Why You Should Pick Leadership Training Based on Career Stage
According to the Chartered Management Institute, 82% of managers were promoted into the role without sufficient leadership training.
The good news is, if you’re browsing our website, you’ve already decided not to be or stay as one of them.
The challenge is what course to choose, and the most common mistake is to weigh things up solely by topic or by price.
The better way to choose is by stage. The right leadership course depends far less on the brochure than on where you are in your leadership career. A programme that transforms a new manager would bore a director, and a board-level intensive would lose someone leading their first team.
So before you compare a single course, work out which of these four you need.
Stage 1: Leadership training for new managers
The leap: from managing tasks to managing performance and change. You can run a team. Now you need to galvanise one, and to lead it through the times when things don’t go to plan.
What to look for: these types of courses usually sit at CMI Level 5. The best courses at this level that turn your experience into an effective, repeatable approach you can evolve over time.
The mistake to avoid: collecting short, one-off topic workshops instead of one coherent programme. Five disconnected half-days rarely add up to the capability a single accredited course builds.
The course we recommend:
Leadership and Management Course (CMI Level 5)
Stage 2: Senior leadership skills training courses
The leap: from running a function to shaping strategy and leading other leaders. You’re no longer judged on your output, but on the performance of people you don’t directly manage.
What to look for: strategy, commercial fluency, and the ability to develop other leaders. This level of course should be at CMI Level 7. A senior, cross-sector cohort matters more here than at any other stage because the perspective and network expansion is half the value.
The mistake to avoid: assuming experience is a substitute for leadership development. Leadership courses give you the structure and objective insight that no amount of experience can substitute.
The courses we recommend:
Senior Leadership Programme (CMI Level 7)
Executive Mini MBA Accelerator
Stage 3: Directors courses (board-level)
The leap: from leading the business to being accountable for it. Governance, fiduciary duty, financial oversight, and decisions made with incomplete information and real consequences.
What to look for: board-level content, not more general leadership. Governance, financial literacy, strategic risk, and ideally a CMI Level 7 or postgraduate-level qualification that reflects the seriousness of the role.
The mistake to avoid: treating director development as just another leadership course. It’s a different discipline. The legal and governance responsibilities are not things you can pick up on the job without thorough context.
The courses we recommend
Directors Development Programme Accelerator
AI for Directors and Leaders Programme (CMI Level 7)
Two things that matter at every stage
Whatever stage you’re at, two things are worth weighing once you’ve shortlisted.
First, accreditation, depending on what you need from it. An independent stamp, usually from CMI in the UK, gives you a recognised qualification you can take with you and confirms a programme has been assessed against a national standard. It isn’t the only mark of quality, though. Plenty of excellent programmes are built for applied impact rather than a certificate. So, the real question is whether you need the qualification itself, for your CV, for chartered status, or for a formal progression route, or whether you’re mainly after the capability.
Second, application. The test of any course is whether you could do something differently straight away the day after it ends. If a programme can’t do that, then it’s not as actionable as a forward-thinking leader needs it to be.
Leadership training or management training?
This is something that often stumps our delegates, but there’s a clear difference.
Management training is about running things: planning, processes, budgets, delivery. Leadership training is about people and direction: vision, influence, developing others, leading change. You need both, and the balance tips toward leadership the more senior you get. If you’re mostly operational in your function, lean toward the management end. If you’re setting direction and carrying others with you, lean toward leadership.
So, which course?
Once you know your stage, the choice gets simple, because you’re no longer comparing everything against everything. You’re comparing the handful of programmes built for where you actually are.
Browse our leadership programmes
The questions we often hear from leaders about their development programmes
How do I know which stage I’m at?
First, you should look at what you’re judged on. If this is your own output, this points to Stage 1 or 2. Then, if you’re judged on performance of other leaders, this suggests you’re at Stage 3. Then, accountability for the organisation itself points to the board.
What’s the best leadership course for a new manager?
A CMI Level 3 programme aimed at first-time and aspiring managers, covering the fundamentals of leading a team before you step up to Level 5.
Do you get a qualification?
Usually a CMI qualification at Level 3, 5 or 7, and sometimes an optional postgraduate certificate. Always check what’s included in the fee.
