Demystifying Leadership Development: Exploring Methods and Understanding Motivations for Leadership Training among Middle Managers

Abstract

As global industries become more competitive and uncertain, companies are spending more on leadership development for their employees. Despite this increasing trend, measuring the effectiveness of leadership training remains a challenge given its subjective and complex nature. Instead of forcing the quantification of the qualitative measurement of leadership training effectiveness, this study is interested in investigating and exploring how different methods of leadership training are received by a specific group of leaders, namely middle managers. The goal is to ascertain which methods work best for this demography while understanding their motivations for leadership development, so that companies can be more targeted and focused in investing on different group of employees in their respective organisations. To realise this research objective, a mixed-method study was conducted.

Firstly, 20 participants and five facilitators of a 12-week leadership training programme were interviewed for thematic analysis to be conducted on the gathered data. The participants were middle managers of a multinational based in Southeast Asia. Grounded theory was developed based on data from the interviews together with post-training feedback survey responses that were obtained from 587 participants between January to December 2023. Secondly, to compare findings from the qualitative analyses from a regional standpoint, a survey was conducted on 200 middle managers from companies and industries that are based in North America and Europe. Regression analysis was conducted on this data to understand how different methods of leadership training influence outcomes, as well as changes in perception and motivation before and after intervention. Thirdly, case studies were conducted on five global companies who approach leadership development differently across their workforce.

The outcomes of this study include theoretical contributions to adult learning and motivation theories. Specifically, the study provides empirical evidences that align with principles of experiential learning and how it can influence development of intrinsic motivation among middle managers to pursue professional development. In terms of practical contribution, the study highlights key considerations for organisation including prioritising high-engagement, applicability, and social learning in designing and delivering leadership training for the demography. The study has also highlighted further opportunities for future research potentially for a larger and diverse sample, as well as longitudinal analysis which can monitor and track how middle manager develop over time.