There's a leadership crisis in business as top talent becomes harder to find due to an aging executive class along with increased demand from emerging nations.
According to a newly released study, The Best Companies for Leaders, from the Hay Group and Chief Executive Magazine, companies in the U.S. and Europe are seeing a dearth of talent and are now reacting with a variety of practices intended to train replacements.
"If organizations want to ensure they have the right leaders in the right roles to not only meet future talent shortages but also continue their growth in an increasingly volatile global economy, they will have to commit to major investments over the long haul," Rick Lash, head of Hay Group's Leadership and Talent practice for North America, said in press release.
"Organizations need to worry about the supply of future leaders, as well as about whether they really understand the future roles that will be critical to driving their business strategy," he added.
According to the survey, 86.1 percent of respondents indicated there is greater urgency today to develop leaders in their organizations than there has been in the past.
Study respondents offered seven "best practices" for developing leaders within businesses:
- Making leadership development opportunities available to managers;
- Holding managers accountable for creating a work climate that fosters individual worker and group achievement;
- Training and other activities that create a spirit of cooperation and teamwork;
- Analyzing talent through an understanding of future organizational needs;
- Creating development opportunities and training to help leaders transition into new roles and responsibilities;
- Moving leaders around to gain international experience;
- Creating orientation programs to help external hires move into leadership positions.
Interestingly, there were no retailers among the top companies for leaders. One retail store chain, Home Depot, made the survey's list in 2006. The top 10 companies on this year's list were:
- General Electric
- Procter & Gamble
- Johnson & Johnson
- Unilever
- Coca-Cola
- Siemens
- PepsiCo
- L'Oreal
- Toyota
- Hewlett-Packard
Discussion Question: Do you see a leadership crisis in business today? Is it more or less pronounced in retailing? What are your "best practices" for developing leaders?