Leadership development programs engage the workforce, improve the agility of systems and build a more resilient foundation for companies so they can adapt and remain in business.
The Global Leadership Forecast Report by DDI (2019) suggests that among the 28 challenges shared by executives in the USA and globe, leadership development was at the top of the chart (64%). Leadership depth was identified as the most emerging challenge among other leaders as well. Only 41% of top executives believe that their current leadership programs are of high quality. More importantly, HR professionals seem to agree with this talent gap. Among 2,500 HR professionals surveyed, only about 40% open leadership positions can be filled internally. In fact, less than 35% believed that their management succession systems are reliable to bridge the gap. This is a bleak picture for organizations who continue to experience digital disruption and must spur transformation to remain viable in an increasingly disruptive environment.
Leaders must begin to ask the tough questions
How confident are we that our current leaders are capable of meeting the organization’s long-term strategy?
How effective is our current talent pool?
What critical roles do we need to fill in the next three years?How can we build an effective and comprehensive leadership strategy?
By being more strategic in developing it’s leaders, organizations can begin to become more purposeful in designing a healthy culture which ultimately leads to a more engaged workforce, more agile systems, and a more resilient foundation that can adapt to change and sustain the new in an increasingly disruptive environment. Being adaptable to change is critical for organizations to thrive in this new global reality. As such, identifying and developing talent in a rapid manner takes priority in organizations.
Thankfully, there's hope...
More and more organizations are partnering with experts in the field to design comprehensive, experience-based, coaching-centered learning solutions to promote leadership development. Canned programs do not work. Learning happens on the job and retaining new knowledge requires innovative, client-facing activities and experiences that promote emotional intelligence, agility, dealing with ambiguity and managing change through quick decision making and employee engagement.
What can you do?
1. Identify your high potential and leadership gap
2. Create an intentional leadership development strategy
3. Integrate leadership coaching and development solutions into the core of your systems
4. Evaluate your leadership pool on an annual basis
As leaders of your organization, it is more critical than ever to hold these talent conversations and create a long-term plan that supports the organization’s leadership development. At the end of the day, talent is the single most important driver of organizational outcomes.
About the Author
Dr. Loubna Noureddin, PCC is an executive coach and expert in culture transformation and change.