Top Companies Face Shortage of Young Leaders

Chicago — Aug. 2

Fortune 1000 companies do not have enough leaders coming up through the ranks to fill open and future leadership positions, according to a survey by The CARA Group Inc., a human performance consulting firm. To remedy the current lack of leadership skills and limited talent pipeline, caused in part by recession cuts to critical leadership programs, the survey reveals there is an emerging renewed commitment to leadership development among companies of all sizes.

The CARA survey, “The Rising Risk of a Double-Dip Leadership Crisis: A Pulse Survey on Exploring the Increased Focus on Leadership Development,” also explores how businesses are investing in leadership development, where they focus their resources and what critical gaps are emerging in leadership talent. Leadership, organizational development and training executives from Fortune 1000 companies participated in the survey.

CARA Senior Vice President Jane Ehrenstrom said, “The survey results are very promising in that organizations report they are taking necessary steps to quickly correct the current leadership skills gap. We are seeing firsthand that businesses understand the potential consequences of not developing high-potential leadership talent. They are meeting the challenge with innovative programs to help cultivate the leaders needed to competitively drive their organizations into the future.”

Key findings of the survey include:

• More than half — 62 percent of respondents — say their organizations face a leadership skills gap.
• 84 percent of respondents say their organizations have increased leadership development focus in the last two to three years.
• Only 9 percent of respondents say their current leadership development programs are “very effective,” while 56 percent describe their programs as only “somewhat effective” or “ineffective.”
• The top three most critical skill gaps of leaders in training are leading others (54 percent), managing change (43 percent) and strategic planning/vision development (40 percent).
• Online learning and development (66 percent) is the No. 1 way companies are leveraging technology in their leadership development programs.