TL;DR: Most learning programs fail not because of poor content, but because managers aren’t equipped or engaged to support skill application. Most learning programs fail not because of poor content, but because managers aren’t equipped or engaged to support skill application. Research from Brandon Hall Group shows that mentoring/coaching and on-the-job training — both requiring active manager involvement — rank among the most highly effective learning modalities. When managers reinforce, coach, and create opportunities for practice, training investment translates into measurable business results.

The Learning Transfer Problem

Organizations invest heavily in learning and development programs. Employees complete courses, attend workshops, and participate in training initiatives.

Then they return to work. And very little changes.

The content was relevant. The design was sound. But without active manager involvement, most learning never gets applied.

This is where managers become critical.

Why Managers Determine Learning Success

Managers control the environment where skills are practiced, reinforced, and integrated into daily work.

They influence:

• Application opportunities. Do employees get chances to use new skills immediately?
• Feedback quality. Are employees receiving coaching on what works and what doesn’t?
• Accountability. Are skill improvements expected, measured, and recognized?
• Psychological safety. Can employees practice, make mistakes, and improve without fear?

When managers actively support learning, capability development accelerates. When they don’t, training becomes an isolated event with minimal impact.

Where Learning Strategies Fall Short

Despite managers’ influence on skill application, most learning strategies treat them as passive participants.

Common disconnects include:

• Managers Are Not Involved in Design: Learning programs are often built without manager input. Managers don’t understand the learning objectives, can’t connect training to business priorities, and struggle to reinforce content they haven’t seen.
• No Preparation or Support Tools: Managers receive no guidance on how to support skill development. They lack conversation guides, coaching frameworks or performance support resources.
• Conflicting Priorities: Managers are measured on operational results, not learning outcomes. When workload pressures increase, development conversations disappear. Brandon Hall Group research reveals that 57% of survey respondents rate time as a “significant” or “heavy” constraint, making it critical to simplify how managers support learning.
• Limited Communication: Managers often don’t know when their team members have completed training or what skills they’re expected to apply.
• Lack of Manager Capability: Many managers have never been trained to coach, provide developmental feedback, or create learning opportunities in the flow of work.

The result is a significant gap between learning investment and business impact.

What High-Performing Organizations Do Differently

Organizations that achieve measurable results from learning treat managers as essential partners, not bystanders.

According to Brandon Hall Group research, only 42% of organizations report above-average to excellent alignment between learning and business goals. Those with excellent alignment share several common characteristics, including learning initiatives structured around business problem-solving and dedicated transformation teams with clear governance frameworks.

1. Engage Managers Before, During, and After Training

Effective learning strategies include managers at every stage:

Before Training

• Share learning objectives and business context.
• Discuss how new skills align to team and organizational priorities.
• Prepare managers to set expectations with employees.

During Training

• Include managers in parallel sessions that explain program content and reinforcement strategies.
• Provide structured tools managers can use immediately.

After Training

• Equip managers with coaching guides, performance support materials, and feedback templates.
• Create accountability for skill application through manager check-ins.

Brandon Hall Group research shows that mentoring/coaching and on-the-job training—both requiring manager involvement—rank among the most highly effective learning modalities.

2. Simplify Manager Responsibilities

Managers are overloaded. Learning reinforcement must be practical and time-efficient.

High-performing organizations provide:

• Structured conversation guides with specific questions and discussion points.
• Microlearning reinforcement assets that take minutes, not hours.
• Performance support tools managers can share during team meetings or one-on-ones.
• Clear accountability metrics that connect to existing performance goals.

This approach removes friction and makes development conversations manageable.

EI Powered by MPS designs learning solutions that include comprehensive manager enablement tools, ensuring that skill development extends beyond formal training into sustained performance improvement.

As a Brandon Hall Group Platinum Smartchoice® Provider, EI Powered by MPS works with organizations to build manager-supported learning ecosystems that drive measurable business outcomes and create lasting capability growth.

3. Build Manager Capability to Coach and Develop Talent

Managers cannot support learning effectively if they lack coaching skills themselves.

Brandon Hall Group research on learning team competencies reveals that coaching and mentoring, business acumen, and consulting skills rank among the most highly valued capabilities across learning organizations. These same capabilities are essential for frontline and mid-level managers.

Organizations must invest in developing:

• Coaching fundamentals. How to ask powerful questions, listen actively and guide problem-solving.
• Feedback delivery. How to provide specific, actionable and timely input on performance.
• Development planning. How to identify skill gaps and create focused improvement plans.
• Recognition strategies. How to reinforce progress and celebrate skill application.

These capabilities strengthen manager effectiveness across all responsibilities, not just learning support.

4. Connect Learning Reinforcement to Performance Goals

When skill application is measured and tied to business outcomes, managers prioritize development conversations.

Effective approaches include:

• Including learning reinforcement responsibilities in manager performance expectations.
• Tracking skill application metrics alongside operational KPIs.
• Recognizing managers who successfully develop team capability.
• Making development impact visible in performance reviews and talent discussions.

Brandon Hall Group research shows that organizations with excellent business alignment maintain robust measurement frameworks connecting learning to performance metrics.

5. Create Manager Communities of Practice

Managers need support from each other. Peer learning communities help managers:

• Share reinforcement strategies that work.
• Troubleshoot challenges in real time.
• Access additional resources and tools.
• Build confidence in their role as development partners.

These communities create momentum and normalize development-focused management. Brandon Hall Group research confirms that leveraging internal expertise through communities of practice is a common approach among organizations achieving excellent business alignment.

6. Measure Manager Impact on Learning Outcomes

To sustain manager engagement, organizations must demonstrate the connection between manager support and business results.

Key metrics include:

• Skill application rates for teams with high versus low manager engagement.
• Time to proficiency for employees with active manager coaching.
• Performance improvement velocity across different teams.
• Employee engagement and retention linked to development opportunities.

When managers see evidence of their impact, engagement increases.

The Business Case for Manager-Enabled Learning

Brandon Hall Group research on learning modalities reveals that on-the-job training, mentoring/coaching, and experiential learning consistently rank among the most highly effective approaches. These modalities share a common thread: they all require active manager involvement.

Organizations that successfully activate managers as learning partners achieve measurable advantages:

• Faster capability development. Skills are applied immediately, significantly reducing time to proficiency.
• Higher training ROI. Learning investments produce stronger performance outcomes.
• Improved retention. Employees who receive manager coaching are more engaged and less likely to leave.
• Stronger bench strength. Continuous skill development builds internal talent pipelines.
• Better business agility. Organizations can upskill and reskill quickly as priorities shift.

Without manager involvement, even the best learning programs underperform.

Moving from Awareness to Action

Brandon Hall Group research shows that award-winning programs delivered financial impacts ranging from $75,000 to over $1.9 million through improved operational efficiency, reduced time-to-proficiency and enhanced customer experiences. Those outcomes are directly influenced by how well managers support skill application in daily work.

Recognizing that managers are the missing link is the first step. Equipping them to succeed is what drives results.

Organizations ready to:

• Engage managers as active learning partners?
• Provide practical tools and coaching frameworks?
• Measure manager impact on skill development and business outcomes?

Explore research and advisory insights from Brandon Hall Group at www.brandonhall.com.

To design learning solutions with integrated manager enablement and performance support, connect with EI Powered by MPS at www.eidesign.net.

When managers are equipped and engaged, learning becomes performance improvement. And performance improvement becomes competitive advantage.

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New York, NY, September 14, 2023 – The Money Management Institute’s (MMI) Executive IQ^® program is honored to have won two gold awards and one silver award of excellence from Brandon Hall Group.

This is the second year in a row that Executive IQ has won the coveted Brandon Hall Group HCM Excellence Awards®.  These awards recognize best practices for initiatives in Learning and Development, Talent Management, Leadership Development, Talent Acquisition, Human Resources, Sales Performance, Diversity, Equity & Inclusion and the Future of Work.

Executive IQ won the awards in the following categories:
Best Association Professional Development Program – Gold
Best Advance in Executive Development — Gold
Best Advance in Leadership Development – Silver

Entries were evaluated by a panel of veteran, independent senior industry experts, Brandon Hall Group analysts, and executives based on these criteria: alignment to their business need and environment; program design, functionality, and delivery; adoption, integration, user experience, innovation, and creativity; and overall effectiveness, impact and measurable benefits.

“Excellence Award winners are shown to be organizations that truly value their employees and invest in them through their human capital management programs. These HCM programs have been validated as best in class for business value and the impact on the employees themselves,” said Brandon Hall Group Chief Operating Officer Rachel Cooke, HCM Excellence Awards program leader.

Now in its third year of operation, Executive IQ was designed and is delivered in collaboration with the University of Virginia Darden Executive Education & Lifelong Learning (EELL), PWC, and Microsoft. Last year, the program won two gold awards for Best Advance in Leadership Development and Best Association Professional Development.

“Money Management Institute is committed to equipping leaders with a dynamic mindset to navigate the unprecedented disruptions in the financial services industry. We’re proud to have received recognition in three fiercely competitive categories and we extend our heartfelt gratitude to our dedicated participants who have made an indelible impact on the program. We also owe our unprecedented success, two years in a row, to our invaluable partners at Darden Executive Education, whose commitment to excellence, creativity, and partnership continues to empower these executives for the opportunities of tomorrow,” said Tim Williams, Director of Education Initiatives for MMI and Program Director for Executive IQ.

“We are so proud that our partnership program, Executive IQ, received these two golds and one silver awards,” said Shaun Rozyn, EELL Managing Director for Client Solutions and Program Director for Executive IQ. “Many organizations in the wealth and asset management industry are using this experience as a rite of passage for high potential senior leaders to progress to the C-Suite. The world-class content from academic and industry professionals, executive coaching and access to industry leaders has positioned Executive IQ as the “must-attend” program in the industry!”

About Executive IQ^®
Executive IQ is an executive-level professional accelerator for senior investment leaders (with a minimum of 10-15 years of experience) looking to advance their careers and their organizations. This 12-month certification program combines a university-backed curriculum with real-world case studies from the industry’s most prestigious consultants and Fortune 500 companies. Designed for tomorrow, Executive IQ helps transform experienced decision-makers into industry innovators, able to turn challenge into opportunity. Participants gain not just the tools they need to lead and grow their organizations, but the chance to build executive-level networks they can count on for life. Applications for the next cohort, beginning in April 2024, are being accepted now. For more information, visit https://www.mminst.org/executive-iq-introduction.

About the Money Management Institute (MMI)
Established in 1997, the Money Management Institute (MMI) is the industry association representing financial services firms that provide financial advice and investment advisory solutions to investors. Driven by our promise of increasing connections, knowledge, and growth for our members, MMI is dedicated to fostering professional relationships, sharing experiences, and expanding the industry’s influence through advocacy and education.

MMI offers premier professional development programs, specialized curriculums, and facilitates peer-to-peer connections through our communities and conferences. As part of MMI’s longstanding commitment to diversity and inclusion, the Gateway Foundation provides clear pathways to entry and career advancement in the financial services industry for historically excluded and underrepresented groups. MMI member firms include wealth manager, asset manager and solutions provider firms of all sizes and professionals representing all functional areas. Follow MMI on LinkedIn.

About University of Virginia Darden Executive Education & Lifelong Learning
Darden Executive Education & Lifelong Learning (EELL) is a top-ranked, global provider of executive development. Delivered by the University of Virginia Darden School Foundation and taught by the Darden School of Business’ world-renowned faculty, Darden EELL prepares and inspires leaders to succeed in a global marketplace. Offering more than 25 open programs and partnering with leading organizations worldwide to develop custom business solutions, we provide personalized, transformational learning experiences at our location in Charlottesville, Virginia, in the Washington, D.C., area and online. Darden shapes the way the world does business through our research and draws upon our collective knowledge and experience to cultivate responsible, innovative leaders. For more information, visit https://www.darden.virginia.edu/executive-education.

About Brandon Hall Group
Brandon Hall Group is the only professional development company that offers data, research, insights, and certification to Learning and Talent executives and organizations. The best minds in Human Capital Management (HCM) choose Brandon Hall Group to help them create future-proof employee development plans for the new era. For over 30 years, Brandon Hall Group has empowered, recognized, and certified excellence in organizations worldwide, influencing the development of over 10 million employees and executives.

The Brandon Hall Group HCM Excellence Awards® program was the first to recognize organizations for learning and talent and is the gold standard, known as the “Academy Awards of Human Capital Management.” The awards recognize the best organizations that have successfully developed and deployed programs, strategies, modalities, processes, systems, and tools that have achieved measurable results.

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Brandon Hall Group, the leading independent HCM research and analyst firm, is launching its 2023 LMS Marketplace: The Voice of the Client survey on May 9 to take a deep dive under the hood of the LMS market to uncover what learning organizations are looking for in a new or replacement LMS and LMS partner.

Brandon Hall Group will explore what drives critical purchasing decision points, sources of confusion in the current market, and areas of client sensitivity regarding LMS purchase and implementation.

“The pace of change in the LMS marketplace is accelerating and it’s more and more of a challenge for L&D organizations to keep up. There’s a lot of confusion out there and that also makes it more difficult for providers to cut through the noise and deliver clear and concise messaging around their technology” said Michael Rochelle, Brandon Hall Group Chief Strategy Officer and Principal HCM Analyst.

This research effort will look at:

• Which organizations are most likely to buy in the next 12 months
• Price points, pricing strategies and pricing sensitivities
• Most desired capabilities and use cases
• Critical drivers for LMS purchase
• Satisfaction levels with current LMS
• What is valued most in an LMS partner
• Common challenges experienced in the LMS purchase and rollout processes
• And much more.

To participate in this study, go to https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/LMSemail. Participants who complete the survey will receive summary results of the research six to eight weeks after survey launch and immediate download access to the Brandon Hall Group eBook, Finding the Right Technology Partner.

“We are looking to help elevate and clarify the voice of the client so that potential LMS purchasers can learn from what their peers are doing, and providers can get a better sense of what drives and informs today’s LMS market,” said Brandon Hall Group CEO Mike Cooke.

This quantitative research will be complemented with qualitative interviews. The data and insights will fuel the development of research reports and tools to help companies benchmark and improve their LMS purchase decision-making and vendors to sharpen their messaging.

About Brandon Hall Group

Brandon Hall Group is the only professional development company that offers data, research, insights and certification to Learning and Talent executives and organizations. The best minds in Human Capital Management (HCM) choose Brandon Hall Group to help them create future-proof employee development plans for the new era.

For over 30 years, we have empowered, recognized and certified excellence in organizations around the world influencing the development of over 10 million employees and executives. Our HCM Excellence Awards program was the first to recognize organizations for learning and talent and is the gold standard, known as the “Academy Awards of Human Capital Management.”

Our cloud-based platform delivers evidence-based insights in the areas of Learning and Development, Talent Management, Leadership Development, Diversity and Inclusion, Talent Acquisition and HR for corporate organizations and HCM solution providers.

Brandon Hall Group offers certification programs allowing individuals to become a certified strategist in six areas: Learning, Leadership Development, Talent Management, DE&I (Diversity, Equity and Inclusion), Human Resources, and Talent Acquisition.

To learn more, visit www.brandonhall.com.

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Boca Raton, FL — April 24, 2023 

Brandon Hall Group, the leading independent HCM research and analyst firm, is launching our Think Like a CEO: How Learning Drives Business Impact survey on April 25th to assess what separates those learning organizations that can successfully provide direct measurements into how learning programs impact individual and organizational performance from those which don’t.  

“Our studies continue to show learning measurement as a perennial challenge for learning and development teams. In this new survey, we are going deeper than ever before to assess why, despite the emergence of more sophisticated learning and business analytics technologies, this challenge continues to persist to the level it does” said Michael Rochelle, Chief Strategy Officer and Principal HCM Analyst.   

This research effort will look at: 

• Key drivers of learning measurement  

• L&D’s progress toward learning measurement maturity  
• What frameworks are used to stand up learning measurement strategies  
• The consequences related to success and failure in providing data on performance-related learning impact   
• Roadblocks to effective measurement 
• What elite organizations do to measure learning impact  

• Technologies used to measure learning impact  
• How organizations determine the business impact of specific learning modalities  
• And much more. 

To participate in this study, go to https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/LMBHGemail. Participants who complete the survey will receive summary results of the research six to eight weeks after the survey launch.  

“There continues to be a disconnect between the language of the boardroom and the language of L&D. Without being able to frame learning measurement, and for that matter, L&D budget requests, around actual business or organizational impact, Learning and Development will struggle to position itself as a strategic business partner,” said Brandon Hall Group CEO Mike Cooke.  

This quantitative research will be complemented with qualitative interviews. The data and insights will fuel the development of research reports and tools — such as self-assessment tools, models and frameworks — to help companies benchmark and improve their learning functions.  

About Brandon Hall Group: 

Brandon Hall Group is the only professional development company that offers data, research, insights and certification to Learning and Talent executives and organizations. The best minds in Human Capital Management (HCM) choose Brandon Hall Group to help them create future-proof employee development plans for the new era.  

For over 30 years, we have empowered, recognized and certified excellence in organizations around the world influencing the development of over 10 million employees and executives. Our HCM Excellence Awards program was the first to recognize organizations for learning and talent and is the gold standard, known as the “Academy Awards of Human Capital Management.” 

Our cloud-based platform delivers evidence-based insights in the areas of Learning and Development, Talent Management, Leadership Development, Diversity and Inclusion, Talent Acquisition and HR for corporate organizations and HCM solution providers. 

Brandon Hall Group offers certification programs allowing individuals to become a certified strategist in six areas: Learning, Leadership Development, Talent Management, DEI (Diversity, Equity and Inclusion), Human Resources, and Talent Acquisition. 

To learn more, visit www.brandonhall.com. 

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The world of human capital management has changed forever. HR leaders are not separate from business leaders — they are business leaders responsible for optimizing the collective genius of the workforce to collaborate, innovate, evolve and excel in the Fourth Industrial Revolution.

HR must become ubiquitous to an organization’s success by working strategically in alignment with the rest of the enterprise to ensure employees have everything they need to drive success for themselves and the business.

HCM is not about L&D, Talent Management, Leadership Development or other traditional functions. Those are simply instruments that must operate with the seamless fluidity of a symphony orchestra to enable organizations to thrive in a highly connected digital world that will only become more intertwined in the coming years.

Excellence in HCM means understanding — and being laser-focused on — organizational business goals.

HR strategists must leverage the tools at their disposal — and develop new tools and approaches — to enable and empower the workforce to deliver results at the speed of business. However, many organizations are three-quarters of a mile behind in a one-mile race.

The siloing that has plagued HCM can severely impede organizational evolution:

• If you focus on L&D in a vacuum, you miss that the entire organization is impacted by how learning and development is approached.
• If you focus on DE&I initiatives in a vacuum, you miss that diversity, equity and inclusion are really the outcomes of embedding the values and principles of DE&I in everything you do.
• If you think only leaders are in charge, you miss that strong leadership is needed from everyone at all levels to successfully leverage each person’s unique capabilities, experiences and mindsets.

Brandon Hall Group’s HCM Outlook 2023: Insights Into Excellence can help you catch up in the race for HCM ubiquity. We provide the insights you need to drive excellence in human capital management.

In this book, you will understand that:

1. Learning must become more ingrained into the organization’s DNA to ensure the business always has the talent it needs to be successful. This includes shifting to more agile processes for developing and delivering learning and embracing emerging technologies that will shape the future of work.
2. Retaining top talent requires going beyond traditional approaches and developing employees with the agility and resilience to acquire new skills while learning how to collaborate with robots and other forms of smart technology that will drive future business growth.
3. Leaders — while becoming more inclusive, collaborative and supportive of employee growth — must warm up to reverse mentoring that can help organizations bridge generational gaps.
4. More people with power and influence must become allies and advocates for members of underrepresented groups if the values of DE&I are ever going to be embedded across enterprises.
5. Employers must embrace hiring automation that extends to bias-free interview questions and 24/7 scheduling that will create a superior candidate experience while delivering a diverse, talented and resilient workforce.

Our intent through this book is to embrace the future and provide insights into what excellence will look like in the years ahead. We envision HCM as the catalyst to drive future business success. But to do so, HR leaders and strategists must shed misguided paradigms and embrace the future with the agility, resilience and creativity that leads to excellence. 

To learn how to download a free copy of HCM Outlook 2023: Insights Into Excellence, click here.

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