Industrial Relations Ballarat

Best Practices for Leadership Development

The Best Companies for Leaders study was conducted by Hay Group in partnership with Chief Executive magazine which surveyed 564 companies with at least $8 billion in revenue from around the world. Data were collected from three sources: surveys of leaders within the companies, surveys of leaders from peer companies, and interviews with relevant academics and search firm executives.

The study highlights the best practices for identifying and fostering leadership talent and also flagged activities that do not add value.  Some of the results were as follows:

Best Practices for Leadership Development

• Having leaders at all levels who focus on creating a work climate that motivates employees to perform at their best.
• Ensuring that the company and its senior management make leadershipdevelopment a top priority.
• Providing training and coaching to help intact leadership teams, as well as the individual leaders, work together more effectively.
• Rotational job assignments for high potentials.
• External leadership development programs for mid-level managers.
• Web-based self-study leadership modules for mid-level managers.
• Executive MBA programs for mid-level managers.

Practices that waste resources include:

The study also flagged activities that do not add value—at least not if your goal is to identify and develop leaders.

• Outdoor activity-based programs
• Paper-based self-study leadership modules
• Job shadowing for senior managers
• Executive MBAs and web-based self-study modules became worst practices when implemented too late in the executive’s career

HR4Business provides leadership training and coaching.  To find out more visit: www.hr4business.com.au