Most companies that use the powerful leaders-as-teachers model are not profiting as they should from the time and effort leaders invest in teaching, according to new research from the Association for Talent Development (ATD). As learning professionals expand training and development opportunities and engage organizational leaders to share expertise, there are steps to take that the effort more successful.

ATD and the Institute for Corporate Productivity (i4cp) partnered on the research to identify and explore what high-performance organizations do to derive the greatest benefits from leaders-as-teacher (LAT) programs. Findings are contained in the report, Leaders as Teachers: Engaging Employees in High-Performance Learning.

Key research findings include:

• Effectiveness in leveraging LAT is tied to better market and learning performance. However, only one in five respondents rated their LAT effectiveness highly.

• LAT efforts are twice as likely to happen on an informal basis and high performance organizations strive to formalize them. Thirty-nine percent of survey respondents said leaders act as teachers informally, whereas 17 percent had formal, structured programs.

• Just over half of respondents (52 percent) said LAT programs reside with the talent development function, and nearly that many said that all employees are the primary audience for leaders who teach.

• Leader-teachers represent all organizational management levels, but are usually those on the front lines or at the senior manager rank.

• When leaders serve as teachers, perceived benefits are wide-ranging and support better performance.

• Leaders’ teaching roles most often involve speaking about their personal experiences and are least likely to center on experiential learning.

• When leaders teach, they are likely to do so during live events, typically in classes or meetings.

• Organizations rely on employee evaluations to gauge the quality of leaders’ teaching.

Leaders as Teachers: Engaging Employees in High-Performance Learning, is available on the ATD store. Visit Leaders as Teachers.

About ATD

The Association for Talent Development (ATD) is the world’s largest professional membership organization supporting those who develop the knowledge and skills of employees, improve performance, and help to achieve results for the organizations they serve. Originally established in 1943, the association was previously known as the American Society for Training and Development (ASTD).

ATD’s members come from more than 120 countries and work in public and private organizations in every industry sector. ATD supports talent development professionals who gather locally in volunteer-led U.S. chapters and international member networks, and with international strategic partners. For more information, visit www.td.org.