Derby Council's leaders focus on reality : Management training relevant to their tasks

Purpose – The paper evaluates the impact of a leadership development program on middle managers at Derby City Council, UK. Design/methodology/approach – The paper draws on interviews with 32 managers who had undertaken the program, named Leading Managers. Findings – The program focuses heavily on people skills, with the emphasis on leadership, self‐management and managing others. Interspersed with the soft‐skills modules are two on operational and quality management and one on public sector management. The paper shows that participants are encouraged to become reflective learners, continually assessing their strengths and weaknesses, and are partly assessed by a learning log. Practical implications – The paper supports the value and relevance of training and development in the workplace. Originality/value – The paper provides hard evidence to counter the claims of those who say that business education is too theoretical.