How to close the practice gap in leadership training
Leadership training often looks good on paper — inspiring workshops, polished e-learning modules, motivational speakers. Yet months later, behaviours haven’t changed. The problem isn’t knowledge. It’s practice.
Leaders don’t get enough safe, realistic opportunities to try out skills before they need them in the real world. That’s the practice gap.
Why the practice gap matters
New managers learn the theory of delegation but struggle to apply it with their team.
Senior leaders hear about resilience but don’t practise staying calm in crisis conversations.
In both cases, when the real situation comes, mistakes happen at the highest stakes.
3 steps to closing the gap
1. Create realistic practice environments
Roleplay helps, but it’s inconsistent and limited. Interactive simulations or AI-driven conversations provide scalable, repeatable practice.
2. Provide feedback in the moment
Leaders need to know not just if they were “right” or “wrong,” but how their words, tone, and decisions affected outcomes.
3. Build practice into a loop
One-off training events don’t stick. Leaders need ongoing opportunities to revisit scenarios, refine their approach, and try new strategies.
Example
In one programme, we replaced a classroom exercise with an interactive scenario where managers practised handling performance reviews. With repetition and feedback, confidence rose — and employee satisfaction scores followed.
Bottom line
Closing the practice gap means shifting leadership training from knowledge transfer to safe, repeatable skill-building. Leaders who practise more lead better.
See our process for designing safe practice spaces