Harvard Business Publishing recently conducted a global research to identify trends and traits shared by successful leadership development initiatives in industry and uncover best practices. The research was also uniquely directed to throw light on perceptions surrounding management and leadership development by end users, i.e. business line managers.
The research was conducted on 700 individuals from companies around the world. Among the 700, 56 per cent were business line managers and the remaining 44 per cent were L&D managers. Additionally, 90 per cent of end-users had recently attended a leadership development course.
In general, leadership development initiatives are nearly omnipresent in today’s organisations, a trend that has evolved very rapidly. Most survey respondents said their organisations invested in leadership skill development: 90 per cent have some programmes in place and two-thirds have regular, structured initiatives.
It came out pretty clearly that there is real, measurable value to being a best-in-class leadership development organisation, though only a very small number of organisations believe they are running best-in-class leadership skill development programmes. These programmes demonstrated real impact indicated by key highlights — best in class are 94 per cent more likely to report an impact on financial success; 70 per cent more likely to report an impact on competitive position; 96 per cent more likely to make L&D a strategic priority.
However, there is a clear, demonstrated gap between L&D and the business line on how they perceive programme relevance and effectiveness. The research findings show that only 19 per cent of business managers strongly agree that their programmes have a high relevance to the real issues facing their organisations. In the case of L&D professionals, however, 110 per cent are more likely to say that leadership development programmes have a high degree of relevance to issues facing the business. All in all, the business line is not fully convinced that programmes provide opportunities that align with the business and lead to a more effective workforce.
These findings don’t surprise us, and I’m sure many of them don’t surprise you, either. While it’s easy to read this report as “gloom and doom” — that L&D teams are consistently being overlooked, or not doing a great job responding to the needs of the business, there is a big silver lining here: leadership development programmes, when they work, absolutely have an impact on business success.
It’s a two-sided street. Most organisations still don’t fully commit to leadership development’s role as a strategic need, one that provides true value to the bottom line. It is critical that business leaders realise that leadership development can be the lynchpin that connects strategy to success — given a chance.
Similarly, L&D should embrace more innovative technologies, do more to align with the needs of the business, adapt to the changing workforce, and lastly, develop more effective ways to measure programme impact in their own organisations.
The author is country manager, India, Harvard Business Publishing
Guest Author
The author is country manager, India, Harvard Business Publishing
