An Impact That Matters - Leadership Development Initiatives That Give Returns

For long-term performance, the C-Suite needs to commit themselves to the success of corporate leadership development efforts. But do these programs align with the strategic objectives of the business? Do they prove valuable to the employee and for the bottom line?

- Suparna Chawla Bhasin

Leadership is the process of influencing leaders and followers to achieve organizational objectives through change.”

According to a Fortune survey, only 7 percent of CEOs believe their companies are building effective global leaders, and just 10 percent said that their leadership-development initiatives have a clear business impact. A McKinsey’s research report reveals that only 11 percent of more than 500 executives around the globe strongly agreed with the statement that their leadership-development interventions achieve and sustain the desired results.

But for long-term performance, the C-Suite needs to commit themselves to the success of corporate leadership-development efforts now. A few of the elements that can be considered for successful leadership development initiatives are:

Contextualization

Many learning and development initiatives falter because their design fails to answer the most important questions: What business need is this initiative going to address and the business outcome that the organization is seeking through it? Once the core strategic need is identified by the organization, learning and development initiatives can be geared towards solving those challenges. Organizations need to define the gaps in leadership and the future leadership needs required by the organization along with the key competencies or skills that the organization would require to achieve organizational goals while aligning the long and short-term strategic goals of the organization.