As a leader you need all the help you can get and here are some valuable findings from The Global Leadership Forecast 2018, jointly published by DDI and EY and reproduced from Forbes magazine.
The Report is one of the most expansive leadership research projects ever conducted, integrating data from more than 28,000 leaders at 2,488 organizations around the world.
For me, wearing my leader hat, the surprising findings were that only 14% of CEO’s believe they have a bench of talent internally they can draw upon which means they have to buy or borrow talent. Also, that four out of every ten tech leaders are failing which is the highest leadership failure rate of any industry. This is attributed to industry putting in little effort into developing its tech leaders.
Here are the ten most important data points from the study:
1) CEO concerns about talent
CEOs are incredibly worried about the leaders they’ll need to drive enterprise success. Only 14% of CEO’s say they have the talent they need to execute their business strategies.
2) Need for digital leadership skill
Digital leadership skills are becoming increasingly critical. Companies who have the most digitally-capable leaders financially outperform the average by 50%.
3) Why gender diversity improves profitability
The value of gender diversity continues to be proven. Organizations with more women in leadership are 1.4 times more likely to have sustained, profitable growth.
4) Develop leadership potential earlier
Organizations need to take a broader view of what it means to have “leadership potential,” and start developing leadership potential earlier in careers. Organizations that extend development of high potential talent below senior levels are 4.2 times more likely to financially outperform those that don’t.
5) Value Gen X more
Most companies are overlooking the value of Gen X. As the first generation to grow up with video games, they are nearly as digitally savvy as millennials, but also excel in more conventional leadership skills associated with Baby Boomers, such as building talent and driving execution.
6) Tech leaders are failing
Four out of ten tech leaders are failing which is the highest leadership failure rate of any industry. The high failure rate is likely due to the fact that the industry puts little effort into developing its leaders. In fact, 32 percent of tech leaders reported that they never meet with their manager to have performance discussions.
7) Senior leaders need greater alignment
Leadership is being redefined as a team sport. As companies increasingly rely on teams, we found three areas where its critical for senior leaders to be aligned;
- energy and development passion
- future-focused leader skills
- views on company culture.
A lack of alignment in these three areas quickly derails a senior team.
8) HR needs developed skill in “people analytics”
Using data to make decisions about people—known as “people analytics”—is becoming an incredibly important skill for HR. However, only 18% of organisations are managing to implement advanced people analytics.
9) The 3 cultural shifts needed most
Organizations need to focus on three cultural factors to improve their leaders’ ability to respond to disruption:
- Inform decisions through data and analytics
- Integrate multiple and diverse perspectives to drive change
- Embrace failure in pursuit of innovation
10) Do-it-yourself leadership growth doesn’t cut it
Too many organizations are taking a DIY approach to leadership development which usually begins and ends with giving leaders access to a generic self-study resources. But what leaders really want is a personalized experience and the opportunity to learn from internal and external mentors and their fellow-leaders.
There are some real takeaways there for Australian leaders – view forecast for more insights.