Companies unable to execute leadership change despite planning: study

Lack of time, urgency, reasons for not being able to execute strategies

Organisations in Asia-Pacific are aware of the problems of leadership management and are also planing strategies for grooming leaders from within. But they are having difficulties in executing these strategies, said a study by consulting firm Mercer.

According to Mercer’s 2012 Asia Pacific Leadership Development Practices Study, 58 per cent of the companies surveyed across the Asia-Pacific region said they had a defined and agreed leadership strategy in place, but were not achieving the desired impact.

Of the companies that were surveyed, 45 per cent cited lack of time and 43 per cent cited lack of urgency as reasons for not being able to executing their strategies.

 

The crux of the issue, however, is a lack of alignment. The infrastructure (processes, people, and technology) necessary to truly develop leaders are not aligned, the report said.

Fermin Diez, Asia-Pacific Business leader, human capital consulting at Mercer said, “A very high percentage of organisations report having a strategy in place to build leaders, yet findings conclude that the supporting infrastructure just isn't there in all cases. To be successful, organisations need to tackle leadership development in a much more strategic and integrated way to sustainably develop leaders.''

This starts by clarifying business objectives, long-term business needs and the CEO's agenda, he added.

The study also says that - companies lack strong pipeline of ''ready-now'' successors for critical roles, companies rely on expatriates for top leadership roles, most organisations are willing to fund leadership development, but execution remains a problem and organisations not focusing leadership development efforts on women as a segment.