The Keys to Successful Leadership Training and Development

“A chain is only as strong as its weakest link.” That adage has been adapted throughout the business world—and with good reason. When your organization isn’t acting in lockstep, work starts to break down. Processes fail; teams talk past one another. The bigger the crack, the bigger the consequences.

Nowhere is this pressure higher than with leaders. From the C-Suite to middle management and down the ladder, your leaders are your most valuable strategists. As you scale your operations and incorporate tools like AI, the onus is on leaders to reskill so they can manage confidently. But reskilling isn’t exactly easy—especially when crunched for time or resources.

Enter your leadership training and development program. When your L&D team equips leaders with the resources to overcome a critical skills gap, it becomes so much easier for leaders to advance. And as education technology improves, it’s only getting easier to personalize these experiences to your audience’s needs.

In this article, we’ll discuss the keys to successful leadership training and development. Learn how leadership training is evolving in the age of AI, and get tips and strategies to ensure your leaders are set to excel.

What Is Leadership Training and Development?

Leadership training and development is the act of upskilling and reskilling talent in your organization so they can more effectively coach, manage, and motivate their own teams. 

For decades, leadership training was treated as a broad, one-size-fits-all program designed to scale with hundreds, if not thousands, of employees. But leadership is personal, and no two leadership styles are quite alike. For that reason alone, companies have historically struggled to provide leadership training that truly sticks—or truly scales.

As training technology improves, however, leadership training and development programs are evolving into something far more dynamic and agile. Especially now, with AI, L&D teams can design personalized learning paths for individual leaders—at scale—and allow agentic models to do the heavy lifting.

“AI is reshaping both the capabilities leaders need and the ways we help them develop those capabilities,” said Divya Shah, an associate director at Duke Corporate Education. “Leaders now need comfort with data, ethical decision making, and the willingness to collaborate with intelligent tools as part of everyday decisions.”

From the advent of hybrid work to DEI in the workplace, leadership is only becoming more complex. According to Shah, AI cuts through the complexity to make reskilling easier. “It’s the connective layer that notices what a leader needs next, reminds them of insights they may forget, and helps translate learning into personal growth. It turns leadership development into a living, adaptive system rather than a sequence of static experiences.”

Why Is Leadership Training and Development Important?

Effective leadership training is important in any economy, but in today’s AI-driven climate, it’s mission-critical to survival. 

A recent McKinsey study found that 92% of businesses plan to up their investment in generative AI over the next three years. Unfortunately, many of these same companies feel ill-prepared to implement AI effectively. Per the study, 48% of employees consider training the most important driver of successful AI adoption, but half of that sample feels they lack the support they need. 

Perhaps that alone isn’t surprising. Plenty of businesses are investing in AI now and worrying about the finer details later. But that strategy only goes so far; at some point, the other shoe drops. And it’ll ultimately be people—at all levels of your organization—who are responsible for learning the tools, building new processes, and shoring up gaps in your products or services.

In a time of top-down AI mandates, effective leadership training is needed now more than ever. As Shah put it, “Many organizations design programs one layer at a time and hope the learning will cascade. It rarely does. When senior leaders adopt a new language or mindset but the levels below them do not share that exposure, the system snaps back to old habits.”

Research shows that leadership and organizational resilience are inextricably linked. This isn’t a time to sit back and react; it’s an opportunity to lean in and cultivate the leadership your company needs to thrive. Whether you’re at the forefront of AI or you’re trying to navigate today’s choppy currents, your leadership development program should be a top priority.

Key Leadership Skills to Develop

The art of leadership may be changing, but teaching it doesn’t have to be guesswork. From modern competencies to tried-and-true favorites, here are just a few of the top leadership skills to prioritize in 2026 and beyond:

AI fluency

As large language models become more advanced, the onus is on leaders to leverage AI tools effectively. Thankfully, many of these leaders are already rising to the occasion. According to online course provider edX, 71% of managers say they’re considering upskilling or reskilling based on advancements in AI technology. 

These managers aren’t alone: Per edX, 44% of non-managers are also preparing for an AI future. Given that leaders come in all forms, educators must prioritize AI fluency for all employees, regardless of title or tenure.

Change management

Even if a leader isn’t directly leveraging AI at your company, they likely have direct reports who are or soon will. Unless these reports are reskilling now, they’re in for a culture shock once their role and responsibilities shift.

Your leaders are your most important strategists: They help your organization navigate uncertainty, and they’re the first to usher teams from anxiety to zen. Invest in effective change management, and give your leaders the tools to champion change. 

Conflict resolution

When change hits, trust is tested and relationships are strained. In 2023, one in five workers described their workplace as “toxic”—a number that only stands to increase in times of stress and uncertainty.

Your leadership training program should be equipped to handle conflict resolution of all kinds. Give leaders the tools to diagnose team issues, de-escalate conflict, and lean on additional help (e.g., HR) for situations that require an especially delicate touch.

DEI advocacy

AI might be the current workplace trend, but it shouldn’t take away from other emerging leadership topics—including DEI. As many organizations quietly backpedal or outright dissolve their programs on equity in the workplace, now’s an opportunity to double down on your past commitments.

“DEI has matured from a program to a core leadership capability,” explained Shah. “The focus now is psychological safety, inclusive decision making, and navigating differences with humility and confidence.”

According to Shah, AI can actively complement DEI by democratizing access to education and making learning more inclusive. “Anyone with curiosity can now learn by simply asking a question.”

She continued, “As a multilingual person, my thoughts often move across four languages. There are moments when I know exactly what I want to express, but the structure of it is influenced by different linguistic patterns. AI helps refine that thinking without changing its essence. It gives so many people a path to contribute with clarity and confidence. That is real inclusion in action.”

Emotional intelligence

When developing leaders, coaches and instructors often fixate on the hard skills: business acumen, strategy decks, delegation, etc. While these factors are certainly important, it’s easy to overlook the softer, more personal side of great leadership. And emotional intelligence is perhaps the most crucial soft skill of all. 

According to Shah, modern tools are making it easier for leaders to express themselves—and grow accordingly. “Digital tools expand learning into the daily flow of work. They make development more inclusive by giving every voice a way to participate, especially those who think quietly, reflect deeply, or feel hesitant in group settings. These tools create environments where expression feels authentic rather than performative.”

By modeling a style of leadership that prioritizes self-awareness and authenticity, you signal to your employee base that you value candor over silence and compassion over fear. That alone puts you ahead of so many other competitors.

Remote-first leadership

It’s been half a decade since COVID-19 first hit, and the aftereffects are still felt today. While companies have largely implemented return-to-office policies, remote work remains an integral part of our daily work lives.

“Hybrid work has changed what leadership looks like day to day,” said Shah. “Trust building, clarity, presence, and influence matter even more when people are dispersed.”

According to Gallup, 52% of U.S. employees currently enjoy a hybrid work arrangement, while another 26% are exclusively remote. Only 22% are always on site—all but confirming the “one size fits all” approach to leadership is forever gone. To motivate today’s talent, leaders must understand how to speak not just to those in the room, but to those over Zoom or Teams, too.

Examples of Great Leadership Training

We’ve covered the key leadership competencies worth pursuing—but what exactly does that look like in practice? As an educator, program manager, or L&D lead, you have the power to shape your organization’s leadership pipeline for the better.

Here are some examples of successful leadership training and development in action:

Professional development programs

Perhaps the most obvious form of leadership training is professional development. While plenty of businesses treat PDP like a check-the-box exercise (or forgo it altogether), best-in-class organizations take a different approach. They treat PDP as an opportunity for managers to meet with direct reports, learn about their career goals, and create an action plan to achieve them.

Often, professional development and leadership development go hand in hand. According to LinkedIn, 94% of employees stay longer when organizations invest in career development. And when employees stick around for the long term, that means more time for them to learn your business, deepen their skill set, and grow into future leadership positions.

Structured leadership programs

Where PDP typically takes place between manager and direct report, structured leadership programs allow employees to learn from SMEs across the business—and even externally. Structured programs range in scope and focus, but they tend to be led by HR (e.g., manager training), L&D (e.g., leadership workshops), or another SME. 

Sometimes, that SME will be a third party. Nowadays, you can leverage leadership advice from a range of institutions—from Harvard Business School to Vistage to Korn Ferry. That said, nothing beats an internal leadership training program if your goal is to scale sustainably.

“With today’s tools, every employee can contribute to collective learning,” said Shah. “Internal podcasts, short reflection recordings, and shared insights allow people to articulate what they learned and how they applied it. This builds a culture where learning does not sit only with external coaches but emerges from within the workforce itself.”

Self-serve leadership programs

If you’re part of L&D, you know the story well: You have a vision for employee education at your organization, but you’re faced with limited funding, scrappy tools, and few hands. It’s tempting to let managers or HR handle the brunt of the leadership training burden—but you know that creates a missed opportunity to offer more.

That’s where self-serve leadership programs come into play. Learning and development teams are experts at designing scalable learning experiences—from online courses that can be enjoyed on demand, to community learning via discussion forums, to live webinars that teach by the thousands. These programs require more time and effort than PDP or structured programs, but they’re well worth the investment. 

“L&D is often treated as a cost center, but this mindset is outdated. L&D is the respiratory system of an organization—it circulates capability, clarity, alignment, and confidence.” Shah continued, “With AI and modern digital learning, multi-modal ecosystems can sustain development through short, accessible moments that reinforce learning long after a program ends.”

Tips for Effective Leadership Training and Development

Building leadership training and development resources doesn’t have to be daunting. Despite the common barriers to success (lack of funding, skeptical senior leaders, etc.), the path to successful leadership training is getting easier by the day. And AI is playing a fundamental role.

Here are three tips to help you achieve leadership training and development at scale:

1. Rethink how you create.

Leadership training and development software has come a long way. The traditional learning management systems of old are evolving—fast—and they’re utilizing AI to make digital learning a breeze. Whether you’re looking to design personalized learning for different leadership styles, keep learners engaged through microlearning, or track success with detailed analytics, AI is there to help you execute. 

According to Shah, it’s important to be flexible when creating content. Not only is this important when embracing new tools like AI, but it also helps to mitigate outdated design philosophies and ensure you’re personalizing your program for modern audiences.

“A single conversation with an introverted or multilingual leader can be transformed into a digital avatar video, a podcast clip, an interactive playbook, or a micro simulation,” she shared as a potential example. “This highlights the diversity of thinking styles within the workforce and encourages broader perspectives.”

2. Balance live and async training.

Leadership will always be a human art; AI shouldn’t change that. Instead, prioritize a tool that lets you balance live training with async, self-directed eLearning. Also prioritize software that makes personalization easy—so every leader can learn in a way that resonates with them. 

“Live mentorship and coaching remain essential because they hold the emotional, reflective, and relational space that humans need to grow,” said Shah. “The goal is not to replace live coaching but to build a parallel, digitally enabled learning ecosystem that supports just-in-time learning, continuous reinforcement, and multiple paths of expression.”

3. Let AI help you coach.

It may seem counterintuitive to lean into AI for a process as human as coaching. But coaching is complex, and AI is quickly becoming indispensable for any leadership training program looking to cater to those complexities at scale.

“AI can continuously scan program data, engagement signals, and qualitative feedback to identify emerging capability gaps. Instead of waiting for quarterly reviews or post-program reports, it can recommend the right interventions immediately,” said Shah. “It can suggest microlearning, coaching prompts, simulations, or peer learning moments based on what a leader needs at the exact time they need it.”

Leveraging AI on the backend is practically table-stakes. What truly differentiates the best leadership training programs—and tools—is the ability to use AI as an active participant in a learner’s journey. Look for training software that uses AI not just to analyze, but to assist.

“Reflective AI coaches add another layer of value. These tools guide leaders through the thinking process that turns insight into personal growth. They help refine ideas, process emotions, and connect learning to real situations at work and in life. Leaders carry both their personal and professional realities everywhere, and reflective AI coaching respects that.”

Future-Proof Your Leadership Training With Intellum.

With other learning platforms, you’re paying either for outdated software with no modern sheen, or for a tool that tacks on AI and calls it a day. That’s not our approach at Intellum. 

We get that human-led learning isn’t going anywhere. We also believe in the power of AI to make it easier for L&D teams to do their job, and do it without compromise. That’s why we’ve designed an education platform that puts you in the driver’s seat, with AI as your number one co-author.

Use Intellum to design leadership training that resonates. Our AI-powered Creator Agent helps you create content faster, so you can iterate to your liking. If you prefer a more hands-on approach, you can build first and leverage AI later. Our model will recommend everything from learning objectives to assessment questions. 

AI creation is only the beginning. Each learner also has access to their own AI virtual tutor, ensuring they’re engaging with content that’s personalized to their skill set and interests. Take the burden off your L&D team and HR admins, and use Intellum to develop leaders with confidence.

Book a demo, and learn how brands like Stripe, Gusto, and Amazon use Intellum to future-proof their education needs.