3 Reasons Leadership Development Doesn’t Stick

After working with leaders and executive teams for over two decades, I’ve seen the same thing over and over again...

Organizations want to grow their leaders.

They invest the time, the money, the energy — and still, nothing really changes.

Not because people don’t care. But because the approach is broken.

If your leadership development isn’t sticking, chances are you’re getting one (or more) of these wrong.

It's not integrated into the strategy.

Too often, leadership development sits off to the side — disconnected from the business strategy, goals, and day-to-day reality of the organization. When it’s not part of the bigger picture, it gets treated like an afterthought.

✅ What to do instead:
Link development directly to the outcomes you care about. Show your leaders how growing their skills helps move the business forward. When they see the connection, buy-in increases and so does impact.

It's not driven from the top.

If it doesn’t matter to the boss, it’s not going to matter to the team. Leaders can’t just “allow” development — they have to lead it. When they don’t, even the best programs lose traction the moment people walk back into their day jobs.

✅ What to do instead:
Senior leaders need to model what’s being taught, speak the same language, and reinforce the growth. When development is driven from the top, it becomes cultural — not optional.

It's treated as an event, not a journey.

A one-day workshop, a three-day retreat…that’s a short-term investment with short-term results. The excitement quickly fizzles without fuel, repetition, and reinforcement.

✅ What to do instead:
Give your people time to practice, reflect, and refine. Support them with coaching, conversation, and ongoing alignment. Real change doesn’t happen in a moment, it happens over time.

If any of that sounds familiar, I just released a video that dives deeper. It lays out the exact formula I’ve used with organizations across the country to build leadership development that creates lasting transformation.

👉 Watch the Video: How to Actually Transform Your Leaders

And if you have questions — or want help putting this into action in your organization — reach out to us here. We’d love to connect.