GLOBAL LEADERSHIP FORECAST 2023
BY THE NUMBERS
Most Sought-After Learning Experiences
Leaders Want More Meaningful, Interactive Learning Experiences with Their Peers
Given the constant battle for leaders’ time and attention, companies must think carefully about how to create targeted, meaningful learning experiences. Especially amidst the shift to remote and hybrid work, development experiences must help leaders connect with each other to build a more positive learning culture.
By far, leaders say that they want to learn through interactive experiences with their peers, with a smaller amount of self-driven learning.
They ranked live, instructor-led training as their top choice, followed closely by professional coaching. They also want assessments to guide their experiences and developmental assignments to test out new skills.
Surprisingly, coaching from a current manager ranked at the bottom of leaders’ desired learning methods. However, as we discussed in the earlier coaching finding, this low ranking may reflect the quality of their managers’ coaching skills, not coaching as a development method. Leaders who report that their managers are effective coaches are more likely to want coaching from them.
WHERE TO FOCUS
Build a Pipeline Development Strategy
Most companies focus leadership development offerings on first-time managers who need it most. However, we found throughout our research that companies that consistently offer quality development across the pipeline reap significant advantages.
Companies that consistently offer quality development across the pipeline reap significant advantages.
We compared how the effectiveness of an organization’s development programs related to their financial performance against their industry peers. Unsurprisingly, companies that failed to offer an effective leadership development program at any level were linked to the poorest financial performance, with only one in five companies saying that their financial performance was in the top 10% for their industry.
Companies that failed to offer an effective leadership development program at any level were linked to the poorest financial performance.
Organizations with effective development programs for only one leader level performed slightly better—31% say they are in the top 10% of industry financial performance. When effective programs were offered for two levels of leaders, this percentage again increased to 40%.
However, organizations that provided effective leadership development at all levels were far more likely to rank for top financial performance, with 54% reporting that they are in the top 10% of their industries.
While many companies may focus initial efforts on one level of leadership, the data shows that companies see increasingly better returns as they create cohesive leadership cultures that span the entire organization.
BY THE NUMBERS
Development Quality Across the Pipeline
