What is action learning in leadership development?

Action learning uses real business challenges to develop leadership skills.

How does action learning improve leadership skills?

It builds problem-solving and decision-making abilities in real-time.

What are the benefits of leadership development programs?

They improve leadership capability, employee performance, and business outcomes.

Who should attend leadership development training?

Managers, executives, and high-potential employees.

How is action learning different from traditional training?

It focuses on real-world application instead of theoretical learning.

Action Learning Leadership Development Programs

“We turned to LSA to help us custom design and deliver an action learning leadership development program to help drive performance for our leaders and managers.

They have done an excellent job diagnosing the business situation, designing an approach that fits our culture, and delivering a first class leadership solution.”
Sally Buchannan | VP Human Resources | Sony

“You exceeded our expectations. The customized facilitative leadership sessions were fantastic. Thank you for making such a meaningful impact with our leaders.
Tara Condon | Vice President, Product & Portfolio Development | BioMarin Pharmaceutical

“Through the use of dynamic, actionable frameworks and exercises, the Leadership Academy helped me dedicate time to leadership development on a routine basis and prompted some extremely worthwhile personal reflection.

An excellent starting point for building up leadership capabilities in a consistent way.”
Halle Yungmeyer | Manager, Clinical Packaging Operations | BioMarin Pharmaceutical

Why Action Learning Leadership Development Programs Work
From decades in the field, we know that when the stakes are high, peer accountability is strong, and support systems are aligned, leaders learn faster, retain more, and perform better.

What the Leadership Development Research Says
Most organizations struggle to develop leaders who can drive strategy and results. A recent Fortune survey found that only 7% of CEOs believe their companies are developing effective leaders — and just 10% think their leadership development programs have a measurable business impact.

Fortunately, research continues to validate the power of action learning:

A Human Resource Development Quarterly study found that leaders in action learning environments improve their competencies 25% faster than those in traditional classroom programs.

Research from ATD and i4cp found that high-performing organizations are three times more likely to use experiential learning for both frontline and executive leaders.

The lesson is clear: when peer-based learning is practical, relevant, and supported by feedback and accountability, leadership capabilities accelerate — and so does business performance.

Addressing the Most Pressing Leadership Skill Gaps
Senior executives consistently identify the most significant gaps in leadership capability as:

Strategic thinking
Creating and communicating a compelling vision
Leading organizational change
Inspiring and motivating people
Making decisions using an enterprise perspective

These are the very competencies that Action Learning Leadership Development Programs strengthen — because they are practiced and applied in the context of real business challenges.

Simultaneous Learning and Impact
The most effective leadership development initiatives integrate learning with doing. Our programs are designed to strengthen leadership mindsets, tools, and behaviors while driving tangible business outcomes. Each program is tailored to the organization’s unique culture, strategy, and goals — ensuring that learning directly fuels strategy execution and organizational health.

Action Learning Leadership Development: Build Leaders Through Real-World Challenges

What It Takes to Build High Performing Leaders
Leadership can be an abstract concept, but expectations are clear: Leaders must think systemically, make enterprise-level decisions, and inspire others to deliver superior results.

Our customized Leadership Action Learning programs — typically six to twelve months — bring these expectations to life. Small cohorts of high-potential leaders work together to:

Think strategically and develop a compelling business case for change.
Understand and execute the business strategy in a way that makes sense to the people and the business.
Present and sell recommendations to senior executives or boards.
Amplify strategic impact and grow as leaders while delivering measurable results.

Throughout the process, participants receive targeted training, microlearning, mentoring, AI-enabled insights, and real-time coaching to build critical leadership capabilities in the flow of work.

Results You Can See and Measure
As winners of the Bersin Leadership Development Award, our programs consistently drive measurable outcomes, including improvements in:

Sales performance: revenue, margin, win rate, and cycle time.
Customer outcomes: acquisition, loyalty, and satisfaction.
Strategic execution: implementation effectiveness and agility.
Employee performance: engagement, development, and retention.
Project results: cost, quality, and timeliness.

Often integrated with leadership simulation assessments, our flagship experiences — such as Driving the Bottom Line with Experiential Leadership and Strategic Decision Making Simulation — help leaders practice, perform, and lead with confidence.

Partner With Us
Contact us to explore how an Action Learning Leadership Development Program can help your organization turn leadership into a sustainable strategic advantage.

Ask about Pay-for-Performance options — where we link program success directly to the leadership metrics that matter most to your business.

Related Information

We reviewed the top Leadership Development offerings and selected LSA’s 12-month Leadership Program based upon the value and systemic approach.

The feedback on the program, approach, and results was phenomenal. While other programs may be better known, the other options were more theoretical and did not compare in terms of LSA’s practicality, quality, and results.

We could not be happier.

Stacey Porter
Senior Manager Learning and Development

LSA helped us with leadership development by designing a solution to match our unique needs and culture.

It was a huge success. I would highly recommend LSA to help take leaders and managers to the next level.

Karen King, SPHR
Manager, Human Resources

We partnered with LSA Global to help us invest in our people. LSA custom designed an impactful management curriculum to help upskill our key managers and leaders.

We consider LSA to be our trusted learning and development partner and a valued extension of our team as we rapidly scale. Thank you LSA!

Lisa Bruun
SVP Human Resources

At a time of change in our marketplace, LSA Global did an exceptional job helping our executive team create strategic clarity by helping us to define, clarify, and prioritize our corporate vision, mission, values, differentiation, target clients, strategic priorities, success metrics and key roles.

They beautifully navigated a very difficult and fuzzy situation, respectfully cleared out all of the cultural elephants, and shared impactful insights and leadership development theories along the way. They have transformed our business.

Laurie Sewell
President & CEO

LSA Global has been a great partner in helping us move toward being “the leading developer of talent in the service performance management industry.”

I have engaged LSA to help develop best-in-class programs in the areas of: Executive On-boarding, Manager Training, Sales Training and Coaching, Employee Engagement, and Instructional Design.

They have consistently met or exceeded my (very) high expectations and are always responsive to my needs to increase performance, engagement, customer satisfaction, and sales growth.

Mike Normant
Senior Director, Training & Development

After a difficult search to find a partner that could address a very specific leadership development need, we chose LSA Global. They were responsive to our needs and created a highly customized solution that we continue to see results from. It is nice to know we have access to their expertise with a simple phone call.

Valerie Blackburn
Director of Business Operations

The customized leadership program was very practical and achieved our goals. LSA adapted very well to our group and the situation and helped us build trust and awareness of successful leadership styles. We look forward to the next steps.

Erik Okholm
Director of Software Development

The strategy and alignment work with our leadership team was absolutely transformational. The decisions we made combined with the transparency, communication, and accountability were exactly what we needed. Thank you!

Dr. Raphael B. Merriman M.D
Medical Director, Liver Transplantation

LSA is an excellent sales and leadership outsource partner! They listen to our needs, are responsive, and work at a pace that keeps up with our rapid speed.

We have found LSA to bring strategic, innovative, and practical solutions to meet our business priorities by partnering effectively with our key staff. I consider them to be an important external extension of our team.

Thank you!

Wendy Chinn
Sr. Director, Global Sales Enablement

I continue to be impressed by the depth and breadth of LSA’s expertise in leadership development, and management development.

What a smart and client-centric group of great people who really know how to help leaders attract, engage, develop and retain top talent in a practical and results-driven manner.

Thank you LSA!

Tracy Esposito
Director, HR Business Partner

LSA’s approach and ability to bring the right leadership and management expertise and approach to eBay has been a great asset.

They really focus on helping us succeed in any way they can and definitely lifted up our leadership and management development capabilities.

Mike Normant
Learning & Development

As a high growth agency with cutting edge talent, we hired LSA Global to help clarify our strategy and work with our executive leadership team to help implement strategic changes in a way that made sense for our unique culture.

The work was so successful that we also hired them to coach our key leaders. LSA has been instrumental in helping us transition to a new leadership team and triple revenue. In this age of useless consultants, I highly recommend their practical and business-oriented approach to strategy, culture, and talent.

David Bentley
General Manager

LSA exceeded all my expectations.

We interviewed 7 potential training and consulting partners and selected LSA due to their expertise, flexibility, and breadth and depth of leadership solutions.

We were able to design a highly customized, focused, and relevant management training program that fit our unique needs.

Our leaders and managers galvanized as a team and are better prepared for the rigors of a leading their teams in a very competitive and fast-changing market.

Mitch Mandich
CEO

Your team was amazing. Facilitative Leadership was one of the best leadership and change workshops my team has ever attended. Thank you!

Diane White
Executive Director, Head of Product Development

I continue to be impressed by the level of leadership development training and management expertise and quality of advice and facilitation that LSA has to offer.

What a smart and client-centric group of great people who really know how to help assess and develop high performing leaders.

Tracy Esposito
Director

FAQs

Action learning uses small teams to address real business challenges to simultaneously develop leadership skills and move real work forward.

It pulls leaders out of their silos and forces them to engage with highly relevant business challenges while improving key skills such as enterprise-wide decision making, strategic thinking, and change leadership.

By integrating learning into the flow of work, action learning leadership programs improve real-time organizational problem-solving while cultivating executive resilience, strategic agility, and self-awareness.

The aproven approach is ideal for supervisors, managers, and executives who need to solve complex, real-world problems while enhancing their leadership and management skills. It is especially effective for high-potential individuals seeking growth opportunities through practical experience, stretch assignments, and peer feedback.

It focuses simultaneously on learning in the flow of work through real-world application and measurable business results instead of theoretical learning.