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Why are CLOs Making Leadership a Top Priority for Learning & Development?

Leadership is more than just a job title. Leadership is about the behaviors a person displays and the actions they inspire. Often, the most effective leaders – certainly from the perspective of L&D teams – are those who are always seeking to learn, develop and grow themselves. Organisations and L&D teams are increasingly of the belief that investing in leadership development can have tangible benefits, such as:

  • Improving communication across teams without fear of judgement
  • Encouraging trust and respect, which helps creativity and collaboration to thrive
  • Helping teams feel motivated, encouraged and valued, increases productivity
  • Guiding teams towards organisational goals, maintaining a sense of direction and purpose

In this blog, we explore some of the key questions that Chief Learning Officers are asking about leadership, and highlight some of the methods L&D leaders have adopted to help develop better leadership skills across the organisation. 

Ladership in action at an iVentiv event

How important is leadership development for CLOs?

The iVentiv Pulse report collates responses from C-suite executives employed by the world’s biggest companies, spanning four continents. Leadership Development and Executive Development was selected as the highest priority amongst HR leaders, with 57.8% of respondents selecting it as their main focus area in 2022. When it comes to budget priorities, executives are interested in investing their money in such initiatives as: 

  • ‘Building leadership capability'
  • ‘Mentorship platforms, simulations, and role play opportunities’
  • ‘Redesigning leadership development’

This leadership focus goes beyond the executive level with the need to build leadership muscle extending throughout the entire organisation. The importance of leadership has been trending up (43% of leaders in Learning, Talent, and Executive Development selected it as a priority in 2021) and has firmly established itself as the top topic in the US, UK, Europe, Asia and Australia (the five regions covered by the report). Commenting in the report, Jay Moore (Global Learning & Culture Leader, GE Crotonville) highlights one of the key consistent themes: "the need to equip leaders at all levels with the skills, frameworks and behaviours required to navigate and successfully lead through such a dynamic time." In an environment where it is difficult to attract and retain employees whose talents are in high demand, those employees will expect you to invest in developing their skills. Therefore, Jay argues, leaders need to coach and guide their teams or face the risk of poor performance and poor retention. 

Why is leadership so important right now?

Chief Learning Officers are under tremendous pressure to, in their words, properly navigate a “VUCA world” to keep their workforce engaged, and productive. Various respondents who selected leadership development as a key priority explained that agile leadership, they believe, would better encourage team cohesion during critical junctures, to build trust and resilience and steer away from rigid management structures and endless performance reviews. Leaders provide guidance, inspiration, and motivation to achieve a shared organisational goal. By making informed decisions with speed, learning and talent teams believe, leaders can better make change happen at the point of need, ensuring success on both an individual and team level. In the iVentiv Pulse report, David Watkins (SVP, Group Talent, Transformation & Engagement, Oerlikon) states “agility is not a trend, nor a project that one plans for a small portion of the business - it becomes a mindset and sustained capability within a firm at all levels.” During times of great organisational change, such as we’ve seen over the past three years, it is now more crucial than ever that L&D teams invest in leadership development to adapt to ever-evolving organisational needs.Learning and talent teams now seek to ensure that everyone has the ‘leadership mentality’ to drive the business forward; this includes the celebration of expression, team idea generation, and inclusive working. Healthy, effective leadership is essential for any business to reach its full potential.

How are businesses developing better leadership skills in their teams?

The data collected on the iVentiv Pulse shows a direct correlation between leadership and coaching as trending topics which have been front of mind for executives attending iVentiv sessions since 2021. Jay Moore comments that "If our leaders are not equipped to coach and guide our teams then it is a massive gap and blind spot (and ultimately poor performance) for companies if they ignore it." He mentions that organisations are now focusing on coaching business teams so that leaders can guide workers and provide the scaffolding for them to learn, which in turn they hope will develop the number of leaders (rather than just managers) within the company.  That focus on coaching culture is reflected in the data: for the 578 respondents from 435 companies that completed the questionnaire, 17% identified coaching as a key area for their function. This recent mindset shift, especially for companies in the US (23% of respondents found coaching to be a key area of development) reflects the constant need for business to be agile and adaptive.

How has leadership development changed the mindset within your workforce?

Be a part of an upcoming iVentiv Knowledge Exchange today to share your perspectives with your fellow leaders in Learning, Talent, and Executive Development.

Download the iVentiv Pulse 2023 Report to find out more about the issues that global organisations are prioritising. 

More Insights

Leadership Development in the Age of AI: Why Judgement Is the New Competitive Advantage

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In this interview, Abilitie’s Bjorn Billhardt, Founder and CEO, and Alex Whiteleather, Managing Director for Europe, at Abilitie explore how AI-enabled leadership simulations are transforming development by immersing leaders in realistic, high-stakes decision environments that build critical thinking, business acumen, and cross-functional collaboration.

For Chief Learning and Talent Officers navigating organisational change, flatter structures, and accelerating decision cycles, this perspective could offer a practical framework for rethinking Leadership Development in the age of AI, and a compelling case for why judgement, not knowledge, could provide the true competitive advantage. Watch the interview now and read about how Abilitie is shaking the world of Leadership Development with their brand new Case Challenges experiences.

What are the Top Priorities for Global Heads of Learning, Talent, and Executive Development in 2026?

Learning, Talent, and Executive Development, and the businesses they serve, are undergoing rapid change. AI is changing the way that employees work and learn. External disruption means that the markets businesses operate in are nothing like they were ten years ago. And the expectations on Learning and Talent leaders are enormous.

As a leader in L&D and Talent, what should you prioritise? iVentiv has surveyed almost 500 Global Heads of Learning, Talent, and Executive Development from 394 companies in 16 cities across 8 countries on three continents to find out what they are focusing on in their work. Together, their views provide a unique perspective on the state of Learning and Talent in 2026.

Read the full report for a detailed breakdown of the top topics, with expert comment from some of the leading thinkers in Learning and Talent Development. In this blog, we share some of the headline takeaways.

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In this conversation, iVentiv’s Richard Parfitt (Marketing Director), Hannah Hoey (Content Director), and Kristy Kitson (L&D Strategist) share three key learning and development trends that they predict could shape the 2026 agenda for Chief Learning Officers.

Drawing on insights from conversations with Global Heads of Learning, Talent, and Executive Development across industries, they explore how L&D is moving into organisational design, why skills-based approaches are becoming standard practice, and how the AI conversation is evolving from experimentation to responsible, human-centred integration. 

Informed by conversations with Heads of Learning and Talent at hundreds of companies, this conversation is a unique perspective on what might be in store in 2026 for Learning leaders navigating the future of work. Read the blog now.

AI Fluency vs AI Skills: What Udemy’s Global Trends Report Reveals About the Future of Work

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That is the central message of the Udemy Business Global Learning & Skills Trends Report; a data-rich analysis built from more than 17,000 global enterprises and 85,000 instructors and brought to life in a recent iVentiv interview with Gráinne Wafer, Global Head of Field Enablement at Udemy Business.

For senior executives, the implications are becoming impossible to ignore: AI fluency, not just AI skills, is emerging as the defining strategic capability for the years ahead.

Watch our interview now and read Udemy’s report here.

AI in Learning & Development Report

The topic of Artificial Intelligence has been impossible to escape in L&D over the past few years. For some, it stands to displace the entire function and render most of its skills and roles obsolete. For others, it represents an opportunity for Learning to reach more employees in more meaningful ways than ever before.

In this blog and report, we look in more detail at what Heads of Learning say they are really doing about AI. 

Skill Forward: How Comcast is Redefining Learning in the Age of AI

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In this blog, we explore Sara’s insights from leading Comcast through this transformation, and what every L&D leader can learn about scaling skills, converging human and digital capabilities, and preparing the workforce for constant change. Read it now.

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How can learning enable organisations to move from AI experimentation to enterprise-wide impact?

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Read more.

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Invest or Lose: the Future of Learning and AI, with Katrin Marx and Charles Jennings

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Curious to learn more? Read and watch now.

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