'Developing leaders, retaining talents top concerns for cos'

Developing 'Next Gen' leaders and failure to attract and retain top talents were rated as the top challenges by the India Inc, according to a survey.

Leaders indicated that top talent and effective leaders will be needed to address the myriad current challenges and to position their organisation for future success, according to the joint survey by global leadership company DDI and Ernst and Young.

While in India, 68 per cent and 64 per cent respondents, respectively, rated developing 'Next Gen' leaders and failure to attract or retain top talent in the top five challenges; globally 64 per cent and 60 per cent, respectively, voted for the same.

The survey is based on responses from 1,363 leaders and 161 HR professionals in India, and 25,812 leaders and 2,547 HR professionals across 2,488 organisations overall globally.

The India survey revealed organisations with tech-savvy leaders are outperforming those with less digitally capable leaders.

"Organisations are comparing themselves to the new age startups firms who have been in business for few years, yet have been able to achieve revenues and market capitalisation upwards of few billion USD in no time," the survey said.

"As the digitalisation grows performance gap will also grow," it added.

The survey further said 11 per cent of leadership roles are currently occupied by women in the country.

"Our global research reveals that companies that have reached an above-average level of gender diversity overall (at least 30 per cent) and at the senior-level (more than 20 per cent), outperform diversity laggards in key leadership and business outcomes," it added.