UK business could do better
Efforts by UK businesses to improve leadership in their organisations are failing to deliver the outcomes necessary to grow and compete successfully according to the Global Leadership Forecast, a new survey by business leadership consultancy DDI and the Chartered Institute of Personnel
and Development (CIPD).
The study examined the programmes used to develop leaders. Only 41 per cent of UK HR managers rated their programmes high quality. Similarly, only 42 per cent of UK leaders stated satisfaction with what their organisations offered.
Based on responses from human resource professionals and leaders in the UK, whose opinions were then compared to the total group of HR professionals and leaders from 76 countries worldwide, the report found less than half (44 per cent) of UK executives rate other leaders within their organisations as very good or excellent.
The blame for poor leadership development in the UK, according to HR, can be placed firmly at the door of organisations failing to hold senior managers accountable for leadership development, with almost half (48 per cent) agreeing that this was the top reason. Other problems identified were the failure of organisations to measure the results of leadership development and hence failing to learn from mistakes (21 per cent agree) and a lack of consistency in the way programmes are deployed across locations (23 per cent agree).
Compared to the worldwide sample, however, HR managers in the UK said that a larger proportion of their organisations (58 per cent compared to 50 per cent globally) had a process for identifying high potential leaders. Steve Newhall, European VP, DDI, says: “Identifying the future senior leaders and putting in place an effective programme to develop them is essential for the long term health of any organisation. This is the first stage. Effective measurement and accountability will then ensure programmers deliver the promised results. In the UK, the message seems to be that the effort is there, but we are not yet reaping the rewards.”
