Corporate training is shifting fast, shaped by new technology, changing expectations and the pressure to perform. In 2026, training programmes will focus heavily on practical skills, human behaviour and measurable impact. 

What are the Business Benefits of Corporate Training Programmes? 

Corporate training programmes deliver clear commercial value, but beyond the statistics, they shape how people show up at work. Research demonstrates that businesses and organisations that invest in training experience an average 17% increase in productivity and a 21% boost in profitability. This uplift is thanks to practical changes, such as a stronger sense of accountability and improved efficiency across employees. Greater employee development is also associated with increased staff retention, because when people feel invested in, performance follows. 

Sources: Harvard Business School & British Business Bank

Which are the Top 15 Corporate Training Programmes to Follow in 2026?

The exclusive training programmes selected in this article, by Champions Speakers' Director Jack Hayes, were hand-picked following a survey of over 328 HR directors, people leaders and senior L&D professionals. Discover the top corporate training programmes to invest in, in 2026, and who the top influential speakers are leading these revolutionary programmes.

1.) Finishing the Race Together: Building Resilient, Inclusive & High-Performing Teams

Themes - Mental Resilience, Drive & Determination

This corporate training programme draws on Derek Redmond’s experience of high performance in both elite sport and global business. Using his World Championship success and his career-ending injury at the 1992 Olympic Games, Derek explores how individuals and teams respond when pressure rises, and plans change. His iconic finish, supported by his father, provides a powerful framework for learning about leadership, resilience, and the role of support in sustaining performance.

The programme covers building mental resilience, leading through change, and creating inclusive team cultures where people feel valued and accountable. Derek also brings insight from his role as Group Performance Director at Thomas International, the world’s largest psychometric assessment company, where he worked with organisations across more than 70 countries to improve performance and leadership capability.

Official Takeaways:

• Practical tools to build resilience that remain effective when pressure and uncertainty increase
• Clear behaviours for leading and supporting others through change without losing accountability
• Insight into how inclusive cultures strengthen trust, motivation and long-term performance

2.) Owning Your Edge: Confidence, Purpose & Performance at Work

Themes - Organisational Behaviour & Leadership

A practical corporate training programme led by Katy Leeson, this insightful course is built from real leadership experience at the sharp end of growth. Drawing on her time as Managing Director of Social Chain and CEO of Relentless Group, Katy helps teams understand how confidence, purpose and performance intersect in modern organisations.

Having scaled businesses through intense pressure, rapid change and public scrutiny, Katy brings first-hand insight into imposter syndrome and how it shows up during promotions, growth phases and leadership transitions. This programme also explores purpose and fulfilment at work, helping individuals reconnect with motivation beyond job titles. It links values-led leadership to sustainable business growth, showing how clarity and empathy drive stronger teams.

Official Takeaways:

• Clear understanding of imposter syndrome and why it appears during growth and change, along with how to use it as a tool for sharper self-awareness at work
• Practical ways to reconnect with personal values and purpose, helping people to avoid burnout and remain motivated during high-stress periods
• Insight into what drives behaviour in teams, allowing leaders to create environments where people feel trusted and aligned

3.) The High Performance Code: How Winning Teams Think, Act & Sustain Success

Theme - High Performance

This applied corporate training programme shows leaders how to build cultures where high performance is consistent, sustainable, and human. Led by Professor Damian Hughes and Jake Humphrey, the programme blends behavioural science with real-world performance insight.

As co-hosts of The High Performance Podcast, Damian and Jake draw on conversations with the world’s leading performers across sport, business, and culture, translating those lessons into clear, usable frameworks. Damian brings deep expertise as a Professor of Organisational Psychology, founder of LiquidThinker, and bestselling author, known for turning research into behaviour change. Jake contributes experience from elite sport and business, alongside his work as Co-Founder of Whisper and author of Micro-Habits, focusing on how small actions compound into sustained success.

Together, they explore how mindset, habits, language, and leadership behaviours shape performance under pressure, helping teams embed winning behaviours that last.

Official Takeaways:

• Clear understanding of how high-performing cultures are built, reinforced and sustained over time
• Tools for shaping mindset, habits and behaviours that drive consistent performance under pressure
• Insight from elite performers and leaders, drawn from their podcast – The High Performance Podcast

4.) Leading Securely Under Pressure: Building Resilient, Ethical & Crisis-Ready Organisations

Themes: Cyber Security & Risk Management

Sarah Armstrong-Smith’s corporate training programme is the perfect fit for leaders operating in high-risk, fast-moving environments. It brings together cyber security, crisis leadership, culture and ethical decision-making into one focused experience.

Informed by Sarah’s time as Chief Security Advisor EMEA at Microsoft and her current role as a Board Member of the UK Government Cyber Advisory Board, the programme is grounded in real-world threat, policy and leadership challenges. Participants learn how modern cyber attackers think, how crises escalate, and how culture and apathy quietly increase risk.

Through live scenarios and decision-making exercises, leaders practise responding to cyber incidents, misinformation and internal pressure at the same time. 

Official Takeaways:

• Clear understanding of the cyber threat landscape, including how hackers think and exploit human behaviour
• Practical decision-making frameworks to lead confidently through cyber incidents and operational crises
• Stronger leadership behaviours that build trust and lower incident risk across teams

5.) Leading Through the AI Shift: Practical Tools for Growth, Change & Competitive Technological Advantage

Themes - Artificial Intelligence & Digital Disruption

Jon French’s programme is grounded in real leadership experience at the highest level of global technology companies. Drawing on his time as the Vice President of the Middle East for Microsoft and the Managing Director of Android Global Business for Google, Jon focuses on how organisations actually adopt AI, rather than how they talk about it.

The programme explores how leaders can integrate AI into decision-making, operations, and customer experience without disrupting trust or culture. Jon breaks down what successful digital change looks like inside complex organisations, including how teams adapt, where resistance appears, and how leaders keep momentum when technology moves faster than structure.

Participants work through clear frameworks for scaling innovation, managing change, and staying competitive in uncertain markets.

Official Takeaways:

• Clear understanding of how to apply AI in real business settings, moving from experimentation to measurable impact
• Practical frameworks for leading change when technology outpaces structure, culture and process
• Insight into how global organisations approach scale, growth and digital adoption

6.) The Art of Reinvention

Themes - Growth & Scale

The Art of Reinvention is a hands-on training programme created by Jez Rose for teams navigating change, collaboration, and creativity. It draws directly on what Jez is known for: behavioural insight, storytelling, and the power of asking better questions.

Built around guided, tactile experiences, the programme blends creativity with science-based reflection to help teams reset and reconnect with purpose. Participants work together to create something tangible, using the process as a mirror for how they lead, communicate, and adapt under pressure.

It is a story-rich, facilitated experience shaped by Jez’s work with global brands, his research into human behaviour, and his What if? philosophy. The result is team building that delivers lasting insight, meaningful collaboration, and optional creative CSR outcomes that feel authentic and human.

Official Takeaways:

• Framing reinvention as a practical skill, learning how to pause, reflect and consciously reshape how people work, rather than reacting to change on autopilot
• Confidence in adapting to change, building trust in their ability to adjust, experiment and move forward together
• Stronger collaboration through shared experience, learning communication styles, strengths and unspoken dynamics that teams can address openly

7.) From Potential to Performance: The Psychology of Change

Themes - Psychology & Human Behaviour

From Potential to Performance: The Psychology of Change explores how people move from knowing what to do to consistently doing it under pressure. Led by Jamil Qureshi, the programme unpacks the psychological barriers that hold individuals and teams back, and the mental shifts required to create lasting performance change.

Jamil draws on his experience as the first-ever official psychologist of the European Ryder Cup team, sharing practical insights from elite sport that translate directly into business and leadership environments. He focuses on mindset, decision-making, confidence, and how small behavioural changes compound over time.

He helps organisations develop coaches and leaders who can unlock potential in others. Audiences leave with clear tools to manage change, sustain performance, and perform when it matters most.

Official Takeaways:

• Clear understanding of why charge often fails and how to rewire thinking patterns that limit performance
• Practical tools that help people to perform consistently under pressure
• Simple psychological techniques to build confidence, focus and better decision making

8.) The Positive Edge: Building Resilient People & Stronger Cultures

Themes - Workplace Culture, Mental Health & Wellbeing

Andy Cope delivers The Positive Edge as a fast-moving, highly practical programme grounded in positive psychology and real workplace pressures. Sessions are built around evidence, energy and ideas people can use the same day; less theory, more action. Andy combines research with sharp observation, humour and relatable examples from modern working life. One moment, he is breaking down the science of resilience, the next he is showing how small mindset shifts can change the tone of a meeting, a team, or an entire culture.

As Owner of Art of Brilliance LTD, a leading positive psychology training and consultancy facility, Andy brings deep expertise and credibility to the room. He understands what actually works inside organisations, not just what sounds good on paper. Participants leave with practical tools to build stronger relationships, protect their energy and create cultures where people feel capable, valued and resilient. The result is a workforce better equipped to handle pressure and perform at its best.

Official Takeaways:

• Practical tools to build personal resilience and protect energy, even in high-pressure roles
• Simple, evidence-based techniques to strengthen trust, connection and psychological safety within teams
• Clear actions leaders and employees can use immediately to create a more positive, resilient workplace culture

9.) Will It Make The Boat Go Faster?

Themes - Teamwork & Teambuilding

Will It Make The Boat Go Faster? is a training programme built on one of British sport’s most compelling performance stories. In the late 1990s, Olympic rower Ben Hunt-Davis and the GB Men’s Eight set themselves a goal: win Olympic gold in just two years. Their breakthrough came from challenging every decision with one disciplined question, will it make the boat go faster?

That thinking now underpins the programme, developed with leadership consultant Harriet Beveridge and captured in the bestselling book Will It Make The Boat Go Faster?. Harriet is joined in sharing the message of the programme by experts Dr Cath Bishop, Steve Ingham and Kate Richardson-Walsh. The training translates Olympic-winning behaviours into everyday leadership and performance. Focus on setting bold goals, creating high-performing teams, strengthening leadership impact, and improving focus on what truly drives results.

Official Takeaways:

• How to set and commit to Crazy Goals, creating shared focus and momentum across teams, even when the challenge feels ambitious
• How to build high-performing teams by aligning daily behaviours with outcomes, using a simple decision filter to prioritise actions
• How leaders can create clarity and accountability, removing distractions and low-value activity

10.) SAS Mindset: Overcoming Adversity, Building Resilience & Leading Decisively Under Pressure

Themes - Military & Overcoming Adversity

Chris Oliver delivers SAS Mindset in Action as a practical, high-impact training session rooted in lived experience, not theory. Drawing on his career as a former Special Forces Operator in the Special Boat Service, he brings the room inside moments where pressure was real, decisions mattered, and failure was not an option.

Chris uses clear frameworks taken from special forces selection and operations, then translates them directly into corporate leadership and team performance. As Directing Staff on SAS: Who Dares Wins, Chris is skilled at reading a room, challenging complacency, and pushing people just far enough beyond their comfort zone to unlock growth. He balances intensity with warmth, creating a space where honesty, accountability, and trust drive learning.

Official Takeaways:

• How to apply an SAS mindset to overcome adversity, stay focused and make clear decisions when pressure is high
• Practical tools for building resilient, accountable teams who perform when plans change, and stakes rise
• A repeatable framework for pushing beyond comfort zones, strengthening mental toughness and sustaining high performance under uncertainty

11.) The Change Charter: How Leaders Build Trust, Momentum & Lasting Adoption

Themes - Change Management

Christopher T.S Harvey delivers this programme with the clarity and confidence of someone who has led change where the stakes were real and the complexity unavoidable. As Head of Change at Tesco, he worked at scale, aligning thousands of people behind new ways of working while keeping delivery moving. His time as Director of Change, Communications and Culture at PwC sharpened his ability to connect strategy, culture and behaviour, ensuring change landed with credibility at every level.

Sessions are practical, structured and highly human. Christopher blends psychology, storytelling and proven frameworks to help leaders turn uncertainty into momentum. He brings AI, hybrid working and cultural change into the room without jargon, always linking them back to what people need to feel, think and do differently. His recognition by Thinkers360 as a Top 50 Global Thought Leader on Change Management reflects this grounded, experience-led approach.

Official Takeaways:

• Clear, practical frameworks for leading change that build trust, reduce resistance and create genuine engagement
• Confidence in navigating AI, cultural and hybrid working change by focusing on human behaviour, not just processes and technology
• Tools to create a simple change charter that aligns leaders, gives teams clarity and turns change into a repeatable organisational capability

12.) Smash It! The Art of Getting What You Want®

Theme - Business Growth & Female Leadership

The flagship training programme delivered by Alison Edgar is built on the principles of her best-selling book and years of behavioural psychology expertise. This session gives people a clear framework for business success, grounded in mindset, motivation, and practical action.

Alison tackles the barriers that quietly hold people back, from imposter syndrome to self-doubt, and replaces them with confidence, clarity, and momentum. Attendees learn how to set meaningful goals, break them into achievable steps, and follow through with purpose. A standout moment is Alison’s Big Balls® methodology, a memorable approach that helps individuals take bold action when it matters most. Delivered with pace, humour, and straight-talking honesty, the programme is highly engaging and refreshingly practical.

Official Takeaways:

• Success follows a clear, repeatable formula – When mindset, behaviour and action align, progress becomes intentional
• Confidence can be built – equipping attendees with tools to overcome imposter syndrome, challenge self-doubt and adopt a growth mindset that supports sustained personal and professional success
• Bold action drives momentum – learn how to make braver decisions and take immediate, purposeful action

13.) The Winning Mindset Framework

Themes - Mindset

Jeremy Snape delivers The Winning Mindset Framework as a practical, high-impact training programme built for pressure, change and sustained performance. Drawing on his experience as Captain of Leicestershire and his work as Founder of Sporting Edge, he translates elite sport thinking into everyday business behaviour.

The programme is grounded in more than a decade of research into world-class performers and the six mindsets they consistently share. A core focus is a growth mindset; moving teams away from fear of failure and towards curiosity, learning and intelligent risk-taking. Participants explore how fixed thinking shows up at work, how it limits collaboration, and how to replace it with habits that encourage experimentation and progress.

Jeremy uses insights from Olympic medallists, coaches and business leaders to show how confidence is built through deliberate practice and learning from mistakes.

Official Takeaways:

• Build a growth mindset culture by reducing fear of failure, encouraging experimentation and helping people to learn quickly from mistakes
• Applying elite performance habits used by Olympic athletes and business leaders into practical tools that teams can use immediately
• Create psychological safety that drives stronger collaboration and smarter risk-taking

14.) Selling Smarter: High-Performance Sales, Leadership & Human Conversations

Theme - Sales

Tony Morris delivers this programme with pace, honesty and plenty of lived experience. As Founder of TMI Training Academy, he draws on years spent coaching sales teams, founders and leaders who want practical change, not theory. Sessions are interactive and conversational, built around real situations from the room rather than generic case studies.

His background as host of the Confessions of a Serial Seller Podcast shapes the tone. He is comfortable talking about what works, what fails, and the moments most people avoid admitting. Mental health, leadership pressure and performance all sit alongside sales skills, because that is how business actually feels day to day.

Expect storytelling, sharp questioning and exercises that push people to think differently about customers, conversations and themselves.

Official Takeaways:

• Practical sales behaviours used by top performers, with clear ways to apply them immediately
• Stronger conversations with customers and teams through better questions, listening and intent
• A more human approach to performance, addressing mindset, pressure and mental health in sales

15.) Leading Fair Workplaces: Gender Equality, Inclusion & How Careers Really Progress

Themes - Diversity, Inclusion & Gender Equality

Michelle King delivers this programme with a clear focus on gender equality and how it is shaped by everyday workplace culture. As Founder of Equality Forward, she works directly with leaders to expose the invisible systems that hold women back, from informal networks to biased definitions of performance. Drawing on her experience as Director of Inclusion at Netflix, Michelle shares concrete examples of how gender equality efforts succeed or fail inside complex, fast-growing businesses. She is open about what it takes to move beyond surface-level initiatives and address diversity, equity and inclusion at its source.

The programme is shaped by the research behind her book The Fix. Michelle combines data, case studies, and facilitated discussion, giving leaders clear actions to build fairer cultures where women can progress without having to adapt or opt out.

Official Takeaways:

• Understand how gender inequality shows up in everyday workplace systems, including performance, promotion and informal networks, and learn how to spot gender denial
• Gain practical actions leaders can take to build gender-equal cultures
• Learn how to remove invisible barriers that affect women at different life stages, supporting fair progression while strengthening trust and long-term performance

Why is it Important to Invest in Corporate Training in 2026?

In 2026, investing in corporate training is no longer optional; it is a competitive necessity. In 2025, only 35% of organisations were classed as career development champions, with robust programmes that delivered real business results. At the same time, an alarming 33% of businesses had no training initiatives or were only just getting started. These statistics emphasise that organisations which commit to meaningful development build capability faster, keep employees engaged and adapt more confidently to change. It is crucial to invest in training programmes, not only throughout 2026, but also way beyond to stay ahead of the curve and maintain employee engagement.

Source: LinkedIn Workplace Learning Report

Book a Corporate Training Programme Today!

If you are interested in any of the corporate training programmes or incredible speakers listed above, contact Champions Speakers today! Give one of our dedicated booking agents a call on 0207 1010 553 or complete our online contact form today.

An image of the leaders of the top trending corporate training programmes to follow in 2026, selected by the Director of Champions Speakers, Jack Hayes.

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