Leadership Development in Mississauga: Executive Training Delivered In Person at Your Facility
Mississauga owners rarely tell me they have too few managers. They tell me their managers are busy all day and the team still waits on them for every decision.
That is a leadership problem, not a headcount problem, and it is the one I work on.
Direct answer: Leadership development Mississauga employers can book from Gurley Leadership Solutions is an in-person program at your own facility: an online personality and aptitude assessment with a full report, then two-hour sessions every two weeks for four to six months, with a goal each leader works on between sessions. Peel Region, including Mississauga, is served in person, and a Mississauga health care leadership team has already completed the leadership development program.
- Do I deliver in Mississauga?
- Why leadership matters in Mississauga now
- What a Mississauga team experienced
- How the program works
- Which skills leaders build
- How much time it takes
- What results to expect
- How to prepare
- Local vs national programs
- Mistakes to avoid
- The bottom line
- Frequently asked questions
Does Gurley Leadership Solutions Deliver in Mississauga?
Yes. Mississauga and the rest of Peel Region are served in person, at your facility, with sessions scheduled around your shifts and operating calendar.
My office is in Ajax, on the other side of the Greater Toronto Area, so we set the session calendar on the first call. For 24/7 operations such as distribution centres, we schedule around shift changes so supervisors from every shift can attend.
This page covers Mississauga. For the wider region, see leadership development in the GTA and the full Ontario service area guide.
| Mississauga sector | Employees (2025) | Leadership pressure I see most |
|---|---|---|
| Manufacturing | Over 66,800 | Supervisors promoted from the floor |
| Transportation and warehousing | Over 61,000 | Shift leads running 24/7 teams |
| Retail trade | Top 3 sector | Store managers with high turnover |
| Health care | Outside the top 3 | Clinical leaders managing people for the first time |
Employee counts from the City of Mississauga 2025 Employment Survey; the leadership column is my experience, not survey data.
Why Does Leadership Development Matter for Mississauga Employers Right Now?
Because Mississauga is a city of small and mid-sized employers that keep adding jobs, and most of them promote managers from within without training them to lead.
The City of Mississauga 2025 Employment Survey recorded an estimated 513,700 employees across 23,700 operating businesses, with employment up by over 79,000 jobs since 2015. About 80 per cent of those businesses have 1 to 19 employees. In a business that size, there is no training department. The owner is the leadership program.
The managers themselves are stretched. McKinsey's 2023 survey of middle managers found that nearly half of their time is devoted to nonmanagerial work. That is the time a team needs them to guide, decide and remove obstacles.
What Did a Mississauga Leadership Team Experience?
One Heart Care in Mississauga completed the full Effective Leadership Development program with its leadership team, and the team described the result as immediate application and tangible impact.
Client result: One Heart Care in Mississauga completed the Effective Leadership Development program with Franck Hivert and his leadership team, co-facilitated with LMI Canada associate Vukiet Tran, MD, MHSc, MBA, CHE, ICD.D. The team used the binders, audio app, in-person sessions, hands-on exercises and real-world cases, and described the result as immediate application and tangible impact, not theory. That is the client's description, not a promise.
Health care is a good test for any leadership program. Clinical leaders are experts in their field, and many of them manage people for the first time without ever being taught how. The program does not teach medicine. It teaches the same goal setting, delegation and accountability habits I teach on a plant floor, applied to the clinic's own cases.
How Does the Leadership Development Program Work for a Mississauga Employer?
The leadership development program starts with an assessment, then runs two-hour in-person sessions every two weeks for four to six months, with a goal each leader works on between sessions.
I deliver Leadership Management International programs. Each leader gets a binder for the module, an audio app for the commute on the 401 or the 403, hands-on exercises and real cases from your own business. The owner and I set the goals before day one, so by the end we can show whether it worked in numbers, not impressions.
Which Leadership Skills Does the Program Build?
The leadership development program builds the everyday habits that let a manager lead instead of firefight: planning the week, setting goals with each person, delegating real work, giving clear feedback and holding people accountable without micromanaging.
Every leader starts from a different place, which is why the assessment comes first. One supervisor may need to stop doing the work their team should own. Another may need to have the hard conversation they have been putting off for months. The assessment report shows each leader where to focus, and the goal they choose becomes the work between sessions.
- Personal productivity: planning time around priorities, not around whoever walks in the door.
- Goal setting: turning a business target into a written goal each person owns.
- Delegation: handing off work with clear expectations, then following up instead of taking it back.
- Communication: running shorter meetings, giving direct feedback and listening before deciding.
- Motivation and accountability: understanding what drives each team member and keeping commitments visible.
Owners who book executive training in Mississauga often ask whether senior leaders and front-line supervisors can sit in the same group. They can, and it often helps, because supervisors see the senior team working on the same habits. Where the gap in experience is wide, we can run separate groups so each level can speak openly.
How Much Time Does Leadership Development Take for a Mississauga Team?
Plan for about two hours of leadership development every two weeks per leader, plus short blocks of practice on the job between sessions, for four to six months.
Over four months that is roughly eight sessions, and over six months roughly thirteen, so each leader spends about 16 to 26 hours in the room. The practice between sessions happens inside the normal workday: the delegation conversation, the goal meeting, the planning block on Monday morning. It replaces some of the firefighting rather than adding a second job.
For distribution centres, plants and clinics that run around the clock, we set the calendar around shift changes on the first call, so no shift loses its leader at the wrong time. Sessions take place at your facility, so nobody loses half a day driving across the GTA.
If a leader misses a session because of a shutdown or a busy season, we reschedule it rather than skip it, because each session builds on the one before.
What Results Should a Mississauga Employer Expect?
Expect two or three changed habits per leader within about 90 days and a measured result against the goals set at the start, with the second half of the program making the change hold.
The reason it shows up quickly is that managers drive most of what a team feels. Gallup found that managers account for at least 70 per cent of the variance in employee engagement across business units. In my 35+ years in senior executive roles at Honeywell, Johnson Controls and Armstrong Fluid Technology, the fastest gains always came from the managers closest to the work.
The honest caveat: If one manager needs the basics, a public course or a self-paced program costs less, and there are many in the Greater Toronto Area. This kind of leadership development earns its place when several leaders need to change how they lead and you want the result measured. A 15-minute call will tell you honestly which you need.
How Should a Mississauga Employer Prepare for the First Session?
Before leadership development starts, pick the leaders, pick the numbers you want to move, and record where those numbers stand today. That baseline is what lets us show the result at the end.
- Choose the group: start with the managers and supervisors whose teams feel the most pressure, not only the ones who ask to attend.
- Set two or three business measures: turnover, overtime, missed deadlines, rework or customer complaints all work, as long as you track them today.
- Book a quiet room on site: a boardroom or training room away from the floor keeps the two hours focused.
- Tell the team why: leaders take leadership development more seriously when the owner explains what the business needs from it.
- Protect the time: treat each session like a customer meeting, so it does not get cancelled when the week gets busy.
Most of this takes one conversation. On the first call we agree on the group, the measures and the calendar, and the assessment goes out before the first session.
If you are not sure which measure matters most, start with the one that costs the business the most each month. In a warehouse that is often overtime. In a clinic it is often turnover.
How Does This Compare With National Leadership Programs?
National programs run strong public courses across the GTA, and an in-person program at your own facility adds the practice and follow-through between sessions.
The Dale Carnegie Course sets out to help learners energize and engage listeners and persuade people to act, and FranklinCovey's 4 Disciplines of Execution has each team engage in a simple weekly process that highlights successes, analyzes failures, and course-corrects as necessary.
Both are respected names with global reach. For Mississauga employers who want customized, local and measurable results, my approach is the better fit: the sessions happen in your building, the goals are yours, and I track the change against them. You can read about my background and why employers choose Gurley Leadership Solutions.
What Mistakes Do Mississauga Employers Make With Leadership Training?
The most common mistake is treating leadership development as a one-day event. A manager comes back from a good course with notes and energy, and by the next month the old habits are back, because nothing in the week changed.
Other leadership development mistakes I see often:
- Training one manager alone: when only one leader changes, the rest of the team pulls them back to the old way of working.
- Skipping the baseline: without numbers recorded at the start, nobody can say whether the leadership development program paid for itself.
- Promoting without preparing: the best technician or nurse becomes a supervisor overnight, with no help learning to lead people.
- Waiting for a crisis: by the time turnover spikes, the strongest people have often already left.
- Choosing on price alone: a program that does not change behaviour still costs the full fee, so the cheapest option can be the most expensive one.
Each of these is easier to avoid than to fix. Leadership development in Mississauga works best when it starts before the pressure peaks and runs long enough for new habits to become the normal way the team operates.
What Is the Bottom Line on Leadership Development in Mississauga?
If you run a Mississauga business with more than one manager or supervisor to develop, an in-person program at your own facility is the practical choice, and the first call will tell you whether it fits.
- Choose a public course if one person needs awareness-level basics.
- Choose a self-paced online program if budget is the only constraint and nobody will measure behaviour change.
- Choose an in-person program with Gurley Leadership Solutions if several leaders need to change how they lead and you want the result measured.
I deliver Leadership Management International programs in person in Mississauga, across Peel Region, Durham Region and the Greater Toronto Area. Clients such as SinaLite and AGF-Rebar have reported a return above the 10:1 target set at the start.
Ready to Develop the Managers You Already Have?
A 15-minute call with Malcolm Gurley is enough to map which leaders would start, what each would work on, and what you would measure.
416.669.7644 · Monday to Friday, 8:00 AM to 6:00 PM · Ask about government funding options when you book your call.
Book a 15-Minute CallWhat Do Mississauga Employers Ask About Leadership Development?
What is the purpose of leadership development?
The purpose of leadership development is to change how managers and supervisors lead day to day, so the team performs better without the owner solving every problem. It builds habits such as setting clear goals, delegating, holding people accountable and developing others, and it measures the change against goals set at the start.
What are the key components of a leadership development program?
The key components are an assessment of each leader, short sessions spread over several months, practice on the job between sessions, accountability for a written goal, and measurement at the end. A Gurley Leadership Solutions program adds binders, an audio app, hands-on exercises and real cases from the employer's own business.
How do you measure the success of leadership development?
Measure it against goals set before the program starts, such as turnover, overtime, missed deadlines or decisions still waiting for the owner. Gurley Leadership Solutions agrees those measures with the owner on day one and reviews each leader's goal at every session, so the result is a number rather than a feedback form.
How often should leadership training be held?
Every two weeks works well for most teams. It leaves enough time to practise a new habit on the job, and it is frequent enough that the next review keeps everyone accountable. Gurley Leadership Solutions runs two-hour sessions on that rhythm for four to six months.
Who provides leadership development in Mississauga?
Gurley Leadership Solutions, led by Malcolm Gurley, provides leadership development Mississauga employers can book in person at their own facility, using Leadership Management International programs. Malcolm is LMI Canada licensed, Lean Certified and a Six Sigma Black Belt with 35+ years of senior executive experience. Call 416.669.7644.
Malcolm Gurley brings 35+ years of senior executive experience with Honeywell, Johnson Controls and Armstrong Fluid Technology. He is LMI Canada licensed, Lean Certified and a Six Sigma Black Belt, a member of the Ajax Pickering Board of Trade, and delivers Leadership Management International programs in person across Mississauga, Peel Region, Durham Region and the Greater Toronto Area from Ajax, Ontario. Local figures on this page were checked against the City of Mississauga 2025 Employment Survey on November 5, 2026. Frequently asked questions
Sources and References
- City of Mississauga, 2025 Employment Survey Report (mississauga.ca)
- McKinsey & Company, Stop wasting your most precious resource: Middle managers, March 2023 (mckinsey.com)
- Gallup, Managers Account for 70% of Variance in Employee Engagement (gallup.com)
- Dale Carnegie, The Dale Carnegie Course (dalecarnegie.com)
- FranklinCovey, The 4 Disciplines of Execution (franklincovey.com)
- Malcolm Gurley, public LinkedIn post on the One Heart Care engagement (linkedin.com)
- Gurley Leadership Solutions published testimonials and service area page (gurleyleadershipsolutions.com)
