In our recent leadership development effectiveness survey, we asked HR and L&D leaders what they’re doing to develop leaders, what’s working well, how they’re measuring impact, and why, despite everything, leadership programs still fail.

The resulting insights allowed us to identify 10 leadership development trends worth paying attention to for the rest of 2026, especially as learning leaders continue to evaluate where to integrate AI for improved program performance.

View our key findings below or download the full report to see all 10 trends.

How AI is being used in leadership development

L&D leaders report that AI adoption is real, but still emerging. While 81% of learning teams are actively using AI in their programs, the majority of them are using the technology for content creation or translation, not application, practice, personalization, or analytics.

L&D teams are becoming comfortable using AI for getting more done with less, but the next opportunity is using it to provide richer capability-building experiences. AI has opened a new world of learner centricity; from system-integrated skill evaluation to personalized coaching and roleplay. The survey findings indicate that there is still plenty of room to grow in this area as L&D teams move from efficiency to deeper practice.

However, the path to AI integration is not simple. Many learning leaders report that there are still barriers to AI adoption in their organizations, including lack of internal expertise and security concerns.

Why leadership programmes fail

That leadership programs break down in execution is a clear message from survey respondents. The reported challenges aren’t related to content, structure, or delivery, but to circumstances often out of L&D’s direct control.

The leading challenge, unsurprisingly, is measuring impact. 56% of learning leaders told us they find it hard to measure impact, which results in poor buy-in and inadequate budgets. While measuring impact sits within L&D’s remit and is an essential step in designing any learning intervention, the reality in most organizations is that disconnected systems and other influencing factors make evidencing behavior change or skills application difficult.

The second area where programs break down is low participation or competing priorities: the attention deficit that results in empty seats and distracted participants. This challenge is particularly prevalent in online learning, where attendance rates are infamously low.

31% of respondents reported weak manager follow-through as an additional execution challenge. L&D teams rely on managers for learning reinforcement, as well as any closed feedback loops to evaluate on-the-job application. Where this expectation is not built into organizational processes or culture, leadership program effectiveness is limited.

How organizations measure the impact of leadership training

Measurement showed up repeatedly as one of the clearest pain points in the survey. Measuring leadership development ROI is a pervasive challenge and an increasing pressure on L&D teams, yet, because of its difficulty, most organizations struggle to adopt more than basic measurement methods. 88% use completion surveys and 69% use satisfaction surveys, but only 25% look at performance metrics.

Some organizations are successfully adopting more robust measurement methods, such as manager observations, retention or engagement metrics, and pre/post 360° feedback, but how to measure impact of leadership training is the biggest unresolved challenge.

More survey insights

Want to explore more insights from the survey? Download the 10-page report for the full story, which includes trends in human-led learning, learning goals and priorities, and the most effective learning methods as reported by L&D peers.