Effective leadership is important to long term business success

New research from talent management consultancy, DDI, and CIPD reveals that only a third (36%) of UK leaders and one in five (18%) UK HR professionals rate the quality of leadership as 'high' in their organisations.

Despite findings pointing to an overall lack of leadership in UK organisations, only four in 10 (38%) of both UK leaders and HR professionals rate their organisations' leadership development programmes as highly effective. Twenty per cent of leaders and 24% of HR professionals rate the programmes as ineffective.

Steve Newhall, Managing Director, DDI, says: "The findings of the survey must be read in the context of a severe recession. Organisations in the UK suffered greatly and their leaders have been under intense pressure. So the poor picture of UK leadership is perhaps not surprising. But the report tells us that leadership really does matter and good leadership makes an immense difference to the success of the organisation. Leaders themselves are telling us the skills they need and what development and talent management processes are most effective."

Gareth Osborne of APA said: “The research is new but the message isn’t, UK businesses and the HR profession has been under-funding training for many years; right across the board, and it bites deeper in a recession when fewer average-ability staff have to work harder. There has never been a better time to invest in training and PAs should be prime recipients.  From our own research we know that a great PA will increase his or her boss’s productivity by as much as 45% and that represents a massive return on investment (ROI). Training; especially APA professional training, is one of the keys to an increase in business productivity and should be considered by all CEOs.”

APA