Leadership development is one of the most pressing issues facing organizations today.
Why is leadership development so important? Because it represents a great chance for organizations to seize a competitive advantage in their industries.
If your business commits to developing its leaders, you can expect to gain a significant competitive advantage by improving the bottom line; attracting, developing, and retaining talent; driving strategy execution; and increasing your success when navigating change.
Data backs this up. When surveyed more than 5,000 program participants around the world — as well as 8,765 of their colleagues — 99% of the participants surveyed said they achieved success on their target goals related to communication, self-awareness, implementing change, and other areas.
A whopping 97% also told us:
- The program better prepared them for future leadership responsibilities.
- Lessons learned were relevant to their leadership challenges.
- Colleagues who went through one of our programs were able to translate what they learned into organizational impact, especially when it came to management capabilities, overall effectiveness, cross-boundary collaboration, and openness to diverse perspectives.
So why is leadership development important? According to the research, leadership development enables organizations to do the following 4 things that drive sustained success:
- Improve bottom-line financial performance.
- Attract and retain talent.
- Drive strategy execution.
- Increase success in navigating change.
According to the Bersin by Deloitte report High-Impact Leadership Development, organizations with stronger “leadership maturity” are 11 times more likely to have a high number of leaders who can build talent for competitive advantage. And they’re 7 times more likely to have a high number of leaders who can inspire people to follow them.
Watching talented people walk out the door causes tremendous expense for organizations, from morale, advertising, recruitment, and relocation costs, to time spent training new employees.
