Executive Development: The Do’s and Don’ts
There’s no single way to maximise executive development. In our experience, it starts with understanding the exact context, business challenges and the person – then matching this with the right cadence, setting, and tone of work that brings real return value.
Ask most executive leaders if they value development, and they’ll say absolutely. Ask to see their diary, and the story often changes.
For many senior leaders, the space to reflect, learn, and grow is the first thing to go when time gets tight. Yet the return on value from even small, consistent investments in development is immense. Executive training and development isn’t about theory; it’s about sharpening judgment, expanding perspective, and creating the kind of mental bandwidth that drives better decisions.
If you play sport at any level, having a coach and receiving feedback are constants – not luxuries reserved for high performers, but fundamentals for all performers. In most arenas, structured reflection is viewed as essential to progress. In business, however, it too often gets treated as optional. That mindset is a missed opportunity.
Here are a few simple Do’s and Don’ts that separate the high-return in corporate leadership development programs from the tick-box ones.
1. Do protect cadence. Don’t treat it as optional.
Development compounds through rhythm. Whether it’s a coaching series, peer forum, or a leadership lab, consistency matters more than intensity. A monthly 60 – 90 minute session held sacred beats a one-off two-day event that’s quickly forgotten. When growth is scheduled like performance, it starts to shape it.
2. Do link learning to live decisions. Don’t isolate it from reality.
The best development happens around real dilemmas. Strategy choices, people challenges, or moments of uncertainty.
When sessions feel abstract, leaders disengage. When they feel immediately useful, insight turns into behaviour. Good design meets executives where they are, not where theory says they should be.
3. Do value the environment. Don’t underestimate setting.
Online formats are efficient, but face-to-face work still carries unmatched power for connection and candour. The right setting (calm, focused, off the grid) changes the quality of thinking. A balanced approach that blends online and in-person touchpoints creates both access and depth. It signals that leadership reflection is work, not a luxury.
4. Do measure return on value. Don’t mistake activity for impact.
The true ROI of executive development isn’t hours logged or modules completed. It’s the improved quality of conversations, alignment, and decisions that follow. When programmes are designed with return value in mind, their worth becomes self-evident.
5. Do make reflection a habit. Don’t let urgency win every time.
Leadership ambition without space for reflection is like having a map but never stopping to check direction. The best executives carve out time to step back, review, and adjust. Not as an indulgence, but as a performance discipline.
Closing thought
Executive development remains one of the most under-utilised levers of organisational performance. It’s not about time away from the job; it’s about time invested in it.
When leaders get the cadence, setting, and return value right — and make space to think, regularly, with intent — they don’t just develop themselves. They raise the standard for everyone around them.
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