AchieveForum Releases Research to Re-Shape Leadership Development

BOSTON, Oct. 29, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- AchieveForum, a global leadership development organization, has released the findings of their years-long research into why learners fail to adopt new leadership behaviors that they have learned. AchieveForum's findings were based on a review of hundreds of peer-reviewed documents on neuroscience and behavior change, as well as interviews and experiments conducted with dozens of clients.

AchieveForum found even the best leadership development programs are failing to change behaviors. Despite massive investments in the leadership development industry (an estimated $14 billion annually in the US alone), we can't expect more than 1-in-3 learners to apply the new behaviors they've learned for more than a year. 

AchieveForum's research revealed that the culprit is not low-quality instruction, but rather that current leadership development programs can't overcome existing leadership habits. Even after participating in a course, when learners return to their work environment, old habits are triggered instead of the new ones. Changing behaviors starts with changing environmental factors and integrating these modifications into everyday workflow is the key to sustained behavior adoption.

"We were excited to find that while we do need to make some philosophical large shifts in how we change and develop our leaders to make behavior change stick," says CEO Scott Bohannon, "we don't have to abandon the existing programs and infrastructure that we already have in place – we can actually leverage that to drive the necessary modifications."

The research is available for review here.

About AchieveForum
AchieveForum empowers people to lead successfully in turbulent business landscapes. From in-person instruction to digitally-enabled experiences, we are the human touch that drives leadership success, not just leadership know-how. Learn more at www.achieveforum.com, and connect with us through LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter.

SOURCE AchieveForum