When it comes to leadership development resources, there are a TON of solutions out there in the market. The possibilities range from custom material curated by in-house L&D teams to self-paced eLearning software & AI-based coaching. Despite the varied approaches organizations take to developing their employees’ skills, there are two common questions that all organizations want to answer:

• What impact will our leadership development initiative make?
  

• How do we measure our initiative’s return on investment?

Qualitative reports have long advocated for leadership development & coaching as a powerful way to build confident, productive leaders & to strengthen the cultures & teams of companies across the globe. And leadership development & coaching have been on the rise over the last several years. According to The Hay Group (Korn Ferry), roughly 40% of Fortune 500 companies have been utilizing executive coaches, & 78% of LinkedIn’s 2022 Top Companies said they were investing in coaching for employees to focus on everything from their general work-life balance & well-being to leadership diversity.

The practice is on the rise with global organizations like Goldman Sachs, as well. In their 2022 People Strategy report Goldman Sachs cited that over 8000 partners, managing directors, & vice presidents attended a leadership program. Jacqueline Arthur, Chief Human Resources Officer, expounded on their choice: “We take great care in developing highly motivated & engaged teams around the world, with more than 48,000 people across our global offices. Our priority is to invest in our people, at every stage of their career— from attracting exceptional individuals with unique & diverse backgrounds to implementing effective talent development strategies & ensuring that all of our people have the resources they need to grow & thrive, both in & outside of the workplace.”

But the throughline to connect those anecdotal improvements had been tough to connect to quantitative metrics. In 2011, PricewaterhouseCoopers & the Association Resource Center found that “the mean Return on Investment in coaching was 7 times the initial investment, & over a quarter of coaching clients reported a stunning ROI of 10 to 49 times the cost.”

In 2023, BetterManager, an international leadership development platform, sponsored a double blind study with The Fossicker Group to find similar results. In their report, the average return on investment (ROI) for leadership development was $7 for every $1 spent. This profit multiplier appeared to come from a combination of increased company revenue & sales, as well as the costs saved “through higher employee retention & lower recruiting costs.”

So what is the distinction that maximizes this profit multiplier? According to this Harvard Business Review Analytic Services report, leadership training needs to be “relationship-based,” meaning that it can be personalized to the individual’s needs, applies to their day-to-day work, & holds them accountable for making progress towards their development goals. 86% of respondents to the HBR survey agreed that “the changing nature of work requires a more personalized approach to leadership skills development,”  & 88% believed there was a “unique value that a more personalized approach to leadership skills development brings.” Ian Ziskin, president of EXec EXcel Group, highlighted that this strategy broadens learning beyond a traditional classroom environment where content is presented to employees. Organizations use coaching & experiential learning “as a way of helping the individual process what they’ve learned & apply it to themselves more effectively as a leader on an ongoing basis.”

As the leadership development industry expands & more research is conducted, it’s clear that the best way to level up leaders’ skills in the workplace is through a combination of inspired content & personalized, actionable tips they can use from day one. As organizational psychologist & author Adam Grant says, “Without enjoyment, potential stays hidden.” (Hidden Potential: The Science of Achieving Greater Things, p. 104). This is one of the reasons our clients report such strong satisfaction: when they have a fun, playful space where they can be vulnerable to learn new skills, the learning sticks, & the skills become behaviors they carry into their daily lives.

So what are The Perk’s client’s saying?

“My favorite part of the workshop was the energy! We have training on different topics all year long, but this felt high impact & positive – something I can really use!”

“I love the thought process behind these skills. It sounds like common sense, but so many of us struggle on at least one or more of these skills.”

“The breakout sessions were my favorite part of the workshop! It was nice to connect with other leaders who I may not spend as much time with regularly, & the ability to practice the skills was helpful.”

We also see this impact reflected in our Net Promoter Score (NPS) of 9.7

If you want your leadership development initiatives to have staying power, let’s chat! Book a meeting with a Perk Coach here.

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