Leadership Development Isn't Just Courses: Build an On-the-Job Ecosystem

Leadership grows primarily through practical experience and supported risk-taking, not just classroom courses. Organizations should design ecosystems - stretch assignments, action learning, coaching, feedback, and targeted digital or classroom learning - so leaders can practice, reflect, and be held accountable. Empowerment and psychological safety are crucial to accelerate development.

Management vs. Leadership: A practical distinction

Management describes what you do; leadership describes who you are. That distinction matters when you design development programs. Organizations still default to catalog courses and classroom workshops, but leadership capability grows fastest through real work, real responsibility, and real feedback.

Most leadership learning happens at work

When we ask leaders to name the top influences on their development, few list a single short course. In many practitioner exercises and studies, formal programs appear among the least-cited single contributors; stretch assignments, exposure to cross-functional teams, and difficult on-the-job experiences rank much higher.

That doesn't mean courses have no role. Executive programs, simulations, and formal coaching can accelerate insight and provide frameworks. But they work best as parts of a broader development ecosystem that centers experiential learning.

Practical approaches that produce leaders

• Stretch assignments and rotational roles: Give people ownership of meaningful, high-stakes projects. Real responsibility forces learning in ways classroom scenarios cannot.

• Action learning and project-based peer groups: Small, diverse groups tackle strategic problems from the actual business while a facilitator keeps the process disciplined. This combines real work with reflective learning.

• Coaching, mentoring and sponsorship: Coaches sharpen skills; mentors translate context; sponsors create opportunities. Each role plays a different part in accelerating readiness.

• Feedback loops and psychological safety: Regular, honest feedback and an environment where people can take calculated risks without punishment speed development. Amy Edmondson's research on psychological safety remains influential in showing how teams learn faster when people feel safe to speak up.

• Microlearning and digital practice: Short, focused content and simulation-based practice delivered digitally help leaders refresh skills between assignments and apply new ideas immediately.

Design a leadership ecosystem, not a course catalog

Treat leadership development as an integrated system. Start by mapping the critical leadership behaviors required for success in your organization. Then align experiences: project assignments, cross-functional exposure, coaching, and targeted classroom or digital learning. Use stretch goals and measurable milestones so development is visible and accountable.

Empowerment and risk-taking matter

Leaders develop when organizations give them the authority to make decisions, experiment, and recover from failures. Empowerment must be paired with clear guardrails and accountability so risk-taking becomes productive rather than chaotic.

Bottom line

Courses and workshops provide useful frameworks, but leadership skill development happens largely through experience, exposure, and supported risk-taking. Build an ecosystem that connects on-the-job assignments, peer learning, coaching, and targeted training to grow leaders at scale.