This paper draws on research I did at the Institute of Leadership & Management between 2009 and 2011, with Pam Heneberry and Arthur Turner (of The Professional Development Centre) and the late Bryan Webb (of Wizard Solutions). Our goal was to develop a model of best practice in leadership development that helps individuals to transform their leadership performance by combining original research with several decades of academic research into the links between cognition (what we know) and behaviour (what we do). The model we developed (which we christened ‘Impact’) consists of five key elements. Individually, each of these elements will have a positive impact on learning and performance, but it is the collective effect which brings about the most significant changes in performance, helping good leaders become great leaders.
