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Restart growth by increasing leader bench strength

An uptrend in economic indicators pushes organizations to restart growth. But today’s more complex business landscape requires leaders to deal with more ambiguity and uncertainty—and make better decisions. Widespread job cuts leave distrust and disloyalty in their wake, at a time when the organization most needs loyalty and trust to achieve results.

Organizations demand growth, and growth demands strong leadership.

In other words, organizations demand growth … and growth demands strong leadership.

Workforce reductions, baby-boomer retirement, and an increase in talent poaching mean that growth strategies will be delayed, stalled, or abandoned due to a lack of leadership bench strength. In fact, fewer than 10 percent of managers are confident that enough talented leaders remain to drive their organization’s most promising growth opportunities.

Hiring outside executives can be a cost-prohibitive, ineffective, and even culturally incongruent practice. Leading organizations drive growth by focusing on their existing talent:

• Develop leaders broadly and deeply, at all organizational levels and in all global regions
• Align and integrate development with the company’s strategic priorities and talent management processes
• Connect leaders across global regions and lines of business to advance solutions to business problems
• Take a multi-pronged approach to helping leaders develop strategy-specific skills
• Enable speedy and successful role transitions that enhance business results

Many earlier research studies cited 2010 as the year in which a leadership shortage would begin in earnest. Wait, it’s 2010. Do you know where your leaders are?