Developing and training leaders critical

The biggest challenge facing organisations in the next 15 years will be to develop and retain leaders, according to a recent report by HR consultancy, DDI Australia.

Leading the Past, Preparing the Future says the challenge will be exacerbated by trends including the ageing workforce; declining employee loyalty and rising expectations; and greater work pressures.

DDI has identified seven key recommendations for organisations to meet their future leadership challenges:

• Align leaders with business objectives - while the '80s and '90s focused on developing managers with a broad set of skills that could be deployed in general management roles, the future will see greater emphasis on aligning leaders with specific business priorities
• Build adaptive leadership - develop an awareness of differences among people and situations and adapt leadership styles that can be applied to suit individual employee needs
• Identify future talent early - develop business processes that focus on early identification of future leaders from wider talent pools
• Clarify the employee value proposition - build an 'employer of choice' brand by clearly articulating the unique value proposition of the organisation to current and prospective employees
• Executive judgement - develop efficacy in leadership decision making through effective assessment and feedback, access to experiences and critical industry knowledge, and studying both traditional and contemporary models of decision making
• Global leadership - prompt leaders to think on a global scale with an acute awareness of the global business environment
• Drive engagement - recognise that an effective leader is the most influential factor in maintaining a high level of employee engagement

Article courtesy of recruiterdaily.com.au and CareersMultiList