Confidence in leaders is at a 10-year-low, according to the 2008-2009 Global Leadership Forecast, a bi-annual study conducted by Development Dimensions International (DDI).

Since 1999, when the Leadership Forecast first measured organizations’ perceptions of their leaders, HR confidence in leaders has declined steadily, with only 35 percent citing high confidence in the most recent survey. “This deterioration of confidence is a sign that leaders aren’t meeting the needs of the organization.” said Rich Wellins, senior vice president at DDI, a global human resource consulting firm. “Every business leader needs to take note of this if they want to grow their organization.”

DDI conducts the Leadership Forecast to measure the impact of leadership development programs around the world. More than 13,700 leaders and HR professionals from 76 countries participated this year, making it the most comprehensive study on organizational leadership practices in the world.

Some of the major findings of the report are:

Leaders are dissatisfied with their development. Two out of five leaders don’t feel they’re getting the development they need, which is a key obstacle to leadership confidence. Leaders want more opportunities to learn on the job, but senior management seldom takes responsibility for making this happen. “Great leadership doesn’t happen by accident—organizations need to start listening to their leaders and make the right development investments if they want different results than they’re getting now,” Wellins said.

CEOs aren’t sending the right messages to leaders. Innovation and global acumen represent two large gaps in leaders’ and CEOs’ priorities, according to research from the Global Leadership Forecast and a recent DDI/Economist Intelligence Unit* study. Leaders don’t feel they’re respected for innovation or the ability to work across cultures—while CEOs rated these high on their list of what is needed. “The message isn’t clear if CEOs think these are the traits they need in the next five years, but leaders don’t think these are respected,” said Wellins. “Leaders are focused on the bottom line because that is the message they are hearing loud and clear.”

 US lags behind most of the world in succession planning. Globally, only half of organizations have succession plans for their leadership team, and US organizations were lower than the global sample. “This is scary, considering the high rate of retirements we’re expecting over the next 5-10 years,” Wellins said. “Organizations will have empty seats in key leadership roles if they don’t begin planning for their future leadership.”

But having succession plans isn’t the whole story—HR professionals indicated that one in three succession candidates fail. “These aren’t good odds for programs that are supposed to increase success,” Wellins said. “Organizations need to look at how they’re developing those individuals and identify why the failure rate is so high.”

Leaders who cross borders are unprepared. As organizations expand their global footprint, 20 percent of all leaders have some multinational responsibilities. But these leaders are ill-prepared for the roles ahead of them, as three in five multinational leaders consider their development for this role poor or fair.

“We’re sending leaders into key roles in rapidly growing industries and geographies without the tools they need,” Wellins said. “They’re facing new cultures and ambiguous environments without much preparation.”

Learn more about the Global Leadership Forecast

*Growing Global Executive Talent: High Priority, Limited Progress was conducted by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), on behalf of DDI, in September and October of 2007 with 412 senior leaders in Europe, North America, Asia and Australia. To complement the quantitative findings, eight C-suite executives, or its equivalent, were interviewed on their perceptions on talent management.