Australian business leadership ranked “not ready” in global survey

25 March 2014

While you have likely invested in leadership training for senior-level staff, a global survey reveals the need at the bottom of the corporate ladder is “urgent” too.

Leadership at all levels of an organisation is a crucial step toward a more productive and cohesive business, according to the Global Human Capital Trends 2014 survey from Deloitte.

Published on 7 March, the Deloitte study revealed leadership is widely considered the top human capital concern around the world – particularly when considering the ‘readiness’ of junior team members stepping into roles with more responsibility.

While 83 per cent of the survey respondents rated leadership as an “urgent” or “important” need in their business, only 13 per cent claimed to do a good job of developing leaders at all levels.

Worryingly, two-thirds (66 per cent) of the survey participants admitted their leadership training programs targeting millennials in the workplace were weak. Just 5 per cent rated their programs as excellent.

Furthermore, Australian businesses ranked sixth on a table of the countries facing the largest leadership “readiness gap” – behind Belgium, Mexico, Japan, Brazil and the Netherlands as the least ready.

Employee Relations 101 I ER101 training iHR Australia v2 18.2.14

The Deloitte study authors have revealed what they believe could be the answer to this troubling leadership gap – organisation-wide training opportunities.

“Strong leadership programs target leaders at all levels. At the early stages in the leadership pipeline, potential leaders need to acquire core skills in supervision and management, with frequent assignments to round out their skills,” the report explains.

Offering leadership training to junior-level staff can help improve their pathway to executive, management and supervisory roles in your workplace. This can also help improve retention rates, as employees offered training are more likely to feel loyal to their employer when climbing the corporate ladder.

iHR Australia provides leadership and management training courses and can help your organisation develop tailored, onsite programs for existing and emerging managers. For more information or a quote call 1300 884 687 or make an online enquiry.

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