TACKLING THE UNCOMFORTABLE TRUTH ABOUT LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT
Why Old Mutual abandoned traditional manager training – and what they built instead.
Here's what nobody wants to admit: most leadership programmes fail before they start.
While organisations pour vast resources into manager training, 75% of leaders remain overwhelmed and 70% feel unprepared for future challenges (Gartner, 2024).
Old Mutual Limited stepped up to tackle this challenge head-on. And posed the question every organisation should be grappling with:
What if we stopped treating leadership as a training problem
and started building it as a strategic capability?
TPA embraced the opportunity to co-create what would become a transformational leadership experience: the Mutualite Leadership Lab.
WHY TRADITIONAL APPROACHES KEEP FAILING
The statistics reveal a broken system. With 74% of leaders unequipped to lead change (Gartner, 2024), organisations face a stark choice: continue with incremental improvements or fundamentally rethink their approach.
Old Mutual chose
DISRUPTION OVER THE STATUS QUO.
THE GAME-CHANGING SOLUTION:
LEADERSHIP AS BUSINESS ARCHITECTURE.
Instead of another training programme, Old Mutual partnered with TPA to build the Mutualite Leadership Lab – an integrated ecosystem that recognises leaders as business drivers, rather than traditional ‘people managers’.
WHAT MADE THIS TRANSFORMATION UNSTOPPABLE?
Through an integrated framework, the programme guides managers on a progressive development journey, beginning with personal effectiveness as the foundation, followed by strategic business alignment, advanced team performance capabilities, and mastery of change leadership. Each domain builds on the previous, creating interconnected capabilities that directly serve business outcomes rather than isolated leadership skills. But great content is only the first half of the impact equation. Throughout this transformation, the true differentiator was the powerful combination of strategically designed content and an exceptional execution model working in tandem:
Executive Championship
Senior Human Capital leaders didn't just sponsor; they personally stewarded the transformation, ensuring organisational commitment at the highest levels.
Subject Matter Expert Investment
Business leaders across Old Mutual contributed personal time and expertise as content architects, creating authentic, real-world learning scenarios that reflected actual business challenges.
Agile Development Philosophy
Iterative build cycles allowed rapid testing, refinement, and enhancement based on real user feedback and business impact.
Project Team Excellence
A dedicated team of seasoned professionals combined deep organisational knowledge with relentless commitment to exceptional outcomes.
Partnership Beyond Contract
A development partner willing to explore the art of the possible, pushing creative boundaries to bring content and experiences to life in unprecedented ways.
WHAT IMPACT SOUNDS LIKE
This context-rich leadership development initiative empowers self-leadership and equips culture architects and change leaders to navigate the evolving business landscape. By addressing shifting customer expectations and embracing challenges like remote work dynamics and inclusivity, we’re committed to leading with purpose and innovation. I’m excited about the ripple effect this journey will have on the nearly 4,000 Mutualite leaders!
Carolina Marwisa | Group Head of Learning | Old Mutual
HOW IT UNFOLDED
The Mutualite Leadership Lab's integrated approach produced measurable business impact across several critical business areas:
Managers develop confidence to engage with complex strategic challenges
When leadership development is designed as an integrated business capability, managers naturally progress from operational focus to strategic contribution, taking on higher-stakes conversations, cross-business initiatives, and stakeholder management with measurably enhanced capability.
Teams experience improved engagement and collaborative effectiveness
Comprehensive manager development programmes typically yield stronger team dynamics, with research showing that well-developed managers create environments of greater psychological safety, more effective knowledge sharing, and enhanced cross-functional project delivery.
Strategic execution becomes more seamless across organisational levels
Integrated leadership ecosystems bridge the traditional gap between boardroom strategy and frontline delivery, enabling managers to effectively cascade strategic priorities into actionable team objectives with clearer accountability frameworks.
Cultural resilience strengthens during organisational change
When managers are developed through comprehensive, business-aligned programmes, organisations typically experience greater cultural cohesion during transitions, with teams maintaining performance levels whilst demonstrating enhanced adaptability and stronger alignment with organisational values.
WHY THIS
CHANGES EVERYTHING
While traditional approaches focus on training leaders to improve their skills, strategic organisations build leadership capability as a source of competitive advantage. Old Mutual proved that development isn't about fixing deficiencies. It's about creating organisational superiority through deliberate capability construction.
THE STRATEGIC QUESTION EVERY LEADER MUST ANSWER
With management challenges intensifying globally, the choice is clear: does your organisation continue patching manager skills with training programmes, or commit to building leadership capability as strategic infrastructure? Old Mutual chose transformation. The competitive advantage speaks for itself.
THE SENSEMAKER WHO TURNED LEADERSHIP INTO A
STRATEGIC CAPABILITY.
Let's talk leadership.
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integrated leadership ecosystem that drives performance and resilience.
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