Organizations do not know learning-program ROI in 75% of cases.
brandonhall.comResearch reportUpdated 23 September 2026
Leadership Development Effectiveness Statistics: Reach, Transfer & Impact
Explore leadership development effectiveness statistics: 86% call it a priority, while 77% report a leadership gap and 37% use coaching.
Key insights
the numbers most people quoteOrganizations treat leadership development as an urgent strategic priority.
ddiworld.comOrganizations face a persistent gap in leadership capabilities.
ddiworld.com- 10%
of people possess high talent for managing others.
- 10%
of leadership development occurs through formal coursework and training.
- 22%
of organizations say they are highly effective at measuring the impact of learning and development.
- 24%
of organizations report that most learning is applied on the job.
- 8%
of companies measure the business impact of their learning programs.
Practice the conversation before it counts.
Try itShare of Organizations surveyed in DDI global leadership research
Leadership priority
86%Leadership gap exposure
77%Investment acceleration
40%Stretch assignment use
34%
- 86%
of organizations identify leadership development as an urgent or important priority.
- 77%
of organizations report experiencing a leadership gap.
- 40%
of organizations have accelerated leadership development investments since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.
- 34%
of organizations use stretch assignments as a leadership-development method.
- 29%
of organizations use assessments as a leadership-development method.
- 24%
of organizations use formal succession-planning programs as part of leadership development.
What we read into it
Equip managers to reinforce learning, since 58% of organizations identify manager capability as a major barrier and only 24% say most learning reaches the job. With 89% of L&D professionals backing proactive skill building, leaders should invest in measurement, engagement, retention, and a stronger learning culture.
Share of Surveyed learning and development professionals
Proactive skills builders
89%Engagement concerns
63%Talent retention concerns
53%Learning culture concerns
36%
- 22%
of organizations say they are highly effective at measuring the impact of learning and development.
- 58%
of organizations say manager capability is a major barrier to effective learning transfer.
- 24%
of organizations report that most learning is applied on the job.
- 29%
of learning and development professionals say their organizations are concerned about measuring learning impact.
- 89%
of learning and development professionals say proactively building employee skills will help navigate the evolving future of work.
- 63%
of learning and development professionals say their organizations are concerned about employee engagement and motivation.
- 53%
of learning and development professionals say their organizations are concerned about retaining talent.
- 36%
of learning and development professionals say their organizations are concerned about building a learning culture.
What we read into it
Half of managers report no management training, and 45% of employees lack recent skills development, so organizations should build leadership capability deliberately. Because managers influence 70% of team engagement, organizations should pair challenging assignments and mentoring with focused coursework as the leader shortage grows.
- 70%
of the variance in team-level engagement is attributable to the manager.
- 50%
of managers report receiving no management training at all.
- 45%
of employees say they have not received training to improve their skills in the past year.
- 10%
of people possess high talent for managing others.
- 20%
of people show some natural talent for managing others.
- 69%
of millennials say leadership skills are not fully developed in their workplaces.
- 70%
of leadership development occurs through challenging assignments and experiences.
- 20%
of leadership development occurs through developmental relationships such as coaching and mentoring.
What we read into it
Make meaningful weekly feedback a management priority, since 80% of recent recipients are fully engaged and engaged teams show better customer, productivity, profitability, quality, and attendance outcomes. Pair that routine with well planned development to support engagement and retention, as 43% say they would leave for better learning opportunities elsewhere.
- 93%
of employees say well-planned employee development programs positively affect their level of engagement.
- 21%
of employees say they are highly engaged at work when they receive meaningful feedback from their manager.
- 80%
of employees who have received meaningful feedback in the past week are fully engaged.
- 43%
of highly engaged employees receive feedback at least once a week.
- 10%
higher customer metrics are associated with teams that receive regular, meaningful feedback.
- 14%
higher productivity is associated with highly engaged teams compared with disengaged teams.
- 23%
higher profitability is associated with highly engaged teams compared with disengaged teams.
- 43%
lower turnover is associated with highly engaged business units in organizations with generally low turnover.
Development Spend Efficiency
6 of 6 statisticsWhat we read into it
Rising learning and development budgets, reported by 42% of organizations versus 20% reporting cuts, indicate continued investment in leadership capability, while average direct spending reaches 4.1% of payroll. They do not establish effectiveness, since only 8% measure business impact and most organizations cannot calculate program ROI.
- 75%
of organizations do not know the return on investment of their learning programs.
- 8%
of companies measure the business impact of their learning programs.
- 24%
of organizations evaluate learning programs using business results or return on investment.
- 42%
of organizations report that their learning-and-development budgets increased year over year.
- 20%
of organizations report that their learning-and-development budgets decreased year over year.
- 4.1%
of payroll is the average direct learning expenditure reported by organizations in the Association for Talent Development State of the Industry study.
Turn the Next Conversation Into Practice
Before your next one-to-one, feedback discussion, or performance conversation, open practice giving feedback and rehearse the exact moment that could strengthen engagement. With 80% of employees who received meaningful feedback in the past week fully engaged—and managers influencing 70% of team-level engagement—this is a leadership capability worth practicing before it matters.
Careertrainer turns that preparation into a live voice role-play in minutes: add your people, product, or values, then face an AI counterpart while a second AI scores your goals, milestones, and anti-patterns. Repeat safely until the conversation is clear and constructive. Build the wider capability with difficult conversations and data-driven leadership practice—without launching an IT project or relying on theory alone.
Practice these numbers
- Before using performance data to address a sensitive issue, practise turning facts into a focused, fair leadership conversation. Careertrainer.ai lets you build the scenario around your own context and rehearse it with a realistic AI counterpart, while a separate evaluator assesses defined milestones and communication skills with evidence from the transcript—not just a generic model impression.
- Before a conversation about underperformance, a boundary, or an unpopular decision, practise the moments where emotions rise and your counterpart pushes back. Careertrainer.ai simulates a realistic live voice exchange with a character shaped by behavioural patterns, so you can repeat the situation safely and receive structured 70/30 feedback grounded in your objectives and transcript.
- Before your next feedback conversation, practise being clear about the issue without losing trust or avoiding the message. Careertrainer.ai creates a realistic live voice exchange around your own situation, then separately evaluates goal achievement and core feedback skills with transcript evidence—so you can repeat the conversation, refine your approach, and build confidence beyond passive learning.
- Before a disagreement turns into an escalation, rehearse how to surface interests, set boundaries, and keep the conversation productive. Careertrainer.ai lets you practise with an AI counterpart whose reactions reflect personality and behavioural patterns, then provides separate, measurable feedback on your objectives and conversation skills. It is practical simulation for leadership, HR, and sales—not just conflict theory.
Cite this report
Lindner, J. (2026). Leadership Development Effectiveness Statistics: Reach, Transfer & Impact. Careertrainer. https://careertrainer.ai/en/reports/leadership-development-effectiveness-statistics/
Sources
last verified 23 Sept 2026- gallup.com15 stats
- ddiworld.com7 stats
- td.org7 stats
- learning.linkedin.com7 stats
- ccl.org3 stats
- brandonhall.com2 stats
- www2.deloitte.com1 stats
- gartner.com1 stats
How we collect and check these numbers
Each figure is taken from a published source with a reachable URL. We keep the original wording, group numbers by theme, and mark one counter-intuitive finding per section. Counts and sources on this page are derived from the cited rows — they are not marketing totals.
