Five design principles that keep people learning long after a program finishes

What works well begins with the lived experience of leaders, not abstract ideas of aspirational leadership. When leaders can see themselves in the work – their decisions, reactions, relationships, and their patterns under pressure – then learning becomes relevant because their experience provides the raw material for reflection. Without this, leadership remains theoretical, something that’s talked about rather than lived.

This is why we at Hult Ashridge deliberately work with leaders in ways that feel congruent enough to matter, and then create the space they need to make sense of their experience.

Typically, learning doesn’t need “more content” or the “latest thinking,” but rather appropriate content that acts as a reference point for sensemaking rather than an answer. Frameworks are most useful when they help leaders name something they are already noticing but don’t yet have the words to describe.

Simply having the language to discuss conflict, trust, risk, motivation, speaking up, or ambiguity changes the quality of their conversations.

Change tends to happen in challenging moments that I call “itchy armpit moments” – when your body physically alerts you that something doesn’t feel quite right). To find that edge, leaders need to experiment. Crucially, experiments need to be devised in light of the organizational context and appetite for risk. 

By opening up their perspective of what is possible, it enables learning to move from insight to action, and ultimately, developing their ability to do something different. 

Effective leadership development makes reflection and sensemaking central. This is because developing a reflective practice strengthens leaders’ capacity to learn from experience beyond a learning program itself.

This means creating the time and tools to think about what they notice, their assumptions, the choices they have, and the consequences.

We know that leaders make sense of their experiences in ways that are specific to them and their context. That’s why we consciously create space for organic learning to emerge from what they notice, question, and test for themselves.

With this principle in mind, we customize learning design in two ways:

• Upfront – design based on an organization’s original requirements, together with conversations with key stakeholders (including participants) to understand the needs of leaders and the organization. This includes culture, strategic intentions, appetite for risk, and the dynamics shaping conversations.
  

• In the room – through deepened understanding and widening perspectives, we adapt in response to what emerges for this group of leaders at that time.

In effect, we co‑create the learning with the organization and the leaders who are participating.

For learning that lasts, programs must be designed with the potential to move between different content and processes, both planned and emergent.

In the image below, you can see this approach captured using the West Learning Model, which brings together four quadrants: