16 Aug Why senior leaders should attend external leadership training with their teams

Businesses often invest heavily in leadership programs for middle managers and emerging leaders. Yet too often, the most senior staff don’t attend, assuming ‘I don’t need to be trained’. This approach risks significantly reducing the return on investment. For leadership development to stick, the most senior leaders must also participate in any external training they want their subordinates to.

1. Presence from senior leaders provides powerful role modelling. Leadership behaviours cascade downward. If those at the top of the leadership structure demonstrate that they’re willing to learn, reflect, and stretch themselves, it legitimises the program and encourages genuine buy-in. If, however, they remain absent, the training can easily be dismissed as a box-ticking exercise.

2. Participation ensures shared frameworks and language across the organisation. Training introduces new concepts, tools, and approaches. Without senior leaders immersed in the same material, misalignment is inevitable. But when everyone—from the executive team to frontline leaders—shares a common understanding, the organisation can embed these ideas into strategy, decision-making, and culture.

3. It creates a culture of continuous learning. These days, no leader should assume they’re ‘finished’. When senior leaders willingly sit alongside their teams in development programs, they send a powerful signal of humility and adaptability. This fosters a climate where growth is normalised, and people at every level are more likely to embrace new ways of working.

4. Senior leaders who attend are better equipped to coach and reinforce the training content afterwards. They can contextualise the training for their teams, weave it into performance conversations, and ensure that the investment delivers lasting behavioural change rather than fading away within weeks.

In short, senior team involvement multiplies the value of any leadership program. It signals commitment, ensures alignment, and helps embed new practices into your teams’ DNA.
Having coached and mentored the leaders of scores of hospitality businesses, the best return comes when leadership and management training starts at the top and flows down through the leadership team. It becomes a positive driver of culture and performance.