Leader Development is More Than a Monthly Lecture, Here’s a Better Blueprint

Leaders are responsible for making other leaders. Period.

If we accept that core assumption, then several questions quickly follow: What are we developing? Why does it matter? And how do we actually do it?

The what and the why of leader development are the right places to start. Those matter immensely. But the biggest breakdown in most leader development efforts isn’t intellectual—it’s practical. It’s in the how.

The how requires deliberate design, thoughtful activities, and meaningful investment of time and energy. But when those demands collide with urgent tasks, operational priorities, and unexpected fires, developmental activities often slide to the margins. Well-intentioned leaders default to the easiest version of development they can produce: a structured class, a PowerPoint deck, and one mere 60-minute slot on a monthly schedule.

This leads us to a big problem many leaders (responsible for developing other leaders) face: Development degrades to a poorly designed check-the-box event, not a transformational process. This is problem #1.

But there’s a second, more concerning one and it’s deeply entrenched. Problem #2 is that most leader development efforts are startlingly narrow. They rely almost entirely on one developmental element: formal instruction.

You can see this trend across many settings, but the military offers a particularly vivid example. As a profession, the U.S. Army, as an example, speaks passionately about developing leaders. Its doctrine is thoughtful, backed by theory and research, and is genuinely inspiring. But at the ground level, the lived experience of young leaders often looks nothing like what the doctrine envisions.

Ask commanders how they’re developing leaders and you’ll commonly hear about the “monthly LPD”—Leader Professional Development. In practice, this usually means that once a month, a group gathers in a classroom where one person lectures through a large slide deck. Maybe there’s some discussion. Maybe it’s engaging. But more often than not, it’s a formal, structured, academic-style event. It’s boring.

Is that a bad thing? Not necessarily, but it’s also probably not considered a good thing.

Is that enough? Absolutely not.

A lecture is fine. A class is fine. Reading is helpful. But when those things become the entirety of leader development, we end up building leaders who are informed but not transformed. They are informed but not inspired. They are not practiced, confident, or fully equipped.

If we want to develop leaders who can think critically, adapt under stress, handle ambiguity, and positively influence those they lead, then we must acknowledge a hard truth: Lectures are the least impactful component of leader development. And too many leaders rely on them exclusively.

There is a better, richer, research-backed way to develop people—and it has been available to us for decades.

The 70–20–10 Model Shows How Leaders Actually Grow

In their 1996 book, The Career Architect Development Planner, Michael Lombardo and Robert Eichinger offered a robust set of research based and experience tested development plans. Their book’s subtitle even included this interesting phrase, “for individual learners, supervisors, managers, mentors, and feedback givers.”

The book’s chapter covering how to develop direct reports includes a seemingly ordinary paragraph about development planning buried within the chapter. But this section has proven to have profound effects on the world of organizational learning and development. Their insights have shaped organizational development practices worldwide—from the Center for Creative Leadership to the 70:20:10 Institute.

Their core finding was striking:

• 70% of development comes from experiences—the work itself
• 20% comes from relationships—mentorship, coaching, feedback, and social learning
• 10% comes from formal learning—courses, reading, certification, and workshops

In other words, most leadership growth does not happen in a classroom or from a PowerPoint slide. It happens in the messy, uncertain, high-friction reality of real work that is supported by real people.

Let’s break down each component.

The 70%: Experience is the primary driver of growth. “Experience” is not random exposure or simply doing a job. It refers to structured, purposeful, challenging work that stretches a person beyond their current abilities.

Experiential learning includes:

• Taking on unfamiliar responsibilities
• Leading a cross-functional project
• Managing a crisis or complex problem
• Running a meeting or team for the first time
• Navigating competing priorities without clear answers
• Designing a new initiative from scratch

These activities, big and small, are all developmental experiences—experiences that include challenge, autonomy, stakes, and the emotional friction that makes learning stick. This is where tacit knowledge forms, discernment develops, adaptability grows, and leaders learn who they are and how they show up under pressure.

Individuals rarely forget the lessons earned through difficult responsibilities. They internalize them.

The 20%: Relationships turn experience into insight. If experience supplies the raw material of learning, relationships help transform it into meaning. Leaders grow through:

• One-on-one coaching
• Mentorship from seasoned leaders
• Honest, timely feedback
• Open conversations with peers
• Collaborating to solve problems
• Witnessing how others navigate challenges

Social learning accelerates growth because humans naturally make sense of experiences through dialogue and reflection. We need someone to ask the clarifying question, challenge the assumption, or point out blind spots we couldn’t see.

Without relationships, developmental experiences become crushing crucibles. With relationships, they become productive developmental training.

The 10%: Formal learning provides the framework. Courses, workshops, certifications, and reading play an important role—they create:

• Shared language
• Consistent conceptual understanding
• Technical knowledge
• Introduction to best practices based on previous efforts
• Mental models to interpret real-world situations

Formal learning gives cognitive structure and language to what leaders are experiencing. But by itself, it cannot create lasting behavior change. It must be integrated with practice and supported through relationships.

What Does This Mean?

Here’s the “so what”: If your development program consists entirely of classroom-style learning, you’re tapping into only 10% of what actually causes leadership growth.

This highlights that real growth happens through challenges, supportive role models, and real world problem-solving. It shifts the focus from traditional academic style learning to a more holistic approach of performance development.

What this really means is that your monthly LPD sessions are likely not only dull, but on their own, they are egregiously narrow in their overall impact in developing other leaders.

Courses, lectures, and PowerPoint slide-based courses alone are insufficient. We must do better.

What Can We Do Then?

The question becomes: how do we implement this theory in our daily leadership?

Let’s look at five helpful implications for this 70-20-10 model and how we can apply it in our own leadership contexts. These will help us to apply each of the three components practically, coherently, and effectively.

1. Use experiences as your primary development tool.

Stop assuming development must start with a class. Instead, start with work.

Here’s the mindset shift: Your next task or project is someone’s next developmental opportunity.

This does not require huge creativity, just intentionality. For example:

• Assign a less experienced team member to lead a project normally given to a heavy hitter.
• Give someone responsibility you’re not entirely sure they’re ready for. There’s no growth in the comfort zone.
• Rotate roles to give people broader exposure.
• Let a junior leader facilitate a meeting you normally lead.
• Allow a high-potential teammate to run a new initiative with your oversight.

Then pair the experience with check-ins, reflection, support, and feedback. This is the work of rich development—not more slides.

2. Design experiences with challenge, support, and assessment.

A developmental experience is not simply throwing someone into the deep end to figure it out. Research shows that developmental experiences must include challenge, support, and assessment. (We discussed these components of developmental experiences in this previous post.)

Without support, challenge becomes demoralizing. Without assessment, learning remains unarticulated and fuzzy. Without challenge, growth is not meaningful.

You can build all three into even the simplest work assignment.

3. Leverage the full developmental power of relationships.

Developmental communication is a leader’s superpower—and yet it’s one of the first things we cut when things get busy.

Ask yourself:

• Am I coaching my people, or just giving guidance?
• How often do I create space for developmental conversation?
• Are mentorship relationships established intentionally?
• Do my people receive frequent, high-quality feedback?
• Do they know how to seek feedback?
• Is feedback multidirectional, not just top-down?

These relational dynamics are not luxuries. They are the 20% of the model that amplifies everything else.

4. The three components are not meant to stand on their own.

The three components of development should not operate independently. They reinforce one another when aligned.

Two examples:

Example A: Skill Introduction → Experience → Reflection

1. Teach a short class (10%)
2. Assign a stretch project that requires the skill (70%)
3. Discuss progress regularly through coaching (20%)

Example B: Experience → Coaching → Reading

1. Give someone a challenging responsibility (70%)
2. Coach them through difficulties (20%)
3. Provide targeted articles or readings to deepen their understanding (10%)

This is how you reach 100% of developmental potential.

5. Expand learning beyond the leader-led relationship.

You shouldn’t be the only source of development for your people. Nor should development flow only from top to bottom.

Broaden the ecosystem:

• Pair peer colleagues in “talking partner” relationships to process challenges, ask questions, and work together towards established developmental goals
• Establish cross-organization mentorship channels
• Encourage peer feedback
• Create forums for team members to teach each other
• Use project-based collaboration to expose people to new perspectives

One of the most powerful—and simplest—structures is peer learning. People feel safer sharing vulnerabilities with peers. They troubleshoot together, hold each other accountable, and make sense of challenges in ways that feel accessible and honest.

If you build a developmental ecosystem—not just a program—you multiply your impact exponentially.

Conclusion: Leaders Are Made Through Intentional Design, Not Monthly Lectures

If we truly care about developing the next generation of leaders—those who will make our cause, our organizations, and communities better—then we must rise above narrow, lecture-based approaches.

Your people deserve more than PowerPoint. Your purpose deserves more than check-the-box training. And you deserve the joy of knowing your development is actually shaping leaders who will carry the work forward for years to come.

The path forward is clear:

• Use experiences as the engine of growth.
• Use relationships as the guide rails.
• Use formal learning as the structure—not the centerpiece.
• Integrate them intentionally.
• Start small and iterate as you go.

Your first attempt doesn’t need to be perfect. It might be scrappy. It might be simple. But a scrappy start beats an elegant plan you never launch.

Remember, leader development isn’t an event. It’s a process of interrelated experiences, relationships, and training.

Start designing experiences. Start creating relationships. And start really developing leaders.