26 Feb Leadership for Complex Times: Insights from Our Recent Evaluations

Leadership is constantly changing. Across many organisations and public services the traditional hero leader model (an authoritative decision‑maker at the top of a clear hierarchy) no longer fits the world we work in. Today’s challenges are more interconnected, relational, and uncertain. They require leaders who can collaborate across departments and industries, uplift others, and navigate complex, uncertain environments.

As approaches such as transformational, servant, and radical leadership gain popularity, two key questions are becoming increasingly important: how do individuals and organisations adapt to this new style of leadership, and how do they know if leadership development is actually working?

Through leadership evaluations, action learning, co-production projects, and facilitated conversations, at Shared Intelligence we’ve seen how the challenges of leadership are shifting and believe evaluation approaches must develop with them.

In our conversations with leaders across sectors, it is clear that leadership today is more shared, and more relationship focused than ever. Whether in local government or wider industries, those in leadership positions are rarely working solely within their organisational boundaries. They are required to define shared purposes and values across partnerships (both internally and externally), influencing and supporting others to lead alongside them while navigating complex systems.

In our recent body of leadership evaluation work, much of which has been delivered in partnership with Anne Brinkhoff, we have explored what leadership programmes focus on to upskill or bring new leaders into focus. Common themes across our 5 most recent projects are:

1. Collaboration and systems leadership

We have found that leadership development depends on building collaborative mindsets and the ability to work across organisational and sector boundaries. Our work with the Local Government Association’s transformation leaders reflected this, as members draw on peers’ experience to address transformation challenges together. In another piece of work with Fair4All Finance, we found that the most experienced leaders were building cross-sector alliances to shape strategic plans for community finance.

2. Adaptive skills for complex change

We emphasise the need for leadership programmes to support leaders to handle uncertainty and complex change. Our evaluation of London Councils’ Aspiring Chief Executives programme showed that strengthening judgement, flexibility, and values-driven leadership are key for future leaders. Similarly, the Fair4All Finance programme focused on strategic planning, sustainable leadership, and coping with unpredictable environments.

3. Practical peer and experiential learning

Our direct support to leaders using techniques such as Action Learning Sets (ALS) help to situate hands-on, real-world learning. Action learning sets for the LGA engaged leaders in facilitated practical problem-solving with peers. London Council’s London Leadership Programme focused on professional development through projects and network-based activities.

4. Collaboration and networking opportunities

Across all projects, one learning came through strongly. Collaboration and networking opportunities were as important, if not more important, than the leadership training itself. Carefully designed workshops and facilitated conversations can help leaders develop the skills of networking, collaboration, and influence that are increasingly essential across sectors.

Connecting the themes
Across our work, we link leadership effectiveness to collaboration, adaptation to uncertainty, and learning by doing. Using interviews, focus groups, and surveys, we have applied the Kirkpatrick Model to move our evaluation beyond immediate reactions and learning, towards behaviour change and longer-term results. This approach allows leadership programmes to be assessed not just at the point of completion, but further down the line when meaningful outcomes and sustained change can be identified (or not…).

This type of evaluation attempts to go beyond solely demonstrating impact. It also supports better programme design by encouraging organisations to think intentionally about how learning can translate into practice.

Shared Intelligence’s evaluations demonstrate the value of bringing leaders together, grounding development in real challenges, and equipping them to adapt and lead collaboratively in complex public contexts.

Looking ahead…

As local government reorganisation and devolution accelerate across England, leadership will have to adapt across systems. Leaders will need to continue to build trust, align ambitions around shared purpose, and develop new networks. Leadership development, and how we evaluate it, will need to reflect the changing landscape. By focusing on relationships, collaboration, and real-world scenarios, training can focus on leadership that supports complex challenges.