Leadership development

Many organisations say they have a leadership development strategy, but how many of these are comprehensive and really add value to the business?MethodologyIn-depth interviews were conducted with 20 senior HR professionals working for large organisations in both the private and public sectors, including FTSE-100 and Fortune 100 companies.Findings The researchers found that organisations were carrying out a variety of leadership development initiatives. But evidence of a comprehensive leadership development strategy was rare. Often leadership development consisted of a number of isolated events and initiatives rather than being part of an ongoing, coherent development strategy. The focus tended to be on individuals, or small groups, for example, high potentials, senior executives, or newly appointed managers. Another common finding was that leadership learning was based on generalised theory rather than focused on what the organisation required to meet its own unique challenges.