How to Make a Business Case for Leadership Development (Even When Budgets Are Tight)

We all know leadership development matters, and you’ve seen what happens when it works: you see more alignment, cross functional collaboration and performance improves. But getting buy-in for it, especially right now, can feel like pushing water uphill.

Here’s what we hear as L&D professionals:

• Budgets are stretched, tightened or removed altogether
• Training is getting dismissed as a “nice-to-have”
• The phrase “we’d like to run a programme” gets a raised eyebrow from your CFO

By the way, these aren’t a 2025 problem. For those of you with a grey hair or two will know these have been challenges L&D have faced forever. 

If you’re in People or Talent, you already know that a great leadership programme can shift everything. Especially if they are a peer development experience led by experienced coaches (shamless plug there for our programme Further ). But if you want others to back it, you’ll need to make a solid business case.

That’s where our very own POWER model comes in. It’s a simple structure we use to help leaders get more buy-in to change, but it works equally well for positioning your leadership programme. Let's run through it.

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🟣 P = Problem

Start where it hurts. Not with what you want to run, but with what’s not working right now.

• Are decisions slow to land?
• Are people opting out of progression because they feel unsupported?
• Is change failing to stick, or performance inconsistent across teams?

These aren’t just the People team’s issues. They’re business problems with leadership at the centre. So make the gap visible and urgent.

Ask yourself: What’s happening in the business right now that better leadership would solve?

🟡 O = Options

Show that you’ve done your homework. Your SLT don’t just want to know what you’re recommending but also what you considered and ruled out.

• Internal development vs external support
• Coaching vs cohort-based learning
• Off-the-shelf vs fully bespoke

Positioning your recommendation in context shows you’ve approached this like any other strategic investment… with rigour.

Ask yourself: What options have we explored, and what makes this the strongest fit?

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🔵 W = Wisdom

Back your instincts with insight. That means using the data you already have but don’t stress about waiting for perfect metrics.

• Exit interviews? Look for mentions of poor leadership or a lack of development opportunities
• Pulse or engagement surveys? Notice gaps in confidence, clarity or communication
• DEI metrics? Are there capability gaps in your pipeline?

You don’t need pages of research. You just need to show that what you’re proposing is rooted in real business needs.

Ask yourself: What is the organisation already telling us? How can we translate that into a case for development?

🟠 E = Evaluate

Here’s where you think like a decision-maker. What trade-offs are in play? What will you not do, and why?

This is also your chance to frame the cost of not acting (have a nosey at our blog for more on this). 

Ask yourself: What’s the cost financially, culturally or operationally if you choose not to invest?

🟢 R = Recommendation

Say what’s needed, what it will address and what it unlocks. Show confidence,  not because you’re selling, but because you’re backing your thinking.

Try something like: “To tackle inconsistent performance and support future growth, we’re recommending a cohort-based leadership programme for our mid-level managers. This will address the feedback we’re seeing in our engagement data, increase internal mobility and build the capabilities we need for scale.”

Positioning leadership development is about meeting the business where it is and helping others see what’s at stake.

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