The SHRM Linkage Leadership Institute is the premier leadership development experience equipping leaders with the insights and strategies they need to inspire teams, drive accountability, and deliver measurable results.
Leaders engage in data-driven, immersive learning, designed to shift mindsets, build critical skills, and prepare them to lead in any environment, under any conditions. They emerge with sharper judgment, stronger influence, and the confidence required to impact change, influence culture, and drive results.
Nov. 16 - 18, 2026 | Nashville, TN and Virtual
This is not a traditional conference. The Linkage Leadership Institute is a learning experience designed to deliver measurable results around critical core competencies. Participants engage through one of two leadership development models informed by SHRM Linkage's proprietary research and leadership data:
Equips leaders to align values, behaviors, and decisions in ways that strengthen culture and performance. This learning experience focuses on:
Empowers women leaders to build the clarity and confidence essential to ascend in leadership. This learning experience focuses on:
Leaders arrive with personalized insights from a 360° leadership assessment, providing a clear view of how their leadership behaviors are experienced by colleagues and teams. Those insights serve as the foundation for deeper leadership exploration throughout The Institute — allowing leaders to examine how they lead today and develop the capability required to perform at the next level.
Organizations invest in the SHRM Linkage Leadership Institute because leadership development can't be left to chance. Leaders who participate report meaningful improvements in how they lead and how their teams perform:
82% say they & their team are outperforming the company average
75% are more engaged with their work
69% have more personal satisfaction with work
67% are more likely to stay with their company
Through three days of immersive development, leaders engage with distinguished faculty, personalized leadership insights, and accomplished peers from across industries to activate leadership not as a theory, but as a business-critical capability.
Complete a leadership assessment before arriving onsite to reveal strengths, opportunities, and personal insights. The assessment serves as the foundation for deeper leadership exploration throughout the experience.
Engage in targeted breakout sessions to explore and build specific competencies. These workshops are tied to specific assessment insights, offering personalized capability building to maximize impact.
Gain perspective from insightful voices on the mainstage. From business executives to thought leaders, The Institute keynote faculty inspire leaders who can perform even when expectations are high, conditions are uncertain, and outcomes matter.
Unpack learnings in expertly matched discussion groups, referred to as Learning Teams. These facilitated discussions create an environment where leaders can examine lived experiences and test new ways of approaching them. Attendees say Learning Teams are the most differentiated piece of The Institute experience.
The SHRM Linkage Leadership Institute is the premier leadership development experience equipping high-performing leaders with the capabilities needed to inspire teams, drive accountability, and deliver measurable results.
Participants are guided by insights from a 360° leadership assessment and learning is backed by Linkage's experience developing more than 100,000 leaders. Those insights serve as the foundation for deeper leadership exploration throughout the experience.
Organizations may choose which leadership model and learning track to engage in based on organizational priorities:
With 360-degree assessment insights in-hand, leaders step into an immersive learning environment with high-caliber faculty dialogue, immersive leadership application, and rigorous peer exchange where the real pressures of enterprise leadership are explored.
The Institute offers two flexible formats: in-person in Nashville, TN, or 100% virtual. Regardless of how your organization chooses to engage, expect to gain actionable strategies that will advance leadership capability through data-driven development, engaging keynotes, reflective peer discussion, and more. Customize the experience with options designed to fit your needs and goals:
If you have questions or need help deciding which experience is best for you and your team, please contact us at linkage-customerservice@shrm.org.
Unlike a conference, the content of The Institute is designed to build on the assessment, leadership model, and associated leadership competencies throughout the experience. Your cohort's participation in small-group learning and in-the-moment sessions is critically important to maximizing development impact.
The SHRM Linkage Leadership Institute 2026 will be hosted and broadcast in Central Time.
To send a cohort of attendees and maximize leadership development impact in your organization, please fill out this form. A SHRM Linkage expert will be in touch to discuss program details and options for customizing The Institute experience for your leaders.
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