So, what does this have to do with management development? I believe we are missing our Caprese Salad. We have thousands of ingredients, flavours, sauces, and spices in our management development pantry. And we push our managers into this over-stocked L&D pantry - without defining our Caprese Salad first.

Structure is what Management Development is missing. Collaborative, inspiring and engaging structure.

Measuring the return on investment on management training and development is a bit of a black hole. By definition, managers work through other people – not only their direct reports but also through collaborating with their management peers and senior management. Intermediate managers sit in a complex web of relationships, interactions and activities that impact multiple facets of the business across multiple time horizons.

So, how do you measure their effectiveness? Then, how do you measure their change in effectiveness that may come from an investment in L&D? Let’s explore a parallel abstract universe and see what dots we can join.