When it comes to growing your organization’s leadership pipeline, one of the first significant decisions is how to develop your program. Should you build a custom solution in-house? Or should you partner with an external provider who already has the tools and expertise?
There is no one-size-fits-all answer. The right path depends on a variety of factors—your team’s capacity, your timeline, and the specific competencies you want to cultivate. In this article, we will explore four key considerations to help you make an informed choice: size, timing, competencies, and the hybrid model.
1. Size: What is the scope—and who is doing the work?
Start by considering both the size of your training team and your target audience. If you are a team of one with an ambitious scope, the task of designing, piloting, and scaling a leadership program may exceed your available capacity. In that case, an external partner can help you move faster and avoid burnout.
On the other hand, if you have a well-established internal learning function with multiple subject matter experts, building internally might be a great opportunity to align development content tightly with your unique culture.
Also consider how many leaders you intend to serve. Are you onboarding a single cohort or scaling across the enterprise? Larger audiences require more planning for facilitation, logistics, and long-term sustainment.
2. Timing: How quickly do you need to deliver results?
Speed matters—especially when a leadership gap is already impacting performance or engagement.
If your organization needs to roll out training immediately, it can be risky to build from scratch. According to the Association for Talent Development (ATD), it takes an average of 67 hours to design and develop just one hour of Instructor-Led Training! That estimate can range much higher and does not include piloting, iteration, or administrative logistics.
An external partner can dramatically shorten your development timeline by bringing prebuilt content, refined facilitation methods, and dedicated project management. That allows your team to focus on tailoring the experience rather than starting from zero.
If you have a longer runway or only a small group to serve, your internal team may be able to pace development strategically over time.
3. Competencies: What do your leaders need to learn—and who has the expertise?
Clarify the competencies you are targeting. Are you looking to build foundational skills (such as coaching, feedback, and delegation) or more strategic capabilities (such as change leadership, innovation, and stakeholder alignment)?
If your internal team has deep expertise in the topic areas, you may be well-positioned to build content that reflects your organizational language and values. However, if you are tackling newer or more complex leadership themes—such as leading hybrid teams, inclusive leadership, or navigating rapid change—outside experts may have more current tools, case studies, and frameworks.
Do not overlook the value of curation. You may not need to build or buy everything. Instead, you can mix and match—drawing on internal expertise where it is strongest and bringing in targeted external resources where needed.
4. Hybrid Models: The best of both worlds
For many organizations, the most effective approach is a hybrid model—one that blends external expertise with internal context and reinforcement. This option provides flexibility while ensuring learning is both high-quality and deeply relevant to your organization.
For example, you might engage an external partner to deliver core leadership content—topics such as giving performance feedback, coaching, or leading through change—then follow that experience with internal sessions that connect the concepts directly to your organization’s tools and culture. A typical sequence could include an external session on effective feedback followed a week later by an internal HR-led session on using the organization’s performance management software to complete reviews.
Another hybrid model sends employees through an external leadership development program in cohorts, and pairs that experience with an internal community of practice—a space facilitated by your talent team where participants can reflect on the training, share examples, and troubleshoot how to apply new skills in your unique environment.
This blended approach works especially well when your internal team does not have the capacity or time to build full programs from scratch, but still wants to own the narrative and support long-term skill adoption.
Final Thoughts
Whether you build, buy, or blend your leadership development program, the most important step is aligning your approach with your goals, resources, and timeline. A thoughtful strategy now can save time, increase engagement, and lead to stronger, more confident leaders tomorrow.
