Cos report dissatisfaction with leadership development efforts

There is a critical need to improve leadership development initiatives in companies, with 60 per cent of HR leaders in India ranking the return on their leadership development investment as 'fair to very poor', says a study.
According to a Korn Ferry Hay Group Study, globally there is significant dissatisfaction with leadership development efforts and leaders' ability to drive strategic change.
In India, 40 per cent of the respondents were positive regarding their leadership development efforts, but 60 per cent ranked leadership development ROI as fair to very poor.
The survey garnered more than 7,500 responses from across the globe.

Survey respondents displayed unhappiness with their current leadership development programmes, with 55 per cent of Asia Pacific respondents judging the return on their leadership development spending investment as only 'fair', 'poor', or 'very poor'.
"The best thought-out business strategy will fail miserably if the leaders within an organisation don't have the skills to make it come to fruition," said Dennis Baltzley, Senior Client Partner and Global Head of Leadership Development Solutions, Korn Ferry Hay Group.

As per the study, only 17 per cent respondents were confident they had the right leadership capabilities in place to execute their strategy, and 17 per cent were confident that their leadership team demonstrated behaviours needed to successfully deliver on strategic business priorities.

"Many leadership development initiatives fail because they are simply a series of programmes instead of a comprehensive approach that ties directly back into the business strategy," said Dato' Tharuma Rajah, Managing Principal, Korn Ferry Hay Group.
In the study, vast majority (88 per cent) of APAC respondents said connecting leadership development with social responsibility efforts positively impacts their company's overall engagement and performance.