Capability continues to develop after formal learning ends
Over the years, I have often been asked to assess participants during a three-day leadership programme.
I am generally comfortable doing that. After watching many people work through demanding discussions, activities and feedback,
I have become reasonably good at recognising strengths and leadership potential.
I still get it wrong.
Some participants who struggle to make an early impression later become highly capable leaders.
Given time and experience, qualities that were difficult to see during the programme begin to emerge.
I find that both encouraging and humbling.
It is also a useful reminder that three days provide only a glimpse of someone's capability at that point in their development.
For complex human skills, learning can take much longer to show.
Knowledge can be immediate. Capability takes time.
People can learn a new system or understand a revised process quite quickly. Their knowledge can be tested before they leave the room.
Leadership develops differently.
Giving feedback, coaching someone, resolving conflict and making difficult decisions all rely on judgement.
The principles can be taught, discussed and practised. Applying them well across different people and situations takes experience.
A participant may understand a useful approach to feedback during a programme.
Their real test comes later, perhaps with a team member who becomes defensive or raises an issue they had not expected.
That conversation adds something the programme could not provide. The next one is informed by it.
Confidence grows, judgement improves and the original framework gradually becomes part of how they lead.
Development can be difficult to see while it is happening
This helps explain why early impressions are sometimes misleading.
People enter formal learning with different levels of confidence, experience and readiness.
Some are immediately articulate and comfortable in a group. Others need time to think,
try unfamiliar behaviours and make sense of what they are learning.
Visible confidence during a programme can make someone stand out.
It remains a poor substitute for seeing how they respond to months of responsibility, setbacks and difficult conversations.
The quieter participant may return to work and begin applying the learning carefully.
A supportive manager provides opportunities and asks questions about what happened.
Small improvements accumulate until the person who made little impression during the programme is
leading with sound judgement and growing confidence.
Research into the transfer of learning supports the importance of what happens after formal development.
A meta-analysis of 89 studies found that motivation, personal characteristics and
the work environment all influenced whether learning transferred into practice.
Workplace support was particularly important for open skills such as leadership, where the response must be adapted to the situation.
The workplace shapes what follows
Two people can attend the same programme and leave with similar understanding. Their development may take very different paths.
One returns to a manager who encourages them to use the learning, provides feedback and allows room for reflection.
The other returns to an environment dominated by immediate pressures, where familiar habits quickly take over.
The formal experience was shared. The opportunities that followed were different.
A separate meta-analysis covering 335 independent samples found positive effects across participant reactions,
learning, transfer and organisational results.
Its findings also highlighted the value of practice, feedback, spaced learning and thoughtful programme implementation.
The evidence fits what many leaders observe in practice. Capability is built through repeated use.
Reflection helps people understand what happened. Feedback guides the next attempt.
Looking beyond the final afternoon
Immediate evaluation still matters. It tells us whether a programme was relevant, engaging and well delivered.
Knowledge checks can show whether key ideas were understood.
Neither can tell us what kind of leader someone will become.
That answer emerges through the decisions they make, the relationships they build and the way they respond when circumstances become difficult.
Some of the most valuable development only becomes visible months or years later.
Organisations can respond to this in practical ways.
A manager can revisit the participant’s goals after three months and ask where the learning has been applied.
A second conversation at six months can explore what has changed, what still feels difficult and what support is needed next.
Early impressions from the programme can also be reviewed later.
That provides a useful check on how accurately potential was judged and where capability has developed in ways that were not initially obvious.
A three-day programme can introduce new approaches and create a strong foundation.
The workplace provides the situations that turn them into capability.
I will continue to form views about people during leadership programmes.
That is part of my role. Experience has taught me to hold those views lightly.
Some people need time before we can see the leader they are becoming.
References
Blume, B. D., Ford, J. K., Baldwin, T. T., & Huang, J. L. (2010).
Transfer of training: A meta-analytic review. Journal of Management, 36(4), 1065–1105.
Lacerenza, C. N., Reyes, D. L., Marlow, S. L., Joseph, D. L., & Salas, E. (2017).
Leadership training design, delivery, and implementation: A meta-analysis. Journal of Applied Psychology, 102(12), 1686–1718.