Rethinking Your Leadership Development with Adult Learning Theory
Apply six practical adult learning concepts to accelerate your leadership growth, starting right where you are.
Rethinking Your Leadership Development with Adult Learning Theory
Jeanette Odom, M.A.
You've decided you want to develop as a leader. Maybe you manage a team, lead projects, influence peers, support cross-functional work, or simply want to show up with more intention in the moments that matter. The decision to grow matters, but it can also raise an uncomfortable question: What now?
Maybe your organization has a formal leadership program. Maybe it doesn't. Maybe your manager is intentional about developing people. Maybe you are still waiting for someone to notice what you are capable of. Either way, your development does not have to depend entirely on someone else's invitation.
Leadership is not limited to managers. It shows up when someone takes ownership, asks a better question, helps a team move forward, challenges an assumption, builds trust, or makes the work better for others. If you are already thinking about growth, the best time to begin is now—not when you feel perfectly ready, not when every opportunity is neatly defined, and not when fear disappears.
Leadership develops in small, deliberate steps. One useful way to begin is by applying Adult Learning Theory to your own development. These concepts are not just abstract academic ideas; they are practical ways to understand how adults learn, change, and grow. Let's explore six key concepts.
1. Andragogy: What's in It for Me?
Andragogy reminds us that adults are self-directed, bring experience with them, and want learning to connect to real situations. In plain language: adults want to know why something matters and how it will help.
Don't begin with what you think someone in a formal leadership role should learn. Begin with the growth opportunity that is most relevant to how you want to influence people, decisions, or outcomes right now.
- I avoid speaking up when I have a different perspective.
- I struggle to influence without authority.
- I focus on getting tasks done but want to think more strategically.
- I don't speak confidently with executives.
- I want to build trust, communicate clearly, and make it easier for others to succeed.
When the goal connects to real work and real influence, commitment becomes easier.
2. Experiential Learning: Turn Your Work into Practice
Experiential learning focuses on the cycle of experience, reflection, understanding, and experimentation. Leadership growth often happens the same way—not just by reading about leadership, but by practicing it in real situations.
You may not need a new title or assignment to develop as a leader. You may already be surrounded by opportunities: a difficult meeting, an upcoming project, a chance to clarify confusion, a moment to support a teammate, a high-stakes presentation, or a mistake that needs to be repaired.
The difference is whether you treat those moments as tasks to survive or experiences to learn from.
After the moment passes, ask: What happened? What did I learn? What will I try differently next time?
3. Social Learning: Study the People You Admire
Social learning reminds us that people learn by observing others. That makes your workplace a powerful classroom if you are intentional about whom you observe.
You don't need someone to formally become your mentor before you can learn from them. Instead, study specific leadership behaviors in anyone who helps work move forward effectively.
Who handles conflict well? Who asks strong questions? Who brings clarity when a group is stuck? Who follows through? Who helps others feel capable, included, and accountable?
Don't stop at, "They're a great leader." Look closer. What words do they use? How do they structure the conversation? What do they do when someone pushes back? What do they avoid doing?
You don't have to copy someone's title, personality, or style to learn from their leadership behaviors.
4. Constructivism: Use What You Already Know
Constructivism emphasizes that adults make meaning by connecting new information to existing knowledge and experience. In leadership development, that means you are not starting from zero.
Your experience has already taught you something about leadership. A great teammate, a poor handoff, a project that went well, a conversation you mishandled, a customer issue you helped resolve, or a moment when someone made you feel valued—all of those experiences contain useful data.
Maybe one time, a leader believed in you and expressed that belief, and it changed the course of your life. The data there? A leader's ability to recognize and encourage someone can be a life-changing leadership skill.
Maybe you had a leader who made you feel lost and confused. You learned from that experience, too. The way a leader communicates can make everything come together—or fall apart.
The question is not just, What does a specific leadership model say? The stronger question is, How does this connect to what I have already seen, done, or experienced?
When you connect new ideas to lived experience, your mind has something solid to build on.
5. Transformative Learning: Challenge Old Assumptions
Transformative learning focuses on the way adults change their assumptions, frames of reference, and understanding of themselves. For leadership development, this can be one of the most important applications of all.
You can essentially walk away as a different person than you were before—in the best way.
Ask yourself: Where did my definition of a "good leader" come from?
You may have absorbed assumptions without realizing it: a leader has to have a title, always have the answer, should never show uncertainty, must be naturally charismatic, or needs to always be perfect.
Some of your most meaningful development may come from challenging those assumptions.
Leadership growth is not only about asking, What skills do I need? It is also about asking, What kind of leader do I want to become?
6. Cognitive Load: We Have Natural Limits, and That's OK
Many development plans try to do too much at once: improve executive presence, think more strategically, communicate better, influence more effectively, build stronger relationships, take more initiative, and develop financial acumen.
That is not a plan. That is an anxiety generator.
Choose one or two development priorities. Then create repeated opportunities to learn, observe, practice, reflect, receive feedback, and practice again.
Depth creates progress. Breadth can come later.
The point is not to wait for a perfect leadership development program, a formal title, or permission to begin. The point is to create growth around the work, relationships, challenges, and decisions already in front of you.
Whether you lead a team, a project, a conversation, or your own work, leadership grows through intentional action.
The next step does not have to be big; it just has to be yours.
