Over a decade ago, Defence Construction Canada (DCC) implemented a robust leadership development program designed to support frontline managers in their leadership development journey. The program was based on a combination of individual and group-based learning, culminating in a national capstone leadership development event. Since its inception, several hundred employees have participated in the program.

Prompted by recent organizational growth, DCC’s training and development (T&D) team was tasked with evolving the organization’s leadership development beyond a single-program approach. They landed on two main requirements.

The program needed to be:

• Inclusive of all employees — grounded in the mindset that leadership is not defined solely by position or title
• Scalable — able to expand reach and impact without requiring proportional increases in effort and cost

Addressing Inclusivity and Scalability Needs

To start, the team designed the framework around four stages of leadership: leading yourself, leading others, leading the business and leading the organization. This structure reinforced DCC’s leadership mindset by including all employees. Then the team defined the behaviors, knowledge and skills required to support leadership capability within each stage.

Next, the team addressed scalability by incorporating multiple learning sources. The new framework was designed with flexibility in mind, recognizing that leadership capability develops through a combination of on-the-job (O), social (S) and formal (F) learning sources.

Seeking current information on OSF in the modern workplace, the team turned to the Training Industry’s 2022 report, Updating 70-20-10 for the 21st Century. The research suggests a modern OSF benchmark of approximately 55% on-the-job learning, 25% social learning and 20% formal learning, although the precise mix varies by context. The team concluded that intentionally incorporating a more balanced mix of learning sources would be foundational to the framework.

Why OSF Beats Static Courses

Adult educators have long recognized that workplace learning, including leadership development, is most effective when supported by OSF. On-the-job experiences enable employees to develop job-specific skills, make decisions and address real workplace challenges while receiving timely feedback. Social learning allows employees to learn by working with others through everyday interactions, shared experiences and learning together as part of doing their jobs. Formal learning provides a shared foundation that supports and strengthens learning in the flow of work. These sources are essential and are most effective when intentionally aligned and designed to reinforce one another within an integrated learning system.

With this in mind, the team deliberately avoided a narrowly programmatic, course-based approach. Instead, the framework reflects how leadership develops in practice. Senior leaders were engaged throughout development to ensure relevance and organizational alignment. Once sufficiently developed, the framework was tested through a small-scale trial, where a select group of managers applied it in development and career conversations. Their feedback helped refine the framework and strengthen its practical application.

Through this process, the value of integrating multiple learning sources became increasingly clear. Four key takeaways emerged:

1. Faster Capability Development

An OSF mix accelerates leadership growth by moving learning into real work, reinforcing it through relationships and anchoring it with a shared formal baseline. Integrating multiple learning sources shortens time to competency, improves readiness for role transitions and supports consistent performance across teams by engaging employees directly in the work, rather than relying solely on formal training.

Employees are more likely to remember and apply learning when it is reinforced through experience, interaction and structured development. Managers also gain a more complete and accurate view of development over time, rather than relying on course completion as a proxy for capability. Everyday work and interactions become opportunities to practice, creating natural moments for reflection and feedback.

2. Scalable and Resilient Learning

When learning is embedded in work and shared socially, capability can scale without scaling the training function at the same rate. The framework improves operational efficiency and agility by elevating on-the-job learning as a core capability rather than a peripheral activity.

This allows the organization to respond more quickly to changing needs without waiting for course redesigns or material updates. As a result, learning can scale and continue delivering value as priorities and constraints shift.

3. Leadership as a Force Multiplier

An OSF approach turns experienced leaders into multipliers by making development a routine part of how work gets done, not a separate event. The framework strengthens learning by building capability through people — not just programs. This builds a stronger leadership foundation and reduces risk by ensuring critical capability and organizational knowledge are not concentrated in a few individuals.

Experienced employees play an active role in developing others, ensuring learning translates into performance and that critical knowledge is embedded and scaled across the organization. They “pay it forward” in ways formal training alone cannot replicate. In turn, they deepen their own leadership skills and reinforce consistent ways of working. Learning becomes a shared responsibility and a visible part of how work gets done.

4. Stronger Connectivity

Stronger networks make learning faster and more durable by expanding who employees can learn from, both internally and externally. The framework strengthens connectivity by providing guidance for employees to build intentional networks and across industry and professional associations. These connections broaden perspectives, support knowledge exchange and bring emerging practices into the organization.

Participation in external networks also increases the organization’s visibility and credibility within the broader professional and industry landscape. Together, this ensures valuable external perspectives are consistently integrated into the workplace while reinforcing the organization’s reputation and relevance.

From Learning Design to Business Outcomes

When learning is designed as an integrated system rather than a collection of programs, the impact extends beyond individual development to organizational performance. At DCC, shifting from a course-centric approach to an OSF-enabled framework supports faster time-to-competency and enables leaders to develop capability in the flow of work.

Capability is built where decisions are made and results are delivered. This allows gaps to be addressed in real time, rather than waiting for new courses or program updates. Leaders gain greater visibility into how capability develops over time, enabling more informed decisions about workforce readiness and development priorities.

Scalability and resilience are improved from an operational perspective. Rather than scaling leadership development through additional programs and centralized effort, the framework scales through people, relationships and work itself.

Equally important, the framework strengthens leadership bench strength. Knowledge is retained, transferred and applied in context, supporting continuity during growth, turnover and change.

Taken together, these shifts change how organizations build and sustain capability. Learning becomes a mechanism for strengthening capacity and supporting decision-making, developing continuously through work, relationships and shared expectations to enable execution and resilience during change.

Why This Matters to Leaders

Leaders are operating in an environment of constant change and increasing pressure to deliver results with fewer resources. Learning cannot be treated as an add-on or a series of isolated programs. Future-proofing capability requires intentional choices about how learning is distributed across the organization, how limited resources are leveraged, and how on-the-job, social and formal learning are intentionally combined to support organizational performance.

For leaders, the path forward is not about approving more courses. When learning is treated as a system embedded in work, it becomes a shared leadership responsibility and a practical lever for improving business outcomes, adaptability and organizational resilience.