Leading@Udemy: Developing Our Leaders to Drive Real Business Results

What’s the single most impactful investment we can make in our people?

Developing leaders.

At Udemy, we built a program to prove it — and the results back it up.

Leadership development to future-proof our workforce

Leaders are operating in environments that are highly uncertain, ever-changing and require a multitude of well-developed skills ready to be deployed at a moment’s notice. The pace is urgent and unrelenting.

For our company to grow and transform, we needed to rethink how we develop our leaders.

What followed was a leadership development program that didn’t just build skills. It delivered results on metrics that matter.

In designing Leading@Udemy, we focused on a modular design, which allowed us to quickly and easily swap skills in and out, while anchoring to a consistent framework of development. This framework enabled our leaders to go through a repeatable process when learning any given skill.

“What excites me most is seeing not just knowledge gain, but behavior change,” said Kelly Monnot, Learning Program Manager. “Leaders apply new skills daily, and the impact shows up in their team, and business results.”

The Learn, Connect, Do Framework

At Udemy, we designed a repeatable, scalable framework that any organization can

use to accelerate leadership growth, no matter which skills are most critical for success.

The Learn → Connect → Do framework reduces cognitive load by creating a consistent experience for every new skill. Leaders don’t waste energy figuring out how to learn. This means they can focus entirely on what they’re learning.

This predictability and repeatability make it easier for leaders to build confidence, retain knowledge, and apply new behaviors in real-world situations.

Learn 

Assess individual leadership skills and create a custom-curated learning path for each skill.

Connect

Create a cohort-based approach in which learners share ideas, participate in coaching sessions, and celebrate wins together.

Do

Enable AI-powered Role Play simulations and practical application exercises that allow learners to practice and refine new skills in a safe environment.

This consistent approach translated directly into tangible skill gains across every leadership capability in the program.

“Role Plays give learners the chance to truly lock in what they’ve learned,” said Ariana Freeman, Senior Manager, Customer Engagement. “It’s not just about saying, ‘Great, I watched the course.’ It’s about taking the next step by putting that knowledge into practice and applying it.”

Leaders who went through this together showed up differently for their teams. Engagement scores cascaded across teams, with direct reports rating participating leaders as measurably more effective.

“The social aspect of cohort-based learning helps people get out of their own head,” Freeman said. “You get to hear from different perspectives, challenge your assumptions, and adapt.”

Changing behavior and measurable ROI

A full 90% of participants reported individual gains in confidence and newly attained skills and strategies.

“This program fundamentally changed how I lead my team,” said Shannon Patton, Senior Manager, Sales Enablement. “Instead of directing every initiative, I now use coaching conversations to uncover each person’s strengths and aspirations, empowering them to take on high-visibility projects.”

While individual skill growth is a key outcome, Leading@Udemy also impacted business metrics. Leaders who participated in the program have higher engagement scores — 5 points higher in 2023 and 4.5 points higher in 2024 on average, compared to their non-participating peers.

In 2025, program participants also achieved 4% higher performance ratings on average (+0.13 points) compared to non-participants.

Participants were 45% more likely to be promoted — a 3.8 percentage point lift (12.2% vs. 8.4%) — reflecting leaders who weren’t just learning new skills, but actively applying them.

For managers specifically, the impact was even more pronounced. They were promoted at a 73% higher rate than non-participating peers (12.8% vs. 7.4%).

Data from a Udemy engagement survey highlight a cascading impact, where leaders’ teams were also more highly engaged* and rated their leaders as more effective** than leaders who did not participate.

“This initiative is impactful and measurable,” said Xavier Buckley, Director, Business Sales Development. “We’re doing our best work — and we can prove it with the results.”

Looking Ahead

No matter which leadership capabilities are most critical to your organization, investing in leadership development remains one of the most strategic levers for business impact. Leading@Udemy offers a scalable, customizable framework, leveraging custom-curated learning paths, skill-based badging, and AI-powered Role Plays that turn leadership development into real results.

*Statistically significant at the p< .05 level
**Statistically significant at the p< .01 level