Does the leadership program pay back?

Leadership development programs cost 5,000-100,000 depending on scope - from short workshops to multi-month executive programs. The financial case rests on team productivity: better leaders run more effective teams, which produces measurable output gains.

A 20,000 program affecting a team of 8 people earning 60,000 average, where leadership improvement lifts productivity by 3% annually, generates 14,400 of productivity gains per year. Over 5 years (assuming retention), that's 72,000 - a 260% ROI. Scale the team size and the numbers escalate quickly.

The calculation is sensitive to the productivity lift assumption. 3-5% is achievable for engaged leadership programs; 10%+ is rare and usually overclaimed. Conservative programs aim for 2% - enough to justify the cost, not so much that it strains credibility. Benchmark against actual team output metrics if available.

A worked example

Try the defaults: program cost of 20,000, team size of 8, productivity lift of 3%, average team salary of 60,000. The tool returns 52,000.00. You can adjust any input and the result updates as you type — no submit button, no reload. That's the real power here: seeing how sensitive the output is to one or two assumptions.

What moves the number most

The result responds to Program Cost, Team Size, Productivity Lift, Average Team Salary, and Years of Benefit. Not every input has equal weight. Flip one at a time toward extreme values to feel which ones move the needle most for your situation.

The formula behind this

Team payroll = size × avg salary. Annual productivity gain = payroll × lift%. Total gain = annual × years. Net = total gain - program cost. ROI = net / cost. Everything the calculator does is shown in the formula box below, so you can check the math against your own spreadsheet if you want.

Using the result to decide

The figure gives you a threshold. Below it, paying someone else usually wins. Above it, doing it yourself usually wins. The number isn't destiny — some tasks are genuinely worth doing personally — but it sets the default.

What this doesn't capture

Hour-for-money math misses the tasks you enjoy and the ones that build skill. The number is an efficient-markets view of your time; real decisions about what to do yourself vs outsource should also weigh what you learn and what you enjoy.