Why Leadership Development Keeps Failing in Food Companies (And What to Do Instead)
Mar 25, 2026
Jill's Reflections
I used to think I was the exception.
I believed in developing people. I cared about my team. I wanted to see people grow.
But when push came to shove — budget pressures, competing priorities, the relentless pace of operations — leadership development was the first thing I quietly moved to the back burner. I told myself we'd get to it when things slowed down.
They never slowed down.
And I'm not alone in this. After years of working inside food companies and now alongside them, I've watched this same pattern play out across organizations of every size. Leadership development keeps getting deprioritized. Not because leaders don't care. But because it was never built into the system in the first place.
The Gap Between Intention and Practice
Most food companies have the pieces in place. Annual performance reviews. Individual development plans. Training budgets. Competency frameworks.
But having the tools isn't the same as having a system.
According to the LinkedIn Workplace Learning Report, leadership development is the number one priority for learning and development leaders. Yet only 29% of employees strongly agree their organization invests in their career development. That gap is telling.
In the food industry, we see it consistently: extraordinary investment in technical capability — food safety systems, regulatory compliance, operational excellence — and far less intentional development of the people leading those systems.
4 Patterns That Quietly Undermine Leadership Development
- Development exists on paper, not in practice.
Most companies have development plans. What they often lack is follow-through. Plans get written once a year and rarely revisited.
When development becomes a document instead of a practice, it stops working.
- Technical skills get developed. Leadership skills get assumed.
This one is especially common in food. Organizations invest in developing expertise in food safety, quality systems, plant operations. But when someone gets promoted into a leadership role, the assumption is often that they'll figure out the leadership part.
McKinsey research on psychological safety and leadership development shows that leadership behavior is one of the strongest predictors of team effectiveness — yet organizations consistently underestimate its impact. Technical excellence builds products. Leadership capability builds teams. Both require intentional development.
- HR owns development instead of leaders.
When development lives entirely in HR, it becomes something people attend rather than something they experience. Real development happens through coaching conversations, stretch opportunities, consistent feedback, and clarity around expectations. Those things belong to leaders — not to a program.
- Leadership development isn't treated as a business system.
Organizations track production metrics, safety performance, and operational efficiency. Few track whether leadership capability is actually improving.
Gallup research shows that only about one in ten people naturally possess the full combination of talent needed to manage others effectively — yet organizations promote people into leadership roles every day without assessing readiness or providing structured support. When development becomes part of the operating system — not a side activity — everything changes.
What It Actually Takes
Leadership development cannot live only in training sessions or annual reviews. It has to be built into how organizations operate — through the conversations leaders have, the feedback they give and receive, and the way growth gets prioritized even when things get busy.
Especially when things get busy.
Because here's the truth I had to learn the hard way: tightening the belt on leadership development doesn't save capacity. It costs it. Slowly. Quietly. Until the frustration, turnover, and inconsistent results become impossible to ignore.
The leaders who showed up on my teams deserved better systems. I can't redo those years. But I can stay committed to helping organizations build something better.
Ready to Go Deeper?
At the Catalyst Leadership Summit on April 8th, we're dedicating an entire session to this: Leadership Development Is Not a Side Hustle. It's a conversation for anyone responsible for growing people — or wondering why results aren't changing.
