As facilitators and HR professionals we often need to present a solid business case for training and development, and nothing speaks louder than cold, hard facts. Using data, both internal and external, can be tremendously beneficial when highlighting the need for training; it’s the fuel for the leadership fire.
As an organisation, you need to ask yourself:
- “Do our leaders have the skills and behaviours needed to achieve our key priorities?”
- Can we measure the current level of competence of our leaders? (Internal data – basis for proposition of training)
- What are the current best practices and what are our competitors doing? (External data – what techniques are working and what measures are indicative of success?)
An excellent example of external data comes from DDI’s Global Leadership Forecast 2011, which found that organisations with the highest-quality leaders were 13 times more likely to outperform their competition in key bottom-line metrics such as financial performance.
That’s the kind of data that gets senior boards interested in leadership development!
DDI’s Global Leadership Forecast 2011, conducted by DDI’s Centre for Applied Behavioural Research (CABER) is the largest and most comprehensive study of its kind. Over 2,600 organisations across 74 countries provided perspectives on the current state of leadership in their organisations and their organizations’ future talent-related needs. A total of, 1,897 HR professionals and 12,423 leaders provided data. The report focuses on three key areas:
- Leadership Development: it works, but it’s not working
- Talent Management: it’s more than just development
- Management Culture: innovating the way we manage
Remembering why we do training in the first place helps us to gather the right data to support our efforts. Organisations are looking to meet their key priorities, whether it’s to increase top- and bottom-line growth, maintain competitive advantage, or serve customers more effectively. Research shows that leadership and the quality of leaders really do make a difference to these critical performance areas. That’s why it’s so important to develop capable, confident leaders and to have the data to prove that your leadership development programs are working.
Download a copy of the Global and Australia Leadership Forecast Reports.
Kay Tear, Consultant