Lessons from five Brandon Hall Group HCM Excellence Award winners
Five organisations partnering with Impact have been recognised in the 2026 Brandon Hall Group HCM Excellence Awards securing three golds and two silvers across leadership development, team development and blended learning. Together, these award-winning programmes reached leaders at every level, from frontline managers to senior executives across multiple industries and global regions.
What makes a leadership programme award-winning?
Although these five programmes varied significantly in audience and design, each focused on preparing leaders for increasingly complex organisational challenges. Across all five winning programmes, three factors consistently stood out:
1. Business alignment
Each programme was custom designed to solve a strategic organisational challenge, from succession planning and leadership transitions to enterprise-wide transformation.
2. Experiential learning
Whether the learning took place in-person or online – participants learned through Impact’s unique approach to experiential learning – a blend of real-world experiences, reflection, coaching and practical application designed to be memorable and drive lasting behaviour change.
3. Measurable impact
Success was measured not by attendance but by outcomes, including promotion rates, leadership capability, engagement, collaboration and organisational performance.
Five award winning leadership development programmes
Congratulations to Avolon, The Cigna Group, EBOS MedTech, Grundfos and Ramsay Health Care.
The Cigna Group: building enterprise ready senior leaders
44% of participants have progressed into larger-scope leadership roles since graduating from Cigna’s Technology & Operations Senior Leadership Programme. Designed to build enterprise‑ready senior leaders, this programme is an 18–24 month, high‑touch leadership journey combining intensive executive coaching, deep senior‑leader exposure and a life‑changing global cultural immersion. The Cigna Group have worked with Impact since 2013 and this programme continues to strengthen succession, leadership continuity and enterprise capability at the most senior levels of the organisation.
The Cigna Group were recognised with a Brandon Hall Group Gold HCM Excellence Award in the Best Unique or Innovative Leadership Program category.
Grundfos: Global Leadership Development Portfolio
Almost 1000 leaders have completed one of the four blended leadership journeys in Grundfos’ Global Leadership Development Portfolio. This coherent, blended ecosystem of leadership journeys was designed to build capability, confidence and connection for every level of leaders – from first-time people leaders to senior leaders. The portfolio of learning experiences has built leadership capability at scale, strengthened succession pipelines, improved retention and engagement and created a shared leadership language across Grundfos.
Grundfos received a Brandon Hall Group Silver HCM Excellence Award in the Best Use of Blended Learning category.
Avolon: company-wide team development
Evolve is a bold, company‑wide transformation that has reshaped what team development looks like across Avolon's global organisation. Evolve brings together their entire global workforce of 240 people, and the experiential experience has equipped every intact team at Avolon with a unified purpose, sharper alignment, and the tools needed to excel in an increasingly complex aviation finance environment. This shift is translating directly into business value and a high‑trust culture.
Avolon were awarded a Brandon Hall Group Silver HCM Excellence Award in the Best Team Development Program category.
EBOS MedTech: Leading the Way
This programme was designed to strengthen leadership capability across EBOS MedTech's newly combined, diverse portfolio of healthcare businesses. The programme brings leaders together from across the organisation to develop the skills, confidence and networks needed to lead effectively in a complex and fast-moving environment. By combining experiential learning, reflection and practical application, the programme supports leaders to build stronger connections, collaborate across business boundaries and lead in line with EBOS MedTech's values.
EBOS MedTech took home a Brandon Hall Group Gold HCM Excellence Award in the Best Leadership Development Program category.
Ramsay Health Care: Ramsay Australia Leadership Academy
Ramsay Health Care have transformed leadership development into a strategic enterprise-wide capability-building initiative. The Ramsay Australia Leadership Academy has created a consistent leadership framework, development pathways for leaders at every level and a common leadership language across the organisation. Through experiential learning, peer coaching, cross-functional networks and strong executive sponsorship, the Academy has strengthened leadership capability, supported organisational transformation, improved collaboration and engagement, and established a sustainable pipeline of leaders ready to meet Ramsay’s current and future business challenges.
Ramsay Health Care were recognised with a Brandon Hall Group Gold HCM Excellence Award in the Best Leadership Development Program category.
What do winning leadership programmes have in common?
These five Brandon Hall Group award-winning programmes were built for very different organisations, industries and leadership populations. Yet they shared the same fundamentals: clear business alignment, experiential learning and measurable impact.
Their winning design highlights a growing demand for human-centred organisations, where learning combines real-world practice, behaviour change and measurable business impact. If you’d like to talk to Impact about creating your own award-winning programme, please get in touch.
FAQs
What are the Brandon Hall Group HCM Excellence Awards?
Brandon Hall Group is a research and analyst firm. The Brandon Hall Group™ HCM Excellence Awards recognise organisations that successfully develop and deploy programs, strategies, technologies, and solutions that deliver measurable business results and advance excellence in Human Capital Management. Entries come from all over the world, from small to global enterprises, as well as government bodies, non-profits, and associations.
How do organisations measure leadership development impact?
Organisations typically measure leadership development through behavioural change, promotion rates, engagement, retention, collaboration and business performance metrics. Impact’s standard approach to evaluation measures Applied Learning Results™. This three-step process is built into every client solution and includes programme feedback, a learning application survey and a final evaluation report. Taken together, these support clients with business value metrics, needs diagnosis, internal stakeholder engagement and embedding learning.
What makes a leadership programme award-winning?
While every organisation has unique leadership challenges, the programmes recognised by the Brandon Hall Group HCM Excellence Awards consistently demonstrate three characteristics: strong alignment to business priorities, experiential learning that drives behaviour change, and clear evidence of measurable impact. These principles were evident across all five winning programmes featured in this article.