Leadership Development Trends: Findings
and Implications
Presentation to the Leadership Symposium
Ian Cullwick
Vice-President, Leadership and Human Resources Research
The Conference Board of Canada
The University of Winnipeg
Wednesday, October 30, 2013
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Agenda
• Context - CEO Challenges and Strategies
• Leadership Development – An Overview
• Practices and Priorities
• Learning and Development Outlook 2013
• Implications and Conclusions
2
Context - CEO Challenges and Strategies
CEO Challenges
3
Context - CEO Challenges and Strategies
CEO Strategies
Human capital
and leadership
underpin four of
the five top
CEO strategies
4
Context - CEO Challenges and Strategies
• Unlike previous annual trends, CEOs are focused on
operational and productivity-driven strategies.
• Canadian CEOs are adopting a “small business owner”
approach to their leadership and management styles –
spending time on the front lines.
• CEO focus on building high-performance organizations that
are efficient and engaged.
• Growing talent internally is viewed as the number one
human resources strategy for Canadian CEOs.
5
Leadership Development – An Overview
Leadership Development in Canada – A Snapshot
• A major Conference Board of Canada research initiative
• Examines leadership priorities and practices across 14
industry sectors
• Also identifies opportunities for improvement and better
practices
• A two-phased initiative – broader Canadian overview and
“deep dive” into select practices
6
Leadership Development – An Overview
Business Issues Driving Leadership Development
• HR governance
• Leadership capability and capacity
• Succession planning
• Talent management and engagement
• Increasing growth
Like today’s global CEOs,
Canada’s human resources
leaders are clearly
concerned with improving
internal capacity and
developing talent,
particularly leadership
talent.
7
Leadership Development – An Overview
Impact of Economic Environment on Leadership
Development
Programs Reduced or Cut Back
Finding Ways of Fostering continued
Developmnet with Less Money
10%
10%
30%
People Have Less Time/Busy Work
Environments
Dedicating Resources to Business
Transformation Efforts
10%
10%
More Targeted - People and Business
Outcome Focused
Many organizations have reduced or cut back
their leadership development programs in
response to fiscal challenges
8
Practices and Priorities
Leadership Development Programs by Employee Segment
80
68
61
61
58
60
52
(%)
39
40
32
20
0
Supervisors
Middle Managers Senior Managers
Executives
First-Line
Managers
High-Potential
Employees
Critical Workforce
Jobs
Few Canadian organizations (39%) have a leadership development program for high potentials.
This has significant implications for succession planning and talent management.
Source: The Conference Board of Canada.
9
Practices and Priorities
Overall Leadership Development Practices Use and
Effectiveness
Use
100
87
81
80
71
Effectiveness
88 85
84 85
70 73
72
87
84
73
78
66
68 71
74
63
69
60
(%)
40
20
0
Action learning
Stretch
assignments
360-Assessment
Educational
programs at
colleges and
Universities
In-house
leadership
programs
Planned career
assignments
Coaching
Mentoring
Job rotations
Facilitated
leadership
conversations
The leadership development activities perceived to be most effective are not necessarily
the ones that are used most often.
Source: The Conference Board of Canada.
10
Practices and Priorities
Opportunities for High Potential Development
Overall Use
Overall Effectiveness
LD Practices Used For High Potentials
Effectiveness of LD Practices For High Potentials
100
80
60
(%)
40
71
81
87
72
84 85
70 73
88 85
84
66
87
73 78
68 71
Coaching
Mentoring
63
74 69
20
0
Action learning
Stretch
assignments
360-Assessment
Educational
programs at
colleges and
Universities
In-house
leadership
programs
Planned career
assignments
Job rotations
Facilitated
leadership
conversations
Organizations are not using the most effective development activities for high potentials: Stretch
Assignments, Planned career assignments, and Coaching.
Source: The Conference Board of Canada.
11
Practices and Priorities
Opportunities for Executive Development
100
Overall Use
Overall Effectiveness
LD Practices Used For Executives
Effectiveness of LD Practices For Executives
80
60
(%)
40
71
81
87
88 85
84 85
70 73
72
84
66
73 78
87
68 71
63
74 69
20
0
Action learning
Stretch
assignments
360-Assessment
Educational
programs at
colleges and
Universities
In-house
leadership
programs
Planned career
assignments
Coaching
Mentoring
Job rotations
Facilitated
leadership
conversations
Largest opportunity gaps for leadership development at the executive level: Job rotations, Facilitated
leadership conversations, Coaching, Action learning and Planned career assignments
Source: The Conference Board of Canada
12
Learning and Development Outlook 2013
About the LDO:
• The 12th edition of the Learning and Development Outlook
• A total of 198 organizations completed the survey
• Provides an overview of the current state of learning and
development practices and programs across Canada
13
Learning and Development Outlook 2013
Key Drivers of a Stronger Learning Environment
• Creating and maintaining a strong learning culture
• Ensuring that learning is a top priority
• Offering diverse learning delivery
• Providing learning supports
• Aligning learning with organizational strategy
14
Learning and Development Outlook 2013
Creating and Maintaining a Strong Learning Culture
• Learning culture is comprised of key factors that address
the degree to which organizations:
Prioritize learning
Align learning with organizational objectives
Promote/Support the delivery of diverse learning methods
Have strong leadership support for learning
Organizations were categorized into weak, moderate and strong learning cultures based on survey
responses to key drivers of learning culture.
Source: The Conference Board of Canada
15
Learning and Development Outlook 2013
Effectiveness of Leadership Development Practices
Effective
Moderately effective
Not effective
60
40
(%)
20
0
2008 (n=218)
2012 (n=198)
In 2012, only 32 per cent of organizations rated their leadership development practices as effective.
Source: The Conference Board of Canada
16
Learning and Development Outlook 2013
Effectiveness of Leadership Development Practices by
Learning Culture
Effective
Moderately effective
Not effective
80
60
(%) 40
20
0
Weak
Moderate
Strong
Organizations with strong learning cultures are far more likely to have effective leadership
development practices.
Source: The Conference Board of Canada
17
Learning and Development Outlook 2013
Organizational Performance Relative to Competitors, by
Effectiveness of Leadership Development Practices
Overall Mean
Significantly
better than
competitors
5
Better
4
About the
same
Worse
Significantly
worse than
competitors
Ineffective Leadership Development Practices
Effective Leadership Development Practices
3
3.6
3.6
3.6
Retention
Performance
Engagement
3.5
3.8
3.7
3.6
3.6
Customer
Satisfaction
Overall
Productivity
Overall
Leadership
2
1
Communication Quality Products
and Services
Organizations with effective leadership development practices rate their performance as superior to
their competitors across all organizational performance areas.
Source: The Conference Board of Canada
18
Learning and Development Outlook 2013
Organizational Performance Relative to Competitors, by
Overall Leadership Performance
Overall organizational leadership performance same as competitors
Overall organizational leadership performance worse than competitors
Significantly
better than
competitors
5
Better
4
Overall organizational leadership performance better than competitors
3.6
About the
same
Worse
Significantly
worse than
competitors
3
3.3
3.3
3.3
3.5
3.2
3.2
2
1
Ability to retain
Overall employee
essential employees
performance
Employee
engagement
Communication
within organization
Quality of products
and services
Customer
satisfaction
Overall productivity
Organizations with strong overall leadership performance rate their organization as superior to their
competitors across all organizational performance areas.
Source: The Conference Board of Canada
19
Conclusions and Implications
• Strong leadership is critical for organizational performance
• Organizations are not confident that current leadership
development practices are effective
• While succession planning is a key driver of leadership
development, high potential employee identification and
development is not a top priority for many organizations
• Effective leadership development requires an integrated
approach to learning, development and talent management
20
Implications and Conclusions
Succession Planning
Ratio of high potential successors to positions
Senior executives
0.44
Executives
0.70
Management
0.47
Mission critical positions
0.35
Source: The Conference Board of Canada.
21
Implications and Conclusions
Blended Strategy for Leadership Development
90% of development is informal
Source: Centre for Creative Leadership, “Blended Learning for Leadership: The CCL Approach,” 2013, 2 and 5 .
22
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