People are definitely a company's greatest asset ... A company is only as good as the people it keeps. (Mary Kay Ash) It’s no secret that you need a good team behind you to help you achieve business success, and that team needs good leadership. It's quite alarming then, that nearly 75% of organisations in England report a deficit of management and leadership skills. Two-thirds report senior managers lack these skills, while the vast majority (85%) report line managers and supervisors lack these skills. If the managers and supervisors are lacking the requisite skills, then we can only imagine how their teams are faring beneath them.
Leaders must be close enough to relate to others, but far enough ahead to motivate them. (John C Maxwell) We’ve been having a review of CIPD’s Learning & Talent Development report. The good news is, most organisations (80%) report that they intended to conduct leadership development activities in 2012. So at least they recognise the issue and intend to address the skills deficit.
Greater integration between coaching, organisational development and performance management is expected to be the most common organisational change over the next two years ... music to our ears. Our experience tells us that when organisational goals and training goals are aligned, a business is in a far stronger position to achieve success. Development programmes that are founded on a thorough training needs analysis, and in consultation with the business managers yield far more positive results.
To permeate the organisational objectives right through the business requires layers of management who are equipped to understand and translate these objectives into actionable plans, and to lead and motivate their teams in executing these plans. We work with clients to deliver fluid development programmes that include action plans and reviews. This ensures the skills learnt can be applied practically in the workplace.
The CIPD study found that in-house development programmes and coaching by line managers are still seen to be the most effective practices. Coaching is an efficient way to cascade skills through layers of management. Our client’s find that tailored one to one coaching sessions give their managers the skills, and more importantly the confidence, to develop their teams effectively.
It is widely accepted that it is far more cost efficient to develop the skills of existing staff, than to recruit and train new staff. That said only 54% of organisations report they undertake talent management activities. Sadly, less than three-fifths of organisations with talent management activities believe they are effective, with nearly one in six (15%) reporting they are ineffective.
Coaching is most commonly rated among the most effective talent management activities, followed by in-house development programmes. In our experience, thorough training needs analysis and tailoring the programme accordingly yields much better results in managing personal development.
We recommend continual assessment of skills gaps, mapping the required skills with available skills and identifying appropriate development programmes to address the organisations short, medium and long terms goals. If you would like some advice or an appraisal of your training needs call us on 07866 760401
All our workshops are fun, interactive and full of activities, self assessment questionnaires, individual and group work to maximise your learning experience. Everyone takes away an action plan to implement in the workplace. Our highly experienced and friendly trainers tailor the day to the group training objectives and needs of the organisation.
