5 Principles of Great Leadership Development Design
If you’ve ever been asked to “build a leadership development program,” you know it’s not as simple as finding a few workshops and calling it a plan.
Too often, leadership development starts with course topics, not a strategy. The result? Leaders attend sessions, feel inspired for a week, and then nothing really changes.
Great leadership development starts with strategic design. It’s thoughtful, connected, based on how adults actually learn, and built to solve real business problems. When done right, it becomes one of the most powerful levers for organizational performance and culture.
Here are five principles that make all the difference.
1. Anchor everything to business strategy
If leadership development doesn’t move the business forward, it’s just another HR initiative.
Start by asking:
What are we trying to achieve as a business this year?
Where are leaders helping (or holding us back) from reaching that goal?
This is where the leadership development planning needs to begin.
If the strategy is growth, focus on decision-making, collaboration, and resilience. If it’s stability, focus on clarity, consistency, and accountability.
Every learning outcome should link directly to a business outcome.
Why this matters: Adults need context. When leaders see how their growth supports real goals like revenue, retention, and customer experience, they care. When they don’t, they disengage.
2. Design for how adults learn best
Adults don’t learn because you told them something interesting. They learn because they can connect it to their own experience.
That means replacing information with interaction. Keep theory short and let people apply concepts to real challenges they face. Encourage self-reflection and peer dialogue.
Use the 70-20-10 principle as your guardrail:
70% on-the-job learning and experimentation
20% through coaching and feedback
10% through structured learning sessions
Programs that reflect this balance create momentum that lasts long after the classroom ends.
Why this matters: Design learning around problems, not topics. Adults learn when they’re solving something that matters to them.
3. Build for transfer, not attendance
The biggest risk in leadership development isn’t poor content. It’s poor transfer.
Learning without application fades fast. That’s why you need to design reinforcement from day one.
Start before the workshop even begins:
Have participants identify a real leadership challenge they’ll focus on throughout the program.
Involve their managers early to discuss how they’ll support follow-through.
After the session, keep the learning alive with:
Quick tools or “micro-nudges” that remind leaders to practice what they learned
30- and 60-day check-ins to reflect on progress
Peer accountability groups to normalize continuous learning
Transfer isn’t a nice-to-have. It’s the entire point of the program.
Why this matters: Behavioural change happens through small, consistent action supported by accountability. Design for both.
4. Keep the structure simple and scalable
Having a lot of modules doesn’t mean a lot of impact.
A strong program has focus. Start with a foundation that addresses the few habits that make the biggest difference.
That might look like:
A kickoff session that defines what leadership means in your business context, or what your Leadership Competencies are
A series of three to four core workshops on feedback, coaching, and communication
Peer circles for shared learning and problem-solving
Tools and templates that leaders can use immediately
A few well-timed refreshers to bring it all back to life
Pilot it. Gather feedback. Iterate. Then expand.
Why this matters: Good design is layered and intentional. It can grow with your business instead of overwhelming it.
5. Measure what matters most
It’s easy to measure participation. It’s harder, but far more valuable, to measure impact.
Define what success looks like before you launch:
What specific behaviours should increase?
How will we know they’re showing up?
What business outcomes will improve if this works?
Gather both qualitative and quantitative data:
Employee engagement and retention metrics
Performance or feedback indicators
Stories and examples from leaders and their teams
The strongest programs tell a story that combines numbers and narratives.
Why this matters: It’s critical to evaluate training’s effectiveness beyond satisfaction. True measurement lives in the change you can see and feel across teams.
The Takeaway
Leadership development isn’t about filling seats in a classroom. It’s about building capability that fuels performance, culture, and strategy.
When you design with intention, anchored in business goals, grounded in how adults learn, and built for real application, you create something that lasts.
👉 If you’re ready to design leadership development that actually works, I’d be happy to help. Book an intro call to talk about what that could look like for your organization.