E-Book Leadership Survey PDF

Preparing the Next Generation of Leaders
Results of the Annual Leadership Survey by Wilson Learning and Training Magazine
By Michael Leimbach, PhD, Wilson Learning
Table of Contents
5 | Who Participated in the Survey? 14 | Leadership Development Investment
6 | Changes in Leadership Development 15 | Measuring Leadership Development Efforts
7 | Time to Leader Proficiency 16 | Executive Involvement
8 | Determining Development Needs 18 | Supporting New Leaders in Their Transition
9 | Leadership Development Participants 20 | Cross-Generational Support for Leadership
10 | Leadership Skill Priorities 21 | Social Media and Leadership
11 | Learning Methods Used 23 | Strengthening New Leader Development
12 | Impact of Leadership Development
Preparing the Next Generation of Leaders | WilsonLearning.com | 1.800.328.7937 |3

© Wilson Learning Worldwide Inc. All rights reserved.
For the second year, Training magazine and Wilson Learning Worldwide have teamed
up to conduct a survey focused on what creates effective leaders and what is being
done to prepare the next generation of leaders.
The results of this survey indicate there is a great need to strengthen leadership
development efforts. In particular, we need to focus our efforts on meeting the needs
and expectations of the next generation of leaders.
4 | Preparing the Next Generation of Leaders | WilsonLearning.com | 1.800.328.7937

Who Participated in the Survey?
Over 500 leadership development professionals responded to the 2018 survey.
58% in Management
Positions 62%
70%
70%
Operate Only
in the U.S.
Director/Manager
Director/Manager 60%
60%
50%
50%
40%
40%
Other
Other 30%
30%
20%
20%
10%
10%
President/VP
President/VP 0%
0%
ly l al
na ob
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% on io
Gl
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% t
ed na
as ti
.-b ul
S M
U.
$1.3 $1.9
10,722
million million
2017 2018
Average Number Annual Spending on
of Employees Leadership Development

Changes in Leadership Development
A larger percentage of the training budget is going to leadership development.

Graph 4: Percent of budget
Percent for leadership
of Total development
L&D Budget Going Toward Leadership Development
40%
40%
Fewer organizations
35%
35%
investing 10% or less
30%
30%
More organizations investing
25%
25%
21–30% and over 60% in development
20%
20%
15%
15%
10%
10%
5%
5%
0%
0%
0-10%
0–10% 11-20%
11–20% 21-30%
21–30% 31-40%
31–40% 41-60%
41–60% 60-100%
61–100%
2017
2017 2018
2018

Time to Leader Proficiency
It is taking longer to bring a new

leader to a high level of proficiency.
How Long does it take to develop a new leader

How Long Does It Take to Develop a New Leader to a High Level of Proficiency?
to a high level of proficiency?
45%
45%
40%
40%
35%
35%
30%
30%
25%
25%
20%
20%
15%
15%
10%
10%
5%
5%
0%
0%
Less
Lessthan
than 6 months
months 6–12 months
6–12 months 13–18 months
13–18 months 19–24 months
19–24 months More
More than 24months
than 24 months
2017
2017 2018
2018

Determining Development Needs
How are leadership development needs determined?

This year, fewer organizations are asking leaders to select their own development priorities and
are instead moving toward the use of interviews and formal needs analysis processes to determine
leadership development priorities. Is this a trend toward more structured approaches to determining
leadership skill needs?
A movement away from self-selected development needs toward . . .

more formal needs analysis and interviews to determine needs
Graph 1: How development needs are determined

How Development Needs Are Determined
The leaders themselves

The leaders identify
themselves theirtheir
identify ownown
development needs
development needs
The executive
Theleadership team decides
executive leadership decides
Informal interviews
Informal with with
interviews leaders are are
leaders conducted
conducted
A formal needsneeds
A formal analysis is conducted
analysis is conducted
We useWetools fromfrom
use tools outside experts/vendors
outside experts/vendors
We look to outside
We look experts
to outside experts
0%
0% 10%
10% 20%
20% 30%
30% 40%
40% 50%
50% 60%
60% 70%
70%
2017
2017 2018
2018

Leadership Development Participants
Who participated in leadership development programs?

Overall, there was a significant increase in the percent of organizations offering leadership
development opportunities to their employees.
Increases in leadership development programs
were targeted toward:
• C-level and VP leaders
80%
80% • Middle managers
• Supervisors
70%
70%
• High-potential employees
60%
60%
This suggests a focus on growing effective
50%
50% management capabilities.
40%
40%
30%
30%
20%
20%
10%
10%
0%
0%
C-level/VP/and
C-level, VP, and Middle
Middle Manager
manager Supervisors
Supervisors Employees with
Employees with “Hi gh potential”
“High potential” Anyone
Anyone
above
above influence
influence
2017
2017 2018
2018

Leadership Skill Priorities
Leadership Skill Development Priorities

from 2017 to 2018
2018 RESULTS CHANGE FROM 2017
Communication skills 1
Survey participants selected their top five
Developing and coaching others 1
leadership skill development priorities. The chart
Team leadership 2 shows how the rank order of the skills changed
Strategy development and alignment 3 from 2017 to 2018, meaning how much skill
Change leadership 1 areas moved up or down in priority. While most
Big Interpersonal relationship skills 2
skills remained in the same place, there were
Increases Emotional intelligence skills 1
some interesting changes.
Motivating others 4
Performance management 6
Decision-making and problem-solving 1
Creating engagement Big

Providing feedback 1 Decreases
Self-development 3
Influencing others
Taking accountability
Leadership character

Learning Methods Used
Percent of Organizations Using Each Learning Method
Mobile
Mobile learning
These methods have not
Game-like components
Game-like components(leaders
(leader boards, competition, etc.)
Open-source
Open-sourceprograms
programs (MOOCS,
(MOOCS, YouTube.com,
YouTube.com, etc.)
etc.)
grown significantly in use
Social
Social media
media networks
networks over the past year and
Micro-learning
Micro-learning remain underutilized in
Job rotations
leadership development.
University/college
University/collegeprograms
programs(including
(including executive
executive education)
education)
Learning portals
Learning
Learning libraries
libraries
Self-paced
Self-paced printed
printed manuals
manuals
360-degree
360-degree feedback
feedback tools
Stretch/challenge assignments Simulations and role-
Video-based training plays have shown the
Instructor-led
Instructor-ledonline/remote
online/remote (virtual
(virtual learning)
greatest growth in
Action
Actionlearning
learningassignments
assignments(hands-on
(hands-on learning
learning opportunities)
opportunities)
Mentoring
Mentoring programs
programs
usage from 2017. Is
Blended learning this a trend that will
Self-paced e-learning continue?
Reinforcement
Reinforcementand
andreview
reviewof
of learning
learning after
after aa training event
event
Simulations and
and role-plays
Informal
Informal learning methods
Manager
Manager coaching
coaching and
and support
On-the-job training
Instructor-led
Instructor-led classroom
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%
These methods remain the mainstay of leadership development.
Preparing the Next Generation of Leaders | WilsonLearning.com | 1.800.328.7937 | 11

How Do You Measure the Impact of
Leadership Development?
Actions and choices regarding leadership development
are only meaningful if they drive performance
improvement and impact. In this survey, participants
were asked five questions that experts agree define high-
performance leadership development:
1. Is leadership a source of competitive advantage?

2. Do we have best-in-class leaders?
3. Are there gaps in our leadership capabilities?
4. Do we have sufficient resources?
5. Do we have sufficient leadership bench strength?
The responses to these five questions were averaged to

create an overall Leadership Development Impact score
for each organization. Organizations were then divided
into three groups:
• Low-performing organizations
• Moderate-performing organizations
• High-performing organizations
Impact of Leadership Development
The overall impact of leadership development did not increase from 2017 and, in fact, worsened
in two critical areas: the lack of resources for leadership development and growing gaps in
leadership capabilities.
Percent Agreeing That They Are Having an Impact

Percent on:
Agreeing They Are Having an Impact on:
Sufficientresources
Sufficient resourcesfor
forleadership
leadership development
development
Noleadership
No leadership gaps
gaps
Leadershipaasource
Leadership sourceofofcompetitive
competitive advantage
advantage
Best-in-class leaders
Best-in-class leaders
Sufficientleadership
Sufficient leadership bench
bench strength
strength
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%
2018
2017 2017
2018
Less than half the organizations feel:

• They have sufficient resources to develop leaders effectively.
• They have no critical leadership skill gaps.
• They have sufficient leadership bench strength.

Leadership Development Investment
Percent ofPercent
Organizations Decreasing Their
of Organizations Decreasing Their This graph shows why low-performing
Investment in Leadership Development
Investment in Leadership Development organizations are falling behind, and will
14%
continue to fall behind, in performance. Low-
performing organizations were four times as
12% likely to decrease their investment in leadership
development than were moderate- or high-
10% performing organizations. Overall, 12 percent
of low-performing organizations indicated that
8%
their investment in leadership development is
shrinking.
6%
4%
2%
0%
Low Moderate High

Measuring Leadership Development Efforts
This graph shows the percent of high-, moderate-, and low-performing organizations using different
methods of measuring the effectiveness of leadership development. High-performing organizations
were much more likely to measure business outcomes and behavior change than were low- or
moderate-performing organizations.
Measuring the Effectiveness of Leadership Development Efforts

Percent of Organizations Using Each Measurement Approach
Measure the link between

Measure theleadership development
link between and
leadership improvementand
development in
business results
improvement in business results
Conduct formal
Conduct formal performance
performancereviews
reviewsbefore
beforeand
andafter
aftercompleting
completinga
leadership development program
a leadership development program
As s ess
Assess participants’direct
participants’ directreports’
reports’perceptions
perceptions(360-degree
(360-degree feedback)
feedback) of
of
behavi or change
behavior before
change and after
before the development
and after program
the development program
Implement
Implement knowledgetests
knowledge testsafter
afterthe
the training
training event
event
Mea s ure
Measure thethe participants’
participants’ managers’perceptions
managers’ perceptionsof ofthe
theimpact
impact on
on their
their
empl oyees’ leadership skills
employees’ leadership skills
Mea s ure
Measure participants’
participants’ reactionsand
reactions andsatisfaction
satisfactionwith
with the
the program
program
0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

High Moderate Low

Executive Involvement in Leadership Development
A clear difference among high-, moderate-, and low-performing organizations is the priority that
executives place on developing the next generation of leaders. Executives at high-performing
organizations clearly have a personal commitment to ensuring effective leadership for the future.
Next Generation of Leaders Is Percent of Organizations That Agree or Strongly Agree That:
a Priority
Executives prioritize
Executives developing
prioritize the next
the next generation
generation of leaders
of leaders
We have
We have a clear
a clear focusfocus on developing
on developing the next
the next generation
of leaders
We sufficient
We have have sufficient resources
resources to develop
to develop the next
the next generation
of leaders
Our leadership development efforts

Our leadership have increased
development thehave
efforts diversity (race,the
increased gender, etc.) of
diversity
our leadership team etc.) of our leadership team
(race, gender,
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%
High Moderate Low

Executive Involvement in Leadership Development
Executives in high-performing organizations demonstrate their personal commitment to developing the next
generation by actively participating in leadership development efforts.
Percent
Executive Involvement in Leadership of Organizations That Agree and Strongly Agree
Development
Are involved in leadership
Are involved program
in leadership kickoff
program and
kickoff launch
and launchmeetings
meetings
Acknowledge that leadership is athat

Acknowledge critical component
leadership of thecomponent
is a critical organization’s
of the
competitive advantage
organization’s competitive advantage
Communicate and model the organization’s
Communicate andleadership
model thephilosophy and
organization’s
model leadership philosophy and model
Actively review
Actively decisions
review on leadership
decisions development
on leadership developmentinitiatives
initiatives
Set specific expectations

Set specific for participation
expectations in leadership
for participation development
in leadership developmentefforts
efforts
Sponsor leadership
Sponsor community
leadership communityinitiatives
initiatives
Record talks talks

Record or videos on the
or videos importance
on the of leadership
importance development
of leadership development
Teach or lead
Teach leadership
or lead development
leadership developmentsessions
sessions
The organization’sThe
annual report mentions
organization’s our investment
annual report in leadership
mentions our investment
development in leadership development
0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

High Moderate Low

Supporting New Leaders in Their Transition
Approach to Developing New Leaders

Percent Agree and Strongly Agree Percent Agree and Strongly Agree
Leverage
Leverage thethe talents
talents andandknowledge
knowledge of
of mature
mature leaders
leaders
Effectively
Effectively capture
capture organizational
organizational knowledgefrom
knowledge from current
currentleaders
leaders
Identified
Identified a succession
a succession planfor
plan forall
allkey
key positions
positions
Strong
Strong bench
bench strengthofofnew
strength newpotential
potential leaders
leaders
Effectively attract
Effectively younger
attract employees
younger into
employees intoleadership
leadership positions
positions
Development approach
Development matches
approach expectations
matches expectationsofofthe
thenext generation
next generation
Search for qualified

Search candidates
for qualified to to
candidates fillfill
future
futureleadership
positions
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90%
High Moderate Low
High-performing organizations are more likely to:

• Leverage talents of existing leaders and capture knowledge
• Have a succession plan and bench strength in place
• Search for and attract young employees into leadership positions
• Use a modern approach to training and development

Supporting New Leaders in Their Transition
High-performing organizations are much more likely to support new managers in their transition to
leadership positions.
Support for Transitioning to New Leadership Position
Percent of Organizations That Strongly Agree
Percent Strongly Agree
Weprovide
We providesupport:
support:
In In
managing
managingtime
timeand
andpriorities
prioritiesin
innew
new leadership positions
Developing relationships with new peers and direct reports
Developing relationships with new peers and direct reports
By helping leaders manage their own performance expectations
By helping leaders manage their own performance expectations
By helping leaders manage their personal expectations
By helping leaders manage their personal expectations
Through overlap with the previous leader to ease the transition
Through overlap with the previous leader to ease the transition
Through coaching/mentoring during transition
Through coaching/mentoring during the transition
Adopting
Adoptingnew/more
new/moreadvanced
advanced leadership skills
leadership skills
InIncompleting
completingold
oldassignments/tasks
assignments/tasks
0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30%
High Moderate Low

Cross-Generational Support for Leadership
High-performing organizations are more likely to have support from the current generation of leaders.
Cross-Generational Support
Percent Agree and Strongly Agree Cross-Generational Support: Percent Agree and Strongly Agree
The next generation recognizes

Thethe need
next to develop
generation additionalthe
recognizes leadership
need to
skills.
develop additional leadership skills
The next generation

The nextofgeneration
leaders have
ofthe drive have
leaders needed
thefor leadership
drive needed
responsibilities.
for leadership responsibilities
The next generation ofThe

leaders
nexthave reasonable
generation expectations
of leaders for career
have reasonable
development.
expectations for career development
Thecurrent
The currentgeneration
generation of
of leaders
leaders are
are willing
willingto
tolet
letgo
goofofresponsibilities.
responsibilities
The current generationThe

of leaders
currentprovide support,
generation coaching,
of leaders and
provide
mentoring.
support, coaching, and mentoring
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%
High Moderate Low

Social Media and Leadership
Social Media . . . Is a Problem
Social media has made leadership:

Social media has made leadership:
7%
7%Easier
Easier
28%
28% 17%
17%
65%
Neither
Neithereasier
easier More
Moredifficult
difficult
nor more
nor more
difficult
difficult
of organizations say that social media

(Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc.) has
made leadership more difficult, or
both easier and more difficult.
48%
48%Both
Botheasier
easier
and
and moredifficult
more difficult

Social Media and Leadership
Social Media’s Greatest Benefits
Greater sharing and interaction
Easy access to information
Greatest Concerns About Social Media
Blurring of personal and business

boundaries
Information overload
Leaking of confidential information

How to Strengthen New Leader Development
The results of this survey suggest a number of actions that organizations can take to strengthen
their leadership development efforts for the next generation.
Focus on effectiveness. Focus less on making learning less expensive/time-consuming and more on
whether the leadership development effort is creating better leaders.
Get executives engaged. Senior executives need to see leadership development as a priority,
communicate specific expectations, model desired behavior, and engage directly in leadership
development activities.
Make speed to proficiency a KPI. Your Key Performance Indicator (KPI) should be how quickly
you can create proficient leaders, not how quickly you can get leaders in and out of a program.
Supporting new leaders in their transition is key.
Adapt learning methods. Newer generations have exposure to much more diverse and
integrated learning approaches than did prior generations—make use of this experience and
expand leadership development from an event to a journey.
Engage all generations. Develop your current generation of leaders into effective coaches and
mentors.
Pay attention to social media trends. There is no question the growth of social media is affecting
leadership behavior, for the positive and negative. What is not clear is how. It would be wise to
engage leaders in discussions about the potential benefits and risks of social media.

About the Author About Wilson Learning About Training magazine
Michael Leimbach, PhD Our work with thousands of organizations Training is a 54-year-old professional
Michael Leimbach, PhD, is Vice President has taught us that every organization is development magazine written for
of Global Research and Development for uniquely shaped by its history, culture, training, Human Resources, and business
Wilson Learning Worldwide. With more than mission, values, lore, leadership, and, management professionals in all industries
25 years in the field, Dr. Leimbach provides ultimately, its people. Every organization that advocate training and workforce
leadership for researching and designing has a pulse. development as a business tool. Training
Wilson Learning’s diagnostic, learning, and also produces world-class conferences,
performance improvement capabilities. For more than 50 years, Wilson Learning expositions, and digital products that
He has managed major research studies has been equipping organizations around focus on job-related, employer-sponsored
in sales, leadership, and organizational the globe to drive productivity, solve training and education in the working
effectiveness, and has developed Wilson problems, and increase revenue. We do world. Training is published by Lakewood
Learning’s impact evaluation capability and this by developing leaders, the workforce, Media Group.
ROI models. He has served as a research and sales and service organizations. Our
consultant for global clients, is Editor-in- unique blend of content, combined with
Chief of the ADHR journal, and serves on state-of-the-art delivery technology
the ISO Technical Committee on Quality and implementation expertise, ensures
Standards for Learning Service Providers. sustainable results. The result is high-
Dr. Leimbach is a published author and impact, performance-driven solutions for
frequent speaker at global conferences. your organization.
For more information, contact us at

1.800.328.7937.


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Preparing the Next Generation of Leaders

5 | Who Participated in the Survey? 14 | Leadership Development Investment

6 | Changes in Leadership Development 15 | Measuring Leadership Development Efforts

7 | Time to Leader Proficiency 16 | Executive Involvement

8 | Determining Development Needs 18 | Supporting New Leaders in Their Transition

9 | Leadership Development Participants 20 | Cross-Generational Support for Leadership

10 | Leadership Skill Priorities 21 | Social Media and Leadership

11 | Learning Methods Used 23 | Strengthening New Leader Development

12 | Impact of Leadership Development

Preparing the Next Generation of Leaders | WilsonLearning.com | 1.800.328.7937 |3

4 | Preparing the Next Generation of Leaders | WilsonLearning.com | 1.800.328.7937

Over 500 leadership development professionals responded to the 2018 survey.

Preparing the Next Generation of Leaders | WilsonLearning.com | 1.800.328.7937 |5

A larger percentage of the training budget is going to leadership development.

6 | Preparing the Next Generation of Leaders | WilsonLearning.com | 1.800.328.7937

It is taking longer to bring a new

How Long does it take to develop a new leader

Preparing the Next Generation of Leaders | WilsonLearning.com | 1.800.328.7937 |7

How are leadership development needs determined?

A movement away from self-selected development needs toward . . .

Graph 1: How development needs are determined

The leaders themselves

8 | Preparing the Next Generation of Leaders | WilsonLearning.com | 1.800.328.7937

Who participated in leadership development programs?

Preparing the Next Generation of Leaders | WilsonLearning.com | 1.800.328.7937 |9

Leadership Skill Development Priorities

Decision-making and problem-solving 1

Creating engagement Big

10 | Preparing the Next Generation of Leaders | WilsonLearning.com | 1.800.328.7937

Percent of Organizations Using Each Learning Method

These methods remain the mainstay of leadership development.

Preparing the Next Generation of Leaders | WilsonLearning.com | 1.800.328.7937 | 11

1. Is leadership a source of competitive advantage?

The responses to these five questions were averaged to

Percent Agreeing That They Are Having an Impact

Less than half the organizations feel:

Preparing the Next Generation of Leaders | WilsonLearning.com | 1.800.328.7937 | 13

14 | Preparing the Next Generation of Leaders | WilsonLearning.com | 1.800.328.7937

Measuring the Effectiveness of Leadership Development Efforts

Measure the link between

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

Preparing the Next Generation of Leaders | WilsonLearning.com | 1.800.328.7937 | 15

Our leadership development efforts

High Moderate Low

16 | Preparing the Next Generation of Leaders | WilsonLearning.com | 1.800.328.7937

Acknowledge that leadership is athat

Set specific expectations

Record talks talks

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

Preparing the Next Generation of Leaders | WilsonLearning.com | 1.800.328.7937 | 17

Approach to Developing New Leaders

Search for qualified

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90%

High Moderate Low

High-performing organizations are more likely to:

18 | Preparing the Next Generation of Leaders | WilsonLearning.com | 1.800.328.7937

High Moderate Low

Preparing the Next Generation of Leaders | WilsonLearning.com | 1.800.328.7937 | 19

The next generation recognizes

The next generation

The next generation ofThe

The current generationThe

High Moderate Low

5 | Who Participated in the Survey? 14 | Leadership Development Investment

6 | Changes in Leadership Development 15 | Measuring Leadership Development Efforts

7 | Time to Leader Proficiency 16 | Executive Involvement

8 | Determining Development Needs 18 | Supporting New Leaders in Their Transition