A little less conversation a little more action please: Leadership survey results - 07/11/2006 - Personnel Today

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A little less conversation a little more action please: Leadership survey results
07 November 2006 00:00


Our 360-Degree Appraisal of HR revealed what your senior leaders thought about you. But what do you make of them? Karen Dempsey reports.
The majority of business leaders are all talk, not enough action, and guilty of putting their own egos first"

Developing talent
The success or otherwise of leaders is not just down to the structure of the organisation or how much change it has been through. Much depends on the qualities and characteristics of the leaders themselves.
Nearly half (48%) rate their leaders as 'having the right stuff but needing development', and a third (30%) believe their leaders are 'OK and occasionally have a glimpse of talent'. Only 8% believe their leaders are 'fantastic and extremely talented', and a worrying 14% believe their leaders are 'devoid of any real leadership talent'. Perhaps unsurprisingly, this rises to 58% in companies that have had lacklustre performance in the past couple of years.
This is where HR has a huge part to play in focusing efforts on the areas that will make leaders much more effective. Leaders need to pay the most attention to their interpersonal and communication skills (say 60% of respondents), while more than half (51%) believe they need to work on developing a leadership approach that minimises their personal agendas and egos.
The number of leaders deemed to have huge egos is 72% in low-performing organisations (and 35% in high-performing ones). You could therefore draw the conclusion that bosses with a dose of humility are inclined to preside over more successful organisations.
Egos are notably more prominent among larger rather than smaller organisations - perhaps a surprising statistic, given the entrepreneurial, personality-driven style of smaller businesses. Fifty-nine per cent say personal agendas come first in large businesses (more than 10,000 employees) compared with 49% in smaller businesses (500 or fewer employees).
More than half (55%) want leaders to display the organisation's behaviour and values - signifying that, on a personal level, most employees want to be inspired by their leaders, and to trust that their bosses truly believe in what they're doing.
However, given these figures, in many organisations, it seems to be a case of 'do as I say, not as I do'. While one-third of employees in a high-performing organisations may feel empowered to make decisions and are given clear decisions and rules, only 2% of those in low-performing ones can say the same.
These findings are likely to give food for thought to HR professionals in charge of formulating or reviewing their next leadership development programmes. With focus in the right place, HR can help transform leaders and give them the skills to run winning organisations - no matter how much change they are going through.
As Ross concludes: "Values and behaviours are very much HR's problem. Rather than walk away from change, embrace it, and it could make your career."
How do you believe leaders could best develop to become more effective?
Develop interpersonal and communication skills - 60%
Personally display the organisation's behaviours and values - 55%
Lead in a way that minimises their personal agenda or ego - 51%
Develop their strategy and planning skills - 48%
Influence others to do the work rather than doing it themselves - 28%
Develop their industry knowledge and technical skills - 7%