Leadership development has become one of the defining challenges facing modern organizations. According to a report, employee engagement declined for the second consecutive year, while manager engagement also fell, reinforcing concerns about how organizations prepare leaders to guide increasingly complex and distributed teams. Further, only 20% of employees worldwide were engaged at work in 2025, highlighting the importance of effective leadership at every level of an organization.
According to Guy Légaré, Executive Leadership Coach at Inperium, those challenges have become even more pronounced as remote work, hybrid structures, and geographically dispersed teams become standard operating models. From his perspective, developing leaders in this environment requires organizations to rethink leadership as a collective capability rather than an individual achievement.
His observations are informed by more than two decades of working alongside Inperium, a nationwide human services organization that supports non-profits serving children, families, individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities, populations with behavioral health problems, and other community-based programs.
Légaré explains that his work differs from traditional leadership coaching because it focuses primarily on teams rather than individual executives. Having spent the last several years embedded within Inperium's executive leadership structure while simultaneously maintaining a clinical career, he is transitioning into the role full-time beginning in July. According to him, leadership effectiveness emerges from how groups function together rather than how individual leaders perform in isolation.
"Leaders eventually have to move from an 'I' mindset to a 'we' mindset," Légaré says. "The moment leadership becomes larger than personal achievement, the conversation changes from individual success to collective performance."
Central to that philosophy is the creation of a shared language. Légaré notes that organizations often struggle because people interpret leadership and performance differently. Without common definitions, teams can pursue the same objectives while operating with different assumptions.
To address that challenge, Inperium's leadership teams have adopted concepts inspired by the Air Force Thunderbirds demonstration squadron. One principle, known internally as the 'within one inch' standard, emphasizes role clarity and trust. According to Légaré, every person understands their responsibilities with precision while trusting colleagues to do the same. That clarity reduces unnecessary overlap and allows teams to focus on execution.
From his perspective, organizations must also define success and failure in measurable terms. Leadership development becomes difficult when expectations remain subjective. Légaré explains that teams need clear indicators that show whether performance is improving or creating friction.
That measurement discipline can be particularly valuable in remote environments. He notes that leadership teams often experience predictable patterns of tension. When organizations understand those patterns, they can intervene proactively through structured conversations and collaboration rather than waiting for problems to escalate.
Remote work introduces unique challenges, but Légaré does not believe distance automatically weakens leadership. He acknowledges that in-person interactions remain valuable because they strengthen relationships and create opportunities for informal learning. However, he argues that virtual environments can still produce meaningful collaboration when organizations intentionally design conversations around problem-solving instead of simple reporting.
According to him, leadership development is ultimately a process of continuous refinement. Early improvements often come quickly because teams can identify obvious gaps in communication and coordination. As performance improves, he notes that progress becomes more demanding.
"In the beginning, it is relatively easy to close the distance between where a team is and where it wants to be," Légaré says. "As teams become more effective, the remaining gaps are much smaller, and finding those opportunities for improvement requires greater trust and discipline."
Technology is becoming an increasingly important part of leadership development. Légaré explains that leadership teams at Inperium have begun using artificial intelligence tools to analyze meeting transcripts, identify patterns, and provide structured feedback that helps teams improve over time. His focus is not on replacing human judgment but on creating greater visibility into how teams communicate and collaborate.
That perspective aligns with recent research, which found that among U.S. employees whose organizations have implemented AI, 65% say the technology has had a somewhat or extremely positive impact on their individual productivity. Yet only 12% strongly agree that AI has transformed how work gets done in their organization.
From Légaré's perspective, that gap highlights an important leadership challenge. Technology can enhance individual performance, but organizations still need shared processes, a common language, and clear expectations if they want those gains to translate into stronger team performance.
"The strongest leadership teams are the ones that continuously learn together," Légaré says. "When people share a common language, understand their impact on one another, and stay committed to improving the way they work together, leadership becomes something the entire team contributes to every day."
