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High-Impact Leadership Development (Part 3)
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High-Impact Leadership Development (Part 3)

Best Practices for Building 21st-Century Leaders

Laci Loew and Stacia Garr
Bersin & Associates, 2011
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8

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  • Applicable

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What would General Electric have achieved without Jack Welch? Would Apple have triumphed without Steve Jobs? How strong would Microsoft have been without Bill Gates? These corporate legends prove the magnitude of a great leader’s impact. According to research with HR professionals, the biggest issue confronting today’s companies is a notable lack of leaders, a vexatious dilemma in a recessionary period. One way out of this predicament is leadership development – the subject of this excellent, comprehensive report by senior Bersin & Associates analysts Laci Loew and Stacia Sherman Garr. This is the final manual in a three-part series, and it provides an overview for corporate executives and L&D specialists. getAbstract recommends its detailed information about L&D best practices and trends to executives who manage – or aspire to manage – professional L&D programs that genuinely align with their organizations’ needs.

Summary

The Cure for Today’s Shortage of Leaders

A shortage of strong leaders is a primary concern for modern organizations. The recession makes this problem even more unsettling. Many companies depend on internal learning and development (L&D) activities to plant new managers throughout their organizations, and to build and maintain a strong “leadership pipeline.” Using research based on comprehensive surveys of 300 L&D professionals, briefings with nearly 20 L&D vendors, and targeted interviews with upward of 20 L&D managers, the Bersin & Associates consultancy derived six best practices for leadership development:

  1. “Maintain strong executive engagement” – Enthusiastic support from high-ranking chiefs is the most crucial factor in any leadership development program. Without such engagement, L&D activities often become reactive and irrelevant. Research says 44% of companies whose top managers actively engage in L&D benefit in terms of profitable business expansion and capable change management. In contrast, just 3% of firms with weak executive engagement display similar benefits. Bosses who get involved in L&D...

About the Authors

Laci Loew and Stacia Sherman Garr are senior analysts at Bersin & Associates.

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