Executives at large companies believe that putting in place programs to develop future company leaders is important, but not necessarily a top priority, according to a new study.

A report released by Harvard Business Publishing, a nonprofit affiliated with Harvard University that focuses on business management, also shows that many executives don’t view their companies’ leadership programs as particularly effective.

Forty-three percent of the 700 executives surveyed said that the leadership training at their company was either inconsistent or underperforming. The largest group (47 percent) rated their programs as “aspiring,” meaning they are excellent in some ways but could use some improvement in some areas, while only 7 percent believed their programs were top-notch.

The report said that those giving their leadership training top marks disproportionately came from very large companies, with more than 10,000 employees, while those offering the most negative reviews most often came from smaller companies with fewer than 5,000 employees. The survey did not include any companies with fewer than 1,000 employees.

Leaders identified a number of barriers that prevent them from developing better programs. The top reason, cited by 43 percent of respondents, was a lack of time to implement necessary changes.

Just over a quarter cited the absence of a proven return-on-investment from such programs. It is not clear whether executives who cited that reason were expressing skepticism of the value of their leadership development training or simply saying that the lack of concrete data on their impact made it difficult to convince other company leaders to put more resources behind them.

Peter Walsh, senior director of marketing and corporate learning for Harvard Business Publishing, told BenefitsPRO that some companies, particularly smaller ones, rely less on formal leadership development programs than informal interactions between leaders and employees. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, he says.

“Informal learning such as coaching, mentoring and providing regular feedback to employees can ago a long way in developing future leaders. It’s actually the biggest piece — 70 percent — of the recommended learning and development model that blends formal, informal and on-the-job experience,” he said.

“But,” he adds, “some kind of formal strategy is important to doing learning well. Building a house without a foundation is not a good idea; the same goes for learning.”

Instant Insights /

Execs don't give rave reviews to leadership training programs

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