Advice
Why Most Leadership Development Programs Are Actually Making Your Best People Worse
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Right, let me tell you something that'll probably ruffle a few feathers in the HR world. After watching seventeen years of leadership development programs across Melbourne, Sydney, and every major Australian city in between, I've come to a controversial conclusion: most of these fancy programs are actually creating worse leaders, not better ones.
You heard me right.
I was running a session last month with a group of middle managers from a tech company in Brisbane - won't name names, but they've got those trendy open offices and kombucha on tap. Classic. Anyway, three months earlier, this same group had completed what their CEO proudly called "the most comprehensive leadership development program money could buy." Cost them $47,000 per participant. The result? These managers were now second-guessing every decision, over-analysing every conversation, and had completely lost their natural instincts for leading people.
Here's what nobody wants to admit: traditional leadership development training is designed by people who've never actually had to make a payroll, fire someone on Christmas Eve, or tell a room full of angry shareholders why profits are down 23%. It's all theory. Beautiful, well-structured, completely useless theory.
The Real Problem With Leadership Training Today
Most programs start with the assumption that leadership is a skill you can learn from a manual. Like changing a tyre or programming a computer. But leadership isn't mechanical - it's messy, emotional, and completely dependent on context. The approach that works brilliantly in a law firm will fall flat in a construction company. What succeeds in Perth might be laughed out of the room in Sydney.
I've seen too many natural leaders come out of these programs completely neutered. They've been taught to follow frameworks, use specific language patterns, and tick boxes on communication checklists. They've lost their edge. Their authenticity. Their ability to make quick decisions based on gut instinct and experience.
Take Sarah - brilliant team leader at a logistics company in Adelaide. Before the training, she had this incredible knack for reading people and situations. Could spot potential conflicts days before they erupted and knew exactly how to motivate each individual on her team. Six months after completing a prestigious leadership program, she was using corporate speak, running every decision through a seven-step process, and had completely lost the trust of her team.
What went wrong? The program tried to turn her into a generic leader instead of helping her become a better version of herself.
What Actually Works (And Why Most Companies Won't Do It)
Real leadership development happens in three ways, and none of them involve sitting in a conference room for three days listening to someone with a PowerPoint presentation.
First: shadowing actual leaders who are succeeding right now, in your industry, in your market conditions. Not retired executives sharing war stories from the 1990s. Current leaders dealing with current challenges. I've arranged mentoring relationships between emerging leaders and people running successful businesses across Queensland and New South Wales. The learning is immediate, relevant, and practical.
Second: giving people real leadership challenges with real consequences. Not simulations. Not role-playing exercises. Actual responsibility where failure means something. I worked with a manufacturing company in Victoria that started putting their high-potential employees in charge of small projects with genuine budgets and deadlines. Half failed. But the half that succeeded? They became phenomenal leaders because they'd learned through actual experience, not theoretical scenarios.
Third: providing ongoing coaching during real leadership situations. Not annual reviews or quarterly check-ins. Real-time support when they're actually facing difficult decisions, managing conflicts, or trying to motivate underperforming team members.
The Training Industry's Dirty Little Secret
Here's something the training industry doesn't want you to know: leadership development is their most profitable product because it's almost impossible to measure results objectively. Companies spend millions on programs because they feel like they should, not because they see genuine improvement in their leaders.
I've audited leadership development initiatives across Australia, and the results are shocking. Companies that invest heavily in formal leadership programs show virtually identical performance metrics to companies that focus on practical, on-the-job development. The difference? The formal programs cost roughly eight times more and take people away from their actual work for significantly longer periods.
But here's the kicker - some companies are seeing incredible results with leadership development. They're just doing it completely differently.
What Smart Companies Are Doing Instead
The most successful leadership development I've seen happens organically and continuously. Commonwealth Bank (and I'll mention them by name because they're genuinely doing this well) has moved away from big, formal programs toward what they call "leadership moments" - quick, targeted interventions when people are facing actual leadership challenges.
Instead of sending someone away for a week to learn about conflict resolution, they bring in expert coaching when that person is dealing with an actual conflict in their team. Instead of teaching delegation theory, they provide support when someone is struggling to delegate effectively to their actual team members.
This approach costs about 40% less than traditional programs and produces leaders who are confident, authentic, and effective in their specific context.
The Uncomfortable Truth About Natural Leaders
Some people are natural leaders. They always have been, probably since primary school. They don't need to learn how to inspire people or make tough decisions - they've been doing it instinctively their whole lives.
Traditional leadership development often tries to turn these natural leaders into something else. Something more "professional" or "corporate." It's like taking a gifted musician and forcing them to play only from sheet music. You might get technically correct performance, but you've killed the magic.
The best leadership development I've seen focuses on helping natural leaders understand why they're effective, so they can be more intentional about it. And helping people who aren't natural leaders find their own authentic leadership style instead of copying someone else's.
Why This Matters More Than Ever
Leadership challenges are getting more complex, not simpler. We're dealing with remote teams, cultural diversity that previous generations never imagined, and economic uncertainty that changes the rules every six months. The last thing we need is leaders who are following rigid frameworks designed for a business world that no longer exists.
What we need are leaders who can think on their feet, adapt quickly, and maintain their authenticity under pressure. Leaders who can read a room, make tough decisions with incomplete information, and inspire people who might never meet them face-to-face.
Traditional leadership development simply isn't producing these kinds of leaders. It's producing people who can facilitate workshops and quote leadership theories, but struggle when faced with real-world leadership challenges.
The companies that figure this out first will have a massive competitive advantage. The ones that keep throwing money at outdated leadership development programs will keep wondering why their middle management layer is struggling.
Time to stop pretending that leadership is something you can learn from a textbook and start developing leaders the way they actually develop - through experience, mentoring, and real-world application.
Because at the end of the day, leadership isn't about what you know. It's about who you are and how you show up when things get difficult.
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