The goal of leadership development is not learning.
In fact, if learning is ALL that happens as the result of a workshop or program, we have failed.
Early in my career, I spent ten years at Boston-based Digitas, a digital and direct marketing agency where the focus was never simply on producing clever or beautiful or award-winning communications.
The real question was always: did we actually change prospect or buyer behavior? Only now do I fully appreciate that I carried that oh-so-crucial question into my work as an executive coach and leadership program facilitator.
Learning matters, of course. But it is only a stepping stone. Too often, leaders get stuck standing on that stepping stone — without ever fully crossing the river and building the new muscle required to behave differently on the other side.
Three questions to ask before you launch anything
So for every leadership, teamwork, or communication initiative, ask yourself:
- What specific behaviors are we trying to change? Not themes, not competencies — behaviors, described concretely enough that two people would recognize the same thing.
- Where will people be held accountable to practice those behaviors? Within the program, in their daily work, or ideally both — because “learning” does not automatically translate into new habits.
- How will we measure those behaviors before and after? That is what allows you to prove the investment was worth it, to the participants and to whoever funded the program.
Answer those three well, and you have designed a river crossing. Skip them, and you have designed a very pleasant afternoon.
The pot of gold lies not in what people KNOW at the end of a program. It lies in what they now DO differently.
