Many of the management leadership training programs I've seen appear to me to be very confused, at least from my perspective as I read their brochures and the objectives they announce as a result of participating in their management leadership training programs.

Often these management leadership training programs are described to appeal to companies with clear lines of demarcation between line and staff employees. They seem to be written to appeal to companies with different types of employees, some in the field and some in the office, some who are designated leaders and some who are called managers. Companies where there are hourly employees and supervisors, each with their own preordained inflexible roles.

These management leadership programs, at least their brochures, try to use words and expressions that make you feel important - like you and your company are more sophisticated and larger and more complex than they really are. They use examples and descriptive language that would seem more appropriate based on the hierarchy normally associated with companies of 500 or more employees.

Maybe that's because the brochures and web site contents are created by marketing people targeting organizations they would like their competitors to believe they work with or to impress their real potential customers with an implication of their sophistication. Maybe they want you to believe that their management leadership programs are sought after by marquee companies in your industry? Who knows?

In the real world businesses are not organized the way these training companies describe their services for management and leadership training. Everyone knows that 90% of all companies have fewer than 75 people. The descriptions of the typical management leadership training program doesn't seem to address the real needs of the vast majority of the companies up and down Main Street around the world.

In these mainstream companies everyone is a leader and everyone is a manager. After decades of preaching the value of the flattened corporate hierarchy, by management gurus and college professors, most companies have actually conformed to the model where there are only two or three layers from the shop floor to the Board room.

Additionally the Internet and cable modems have brought unprecedented access to information directly to the desktops and work stations of every employee. Workers everywhere, at every level in every organization are now empowered with resources only dreamed of a few years ago.

The result - motivation is more important than knowledge and attitude is more important than education in millions of companies worldwide. Management leadership training programs can and should be used to uncover the leadership and management skills and abilities lying dormant in your employees.

Someone who has stood in the same spot and run the same machine for decades may actually have a lot of untapped leadership and management potential inside them that you will never know anything about unless the management leadership training program unearths it.

A new hire, for whom this is their first paying job, is not burdened by the baggage of the veterans all around them. They may not know enough to think the way everyone else has been conditioned to think - so the insights they come up with may offer fresh perspectives of great value to the organization.

When selecting a management leadership training program look for trainers who speak to your employees and your companies needs rather than those of a Fortune 500 company. When considering a management leadership process look for one whose principles can be integrated by everyone until it becomes part of the culture of the organization.

And when looking into management leadership training programs - be sure the one you choose will help your people build skills they can use long after the program is over and the trainers have left the building.