managers need continuous opportunities for rehearsing. Bite-sized, ongoing modules built on real-world scenarios are much more effective for managers than cramming everything into one week and hoping it lasts. Train everyone. Some people may have natural leadership instincts, but that doesn’t mean the rest of us are out of luck. Leadership can be taught. And it should be widely taught. It’s not just people who are already called “high performers.” As leadership coach Nina Newberry explains, too many programs overlook “diamonds in the rough” that can grow if given the chance.
How to design leadership training for the workplace
If you’re building leadership training for your company, start with:
Define the result. Don’t just say, “I want a better leader.” Please be specific. Want to provide clearer feedback to managers? How to reduce turnover? How to build trust? Training must be connected to real goals. Blending method. Use online learning for accessibility, but combine it with coaching, peer groups, and feedback. Leaders learn best when they can test things with real people. Stay up to date. The workplace is not static. Remote work, AI, a new generation entering the workforce – these changes change what leaders face. If training is not continued, it will quickly become meaningless. Ask for feedback. Managers can tell when training feels outdated or redundant. So ask them. Treat leadership training like a product. Test, gather feedback, and fine-tune. Otherwise, you’ll end up with another “initiative” that starts with a bang and then quietly disappears.
This way, your training will last, instead of becoming another “initiative” that starts with much fanfare and then quietly fades away.
Keeping Leadership Training Real
Leadership training is not about checking a box or printing a certificate. It’s about giving administrators something they can actually use when they find themselves in a difficult situation. Because it’s going to be difficult. And even if all you have in your back pocket is a dusty slide deck from last year’s seminar, good luck.
The reality is simple. When leadership training is practical, ongoing, and connected to real-world situations, everything changes. Your team will run more smoothly. Managers stop putting themselves on the back burner. And people actually want to stay there.
It’s not a theory. That’s the leadership training that makes a real difference.
Talent LMS
TalentLMS is an LMS designed to simplify the creation, deployment, and tracking of eLearning. Powered by TalentCraft as an AI-powered content creator, it offers an intuitive interface, diverse content types, and ready-made templates for instant training.
