For 20+ years I’ve worked in businesses where the services are described as ‘’nice to haves’’.
No 11-year-old needs to go on an outdoor adventure residential experience (that said, recently the Scottish Government made it law for this to happen).
No business needs to invest in leadership and management training – people can just work it out on the job.
No business needs to bring their team together for anything other than strategy development.
You get the point.
In fact, I’ve sat around the table talking to my colleagues about the fact our service is a ‘nice to have’. I’ve believed that all my hard work is a ‘nice to have’, when really, I should have been more bullish in my view because I’ve seen first hand the difference it can make.
Learning and development – my world – is so often seen as a cost, not an investment. The reality is simple – the benefits take time to show up on the P&L, and when they do, they’re often attributed to something else – usually marketing, sales activity or market conditions (which could be the case but be fair).
I can’t count the number of times I’ve been sat in a room of business people and heard people say, “if only we could get the staff’’. If I’m honest, it makes me a little tense and I usually give my perspective on the importance of training and development.
Why leadership development gets overlooked
But here’s the thing – we also need to understand why learning and development is still seen as a cost.
Firstly, it’s intangible. You can’t always draw a straight line between a leadership programme and a revenue increase three months later.
Secondly, it’s delayed. The real impact of developing a manager might show up in 12 months through improved retention, stronger teams, peace of mind and better decision-making.
Thirdly, it’s often poorly measured.
And finally, there’s a deeper issue – many organisations invest in training without knowing what their staff are being trained in and creating the environment for it to stick. So, the return never materialises – and the cycle of scepticism continues.
What good managers really deliver
Well-trained managers create environments where people feel supported, challenged and clear on expectations. Engagement isn’t a “nice to have” – it’s strongly linked to improved performance, productivity and reduced turnover (Fitzhugh and Daniels, 2025; People Insight, 2026).
Poorly trained managers often overload their teams or fail to prioritise effectively. The result? Burnout, inefficiency and hidden costs that rarely show up neatly in financial reports.
And of course, leadership. The quality of leadership in an organisation is one of the biggest predictors of long-term success. Good leaders make better decisions, navigate change more effectively and build cultures that attract and retain talent.
So rather than asking, “what did this training cost us?”, we should be asking questions like –
- Has engagement improved?
- Is productivity up?
- Are we retaining our people?
- Are our managers growing in confidence and capability?
The cost of not investing in your managers
Looking at this through a recruitment lens, the reality is that hiring is expensive – particularly across sectors like engineering, accountancy, legal and professional services in the UK. When you factor in agency fees, the time investment in hiring, onboarding and the inevitable productivity dip while a new starter gets up to speed, the true cost quickly adds up.
And yet, organisations will invest heavily in attracting talent, only to underinvest in the very thing that keeps them – quality management and development.
When management capability is weak, you see it everywhere – high turnover, inconsistent performance, low engagement, sickness and ultimately lost productivity.
Start with your managers
So, when we label learning and development as a ‘nice to have’, we’re missing something fundamental.
We’re not talking about a perk.
We’re talking about infrastructure.
The same way you wouldn’t question investing in systems, compliance, or finance capability, we should stop questioning the need to invest in people and leadership.
Because when it’s done well, it doesn’t just feel good. It drives performance, reduces waste and builds organisations that perform.
Maybe it’s time we stopped calling it a ‘nice to have’ and started calling it what it really is: an investment in the future of your business.
About Us
At Evolve Advisory, we work with organisations to develop stronger managers and leaders through practical programmes designed around the real challenges your business faces.
Our approach is individual and focused on making a measurable difference to performance.
Find out more about our leadership and management programmes, including the Evolve Manager Accelerator, here
https://evolveadvisory.co.uk/service/leadership-management-programmes/
References
Fitzhugh, H. and Daniels, K. (2025) A rapid review of reviews on the relationship between learning and development and employee engagement, wellbeing, attraction and retention. GOV.UK. Available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/learning-and-development-employee-engagement-and-wellbeing (Accessed: 14 April 2026).
People Insight (2026) Employee engagement statistics. Available at: https://peopleinsight.co.uk/employee-engagement-statistics/ (Accessed: 14 April 2026).
Stribe (2025) Employee retention statistics UK. Available at: https://stribehq.com/resources/employee-retention-statistics-uk/ (Accessed: 14 April 2026)
