To better understand what organizations are doing to develop front-line and mid-level leaders, DDI and The Aberdeen Group launched research “Learning and Development: Arming Front-line and Mid-level Managers to Deliver People and Performance Results.”
Aberdeen and DDI surveyed human resource professionals to understand what organizations are doing (the content being provided, the learning delivery methods being used, and the tool and capabilities put in place) to develop these leaders.
Some of the results in the report include:
An increasing number of organizations are linking L&D efforts to business metrics.
- 51% of Best-in-Class (BIC) organizations attribute changes in profitability and/or revenue directly to L&D initiatives and 59% of those organizations can validate the link through data.
By focusing learning efforts on business priorities, Best-in-Class organizations are showing impressive results. In addition to gains in manager performance, retention, and engagement that define the BIC group, these companies are showing impressive business results in other areas as well, areas such as employee performance, customer satisfaction/loyalty, and revenue per FTE.
The most important metrics used to measure the impact of L&D for front-line and mid-level leaders are:
- Management business objective achieved
- Retention of key/management talent
- Customer satisfaction
- Employee engagement
The economy and an increased focus on business performance are pervasive pressures throughout the US and global economies today. This drive for performance and the agility required to sustain performance were identified as key drivers for organizations to focus on L&D for front-line and mid-level managers.
Organizations are still concerned about long-term growth. Organizational growth and insufficient bench strength are the top internal challenges driving L&D efforts for front-line and mid-level managers.
Despite the increasing number of technology-enabled learning modalities available to organizations today, the majority of organizations still utilize personal, high-touch, and often one-on-one modalities to impart manager skills and knowledge. While most top modalities were person-to-person, self-paced e-learning did make the top four. When asked about a blended approach, only 51% of Best-in-Class organizations cited it being used for front-line development and 66% cited it as part of mid-level development. HOWEVER, blended learning approaches are an area of planned adoption for 29% of BIC front-line leader programs, and 21% of BIC mid-level manager programs.
Read more studies from DDI & the Aberdeen Group.