Recently, I found myself reflecting on a phrase I’ve heard throughout my career. From my early days as a manager in the health and fitness industry, sourcing suppliers, through to purchasing IT support as a business owner, one saying has stood the test of time:
“Buy cheap, buy twice.”
It’s a phrase that challenges us to think beyond the initial price tag. After all, everyone wants value for money, and most of us naturally look for the best deal. But what does “best” actually mean? Is it simply the lowest cost, or is it the greatest return on investment?
Like many people, I’ve learned some expensive lessons over the years. I’ve bought products that weren’t as advertised and hired tradespeople whose work created more problems than they solved. Those experiences taught me to ask a different question. Instead of focusing on “How cheaply can I get this?”, I now ask, “What result am I trying to achieve?”
This came to mind recently after I saw two advertisements on social media. One offered a Level 5 Leadership and Management qualification for just £7.99. Another claimed you could become a certified coach through a two-hour online course. Both certainly caught my attention.
Now, I’m all for making learning accessible, but these offers also raise an important question. If developing leadership capability, management confidence or coaching expertise can be achieved so quickly and cheaply, why do experienced leaders, managers and coaches spend years developing their knowledge, skills and judgement?
I’ve been coaching for over 30 years, and I’m still learning every day. While technology continues to accelerate the way we work and learn, there are certain principles that remain unchanged. One of those is the Law of the Harvest.
If you want a healthy crop, you must prepare the ground, plant the seed, nurture its growth and give it time to develop. You cannot scatter seeds today and expect a bumper harvest tomorrow.
The same principle applies to people development.
Yet many organisations continue to expect significant behavioural change, stronger leadership or improved management performance from minimal investment. We can’t expect people to become exceptional managers through a couple of hours of online content any more than we can expect a seed to become a crop overnight.
The reality is simple: you get out what you put in.
When promoting someone into a management role, the most expensive option is often to leave them to “learn on the job”. The consequences can be felt through lower engagement, poorer decision-making, reduced productivity, higher employee turnover and inconsistent leadership.
By contrast, investing in a structured, progressive, interactive and real-world development programme helps create capable leaders who deliver value long after the training has ended.
So perhaps the question for all of us is this:
Are we buying development because it’s cheap, or are we investing in outcomes that matter?
Every organisation gets the leadership culture it is willing to invest in. The question is whether that investment is intentional or accidental.
News
A recent Financial Times article highlights concerns that workplace training in the UK is becoming increasingly focused on short, online courses, particularly around compliance. Analysis from the Learning and Work Institute found that the average employee received 5.7 days of training in 2024, down from 7.8 days in 2011, while 88% of training was delivered online. The report suggests that longer, more developmental training is being squeezed out, potentially limiting its impact on skills, productivity and long-term capability.
The key question for learning and development is whether we are measuring training by completion rather than impact. Online learning can be flexible, accessible and scalable, but simply completing a course doesn’t necessarily mean that learning has been retained or applied. As organisations face rapid changes driven by AI and evolving skills needs, the focus needs to move beyond “Did they complete the training?” to “What changed as a result of it?” including whether behaviour, performance and capability have improved. To read the article in full, visit: https://www.ft.com/content/4d52d097-a4f0-423e-a483-1dfe60fa6ff3?utm=&syn-25a6b1a6=1
Insight
2026 could be the year of internal talent development. A new CIPD report suggests organisations are increasingly looking inward to address their skills needs. Almost half (48%) of UK employers have increased their efforts to develop talent in-house over the past year, while 53% of employers that recruited struggled to attract the right candidates, particularly for senior and skilled roles. At the same time, 44% say retaining talent has become more difficult.
The message is clear: rather than relying solely on recruitment to fill skills gaps, organisations are recognising the value of developing the people they already have. With rising employment costs and a changing labour market, investing in upskilling, internal mobility, apprenticeships and early-career talent could become an increasingly important part of workforce strategy. For us, this creates a real opportunity to move from being a training function to a strategic partner in building the capability organisations need for the future. To read the article in full, visit: https://prod.cipd.org/uk/about/news/employers-upskilling-labour-market-cools-costs-rise/