Leadership Development Takes on More Urgency
The August 2, 2010 Wall Street Journal headline read, “Leadership Training Gains Urgency Amid Stronger Economy”. The article began, “Fearing a shortage of qualified managers as business picks up, some companies are bolstering leadership development efforts.” Organizations committed to providing leadership development and seek to (as we say at Sonoma Leadership Systems) “cultivate one leader at a time” have found the means to continue to develop their people in spite of economic challenges.
According to the research firm, Bersin and Associates, who surveyed 750 corporations this year, employers cut spending on training by 11% the past two years. But here’s the good news—“Now about half of the companies plan to increase their leadership development budgets in 2010”.
Corporations are finding that when they give leadership development a lower priority, it impacts their future growth. A large direct seller, referring to a lack of qualified leaders stated, “We’re finding times when we want to open a new market but don’t have anyone with the capabilities to do it. It’s a real weakness. We’re starting to realize that this problem will become urgent fast.”
As an advocate for your organization’s growth, when you look at your future leaders, what do you see? Do you find you need to look beyond your organization for leadership executive talent or are you cultivating leaders in your own backyard?