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Why Most Leadership Training is Complete Rubbish and What Actually Works
The corporate training room smells like burnt coffee and broken dreams. I'm sitting in another "transformative leadership workshop" watching a 28-year-old consultant explain emotional intelligence to a room full of people who've been managing teams since before she was born. The irony isn't lost on me.
After 17 years in business consulting across Melbourne, Sydney, and Brisbane, I've witnessed more leadership training disasters than I care to count. Companies throwing money at feel-good workshops while their middle managers are drowning in dysfunction. It's maddening.
The Problem Isn't What You Think
Here's my controversial take: most leadership training fails because it focuses on the wrong bloody thing. We're teaching people to be better humans when we should be teaching them to be better decision-makers. Empathy workshops won't help your team leader handle a crisis at 2 AM when the server crashes and clients are screaming.
I learned this the hard way in 2019. Spent $15,000 sending my entire management team to a three-day leadership retreat. Came back with matching t-shirts and absolutely zero improvement in performance. That expensive lesson taught me more about leadership development than any certification ever could.
The real issue? We're treating leadership like a personality trait instead of a skill set.
What Actually Moves the Needle
Leadership training that works focuses on three things: problem-solving under pressure, clear communication frameworks, and decision-making processes. Not personality assessments. Not trust falls. Not bloody vision boarding.
Problem-solving under pressure. Your best leaders aren't the ones who inspire with motivational speeches—they're the ones who can think clearly when everything's on fire. When I worked with a Perth manufacturing company last year, their production manager Sarah wasn't particularly charismatic. But when a major equipment failure threatened a $200,000 order, she systematically worked through solutions while keeping her team calm. That's leadership.
Communication frameworks matter more than natural charm. Give someone a structured approach to difficult conversations and they'll outperform the naturally gifted communicator every time. I've seen introverted engineers become exceptional team leaders simply by learning repeatable processes for giving feedback and managing conflict.
Decision-making processes separate good leaders from great ones. The best leaders I know don't necessarily make perfect decisions—they make decisions efficiently and take responsibility for outcomes. They have frameworks for gathering information, consulting stakeholders, and moving forward without endless deliberation.
The Training That Actually Works
Professional development courses that focus on practical application beat theoretical workshops every time. I've had better results with half-day workshops on specific skills than week-long leadership intensives.
Scenario-based training trumps everything else. Put managers in realistic situations with time pressure and competing priorities. Watch them struggle, then debrief what worked and what didn't. This mirrors real leadership challenges better than any personality assessment.
Peer-to-peer learning often works better than expert-led sessions. Your experienced supervisors teaching newer managers creates more genuine development than importing external consultants. Plus it costs about 80% less.
Action learning projects where participants solve real business problems while learning leadership concepts. I've seen this approach transform teams because they're applying skills immediately rather than hoping to remember workshop content months later.
The Uncomfortable Truth About Natural Leaders
Here's something that'll upset the HR department: some people are naturally better at leadership than others. We pretend everyone can become an inspiring leader with enough training, but that's nonsense. What we can do is help people become competent leaders who get results.
Not everyone needs to be Richard Branson. Sometimes you just need someone who can run meetings efficiently, give clear directions, and make timely decisions. Those skills are teachable. Charisma isn't.
I've worked with plenty of quiet, methodical leaders who consistently deliver better results than their more dynamic colleagues. They understand their strengths and work within them rather than trying to become someone they're not.
Australian Businesses Getting It Right
Atlassian has consistently impressed me with their approach to leadership development. They focus on practical skills and continuous feedback rather than one-off training events. Their leaders aren't necessarily the most inspiring speakers, but they're effective at moving projects forward and developing their teams.
Woolworths Group has done excellent work developing frontline managers through structured mentoring programs. They pair experienced store managers with newer ones, focusing on real situations rather than theoretical scenarios.
The Australian mining sector, despite its reputation, often excels at practical leadership training. When safety and profitability depend on clear decision-making, companies can't afford fluffy training programs.
Stop Wasting Money on Feel-Good Training
Corporate training budgets would be better spent on:
- Structured mentoring programs pairing experienced leaders with developing ones
- Problem-solving workshops using real business scenarios
- Regular feedback systems and coaching conversations
- Cross-functional project assignments that stretch leadership capabilities
The most effective leadership development happens through challenging assignments with proper support, not isolated training events. Give someone responsibility for a difficult project with guidance from an experienced leader, and you'll see more growth than any workshop can provide.
The Reality Check
Most leadership training feels good in the moment but changes nothing long-term. Companies continue these programs because they're easy to measure and everyone leaves feeling positive. But positive feelings don't translate to better performance.
Real leadership development is messier, more personalised, and takes longer. It requires honest feedback, challenging assignments, and willingness to let people fail sometimes. That's harder to package into a neat training program, but it's what actually works.
The best leaders I know developed their skills through experience, mistakes, and mentorship—not training rooms. Maybe it's time we admitted that and designed development programs accordingly.
Leadership isn't about becoming a better person. It's about becoming someone who can guide teams through uncertainty and complexity while achieving results. Everything else is just expensive team building.
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