Commitment to developing leaders underlies the success of 'the world's most admired companies'

Citation

(2000), "Commitment to developing leaders underlies the success of 'the world's most admired companies'", Industrial and Commercial Training, Vol. 32 No. 2. https://doi.org/10.1108/ict.2000.03732bab.002

Commitment to developing leaders underlies the success of 'the world's most admired companies'

Commitment to developing leaders underlies the success of "the world's most admired companies"

Keywords: Companies, Research

A survey by Hay Management Consultants has revealed that "the world's most admired companies", as ranked by Hay and Fortune Magazine, have a far greater focus than their competitors on developing leaders.

The world's most admired companies were more confident in their ability to train their leaders than the companies which did not make the grade. Only 25 per cent of the most admired companies were uncomfortable with their leadership development programmes, compared with 50 per cent of the peer group. They are 26 per cent more likely to use planned career assignments, where an employee determines a particular task or placement, in order to equip themselves with a particular skill (for example, opting to spend six months in the strategy division, to develop strategy skills). They also stress the importance of executive coaching of their executives, being 35 per cent more likely than their peer group to use one to one coaches to develop leadership potential.

The commitment of the most admired companies to develop leadership skills is reaping dividends not only in how others perceive them but also in how they perceive their own management. A total of 91 per cent of the most admired companies were satisfied with the quality and breadth of their executive level leadership, compared with 72 per cent of the sample peer group. At a slightly lower level, 83 per cent of the most admired companies were satisfied with their senior management, compared with only 54 per cent of their peer group.

Hay's research also revealed that the most admired companies also made greater use of competency models to identify and develop leadership talent. All of the most admired companies agreed that the social and emotional skills which constitute emotional intelligence were very important to leadership success. Technical skills were rated as less than half as important as social and emotional skills.

For further information, contact Hay Management Consultants Ltd, 52 Grosvenor Gardens, London, UK SW1W OAU. Tel: +44 (0) 171 881 7000; Fax: +44 (0) 171 881 7100.