Leadership effectiveness is building and maintaining a team that can outperform the competition (Hogan, Curphy, & Hogan, 1994). In order to gain this competitive advantage, US companies doubled the amount of money spent on leadership development over 15 years to $14B (Bassi, Gallager & Schroer, 1996; O’Leonard & Loew, 2012).
Leadership: 34% of executives say a lack of adequate leadership is among the major impediments to achieving workforce goals, and 42% say their companies’ growth plans are slowed by lack of access to the right leadership (Source: Workforce 2020 by Successfactors, SAP, Oxford Economics).
Thus, over 90% of CEO’s plan to increase investment in leadership development because it is the single most important human-capital issue their organizations face; however, only 43% are confident that their training investments will be effective (Source: McKinsey, 2015). Out of 14,000 HR professionals interviewed, only 26% thought that the quality of their company leadership was “excellent” or “very good,” and only 18% believed that their bench strength was “very strong” or “strong” (Boatman & Wellins, 2011). Brandon Hall found similar results (2013 survey of 329 organizations): that 75% believe leadership development programs are ineffective.
To address this, companies should:
· Avoid confusing level of title with leadership;
· Engage a safe learning environment for experimentation and practicing new skills (business simulation);
· Provide follow-up feedback (assessments), support (on-going curriculum) and accountability (coaching) for transferring learning to jobs, not just a one-time event;
· Evaluate the program with significant business outcomes.
What is the current state of your leadership development program?
