Front-line leaders aren’t meeting new job challenges and their organisations aren’t preparing them to succeed according to a new global survey of nearly 300 human resource executives.
The findings reveal that the cost of having “just average” leaders is significant with increased turnover, loss of employee engagement, loss of productivity, and lower profits, according to ‘Be Better than Average: The State of Front-line Leadership’, conducted by Development Dimensions International (DDI) in conjunction with www.HR.com and the Institute for Human Resources.
More than half of survey respondents (59%) indicated poor front-line leadership resulted in turnover of leaders themselves or their team members. Even more respondents reported a loss of productivity (65%) and loss of team member engagement (69%). One in four (26%) said their business suffered a loss in profitability due to poor front-line leadership.
Front-line Leader Selection Left More to Chance than a Plan
Not having a clear picture of the qualifications and motivations of individuals promoted internally into first-time leadership roles results in a success rate that is only a little better than 60% (the number for external hires is just above 50%). The failure rate is high because organisations rely too heavily on “gut” impressions of performance. Only 60% of organisations use interviews to help guide promotions. Worse yet, just 26% of organisations utilise tests and a mere 19% incorporate simulations to make front-line leader decisions. The survey also confirmed that the organisations that do use these methodologies have better bench strength.
Interpersonal Skills Number One Reason Front-line Leaders Fail
More than half of respondents (56%) rated the lack of interpersonal skills as the number one reason for leadership failure. These interpersonal skills -including listening, empathising, and involvement - ensure leaders build strong relationships with their team and get work done.
The best HR organisations view frontline leadership as a springboard to higher-level roles and the most promising front-line leaders as future senior leaders. In fact, 73% of organisations who reported having very high quality front-line development programs were developing these leaders for future roles. So focusing on preparing high-potential front-line leaders early in their careers for higher-level positions makes sense.
Only 19% of respondents felt their leadership development quality was high or very high and only 18% felt they had a supply of capable employees to fill front-line leadership roles. Organisations which rated development as low described their front-line leaders as unprepared, indecisive, scattered and scared. But organisations rating their development quality as high and felt they had a strong bench, referred to their leaders as capable, confident, ambitious and innovative.
The research also found that leadership development should not be a one-time event.
Organisations that implemented a “learning journey” approach to training and development (including on-the-job training, learning from coaches, and formal training events), increase the perception of their development quality by more than 90%. And when programs are higher quality, confidence in front-line leaders to ensure the future success of the organisation grows. Organisations using the learning journey approach to develop their front-line leaders are nearly three times more confident in that level of leadership.
With thanks, Coach2Coach e-newsletter, June 18, 2013
Business Tips
Leadership Developement is Shortsighted
- Details
- Parent Category: Business Tips
- Category: Leadership
