The winners of the 2026 Leadership Development Awards were announced during HR.com's Future of Coaching and Mentoring for Leadership Virtual Event. The awards honor outstanding achievements in developing employees through coaching, mentoring, and training initiatives, highlighting programs and individuals that strengthen leadership pipelines and drive organizational success.
This recognition matters because effective leadership development is critical for organizational resilience and growth in an evolving business landscape. The awarded programs demonstrate how moving beyond traditional training to create sustained, strategic development initiatives can yield measurable improvements in engagement, retention, and performance. These approaches address the growing need for organizations to cultivate leaders who can navigate complexity, inspire teams, and deliver tangible business results.
The Leadership Development Solution Award went to American Management Association for its program "From Expertise to Influence: A Sustained Leadership Development Journey for Emerging Leaders." This initiative guides high-performing contributors into influential leaders through sustained learning, real-world scenarios, and skill-building in strategy, presence, and influence. The program develops leaders who inspire, drive performance, and deliver measurable organizational impact, representing a shift from episodic training to continuous development.
Clarion Events – North America received the Best Leadership Development Program award for its enterprise-level, scalable program that aligns with business strategy. The program drives measurable behavior change, leadership readiness, and internal capabilities while positioning leadership development as a true growth lever rather than just a training initiative. This strategic approach demonstrates how leadership development can be integrated into core business operations to create lasting organizational change.
The Leadership Development HR Visionary Award was presented to Anna Jeffries of La Fosse for developing the Lead the Future program. This initiative blends leadership theory with experiential learning, peer coaching, and real-world application through a three-pillar framework that boosts self-leadership, team leadership, and strategic impact. The program has driven measurable gains in engagement, retention, and organizational culture, showing how comprehensive development approaches can address multiple organizational challenges simultaneously.
"These award winners are redefining leadership development," said HR.com CEO Debbie McGrath. "They use forward-thinking strategies and creative approaches to cultivate the next generation of leaders and drive meaningful organizational impact." The recognition of these programs highlights the evolving nature of leadership development, which increasingly emphasizes sustained learning, strategic alignment, and measurable outcomes over traditional one-time training events.
The implications of these award-winning approaches extend across industries as organizations seek to develop leaders capable of addressing complex challenges. By demonstrating how innovative development programs can create tangible business value, these winners provide models for other organizations looking to strengthen their leadership pipelines. The emphasis on measurable impact suggests a growing expectation that leadership development initiatives should demonstrate clear return on investment through improved performance, retention, and organizational culture.
More information about these and other awards can be found at https://www.hr.com/awards.
