Many organizations have come to rely on DDI's Global Leadership Forecast (GLF) for evidence-based research into corporate leadership practices and systems worldwide. For GLF 2018, DDI collaborated with The Conference Board and EY to convert data into actionable insights and recommendations. ALM Intelligence's Liz DeVito recently sat down with Tacy Byham, DDI's CEO, to learn about this year's study.
ALM Intelligence: What's different about this year's research?
Byham: This is our eighth study on global leadership since we launched the research stream in 1999. Over the years, the research has been consistent in its purpose to uncover insights into the state of global leadership and provide evidence-based recommendations on developing leadership talent. What's notable about this year's study is that we expanded the sample and strengthened the questionnaire's alignment to business issues. GLF 2018 is our largest survey ever and, we think, the largest of its kind in the market today. Over 25,000 business leaders and 2,500 HR professionals at 2,488 organizations worldwide responded to our survey, including 1,000 C-level executives. Our partnership with The Conference Board (TCB) was instrumental, and we integrated findings from TCB's CEO Challenge into our survey design and presentation of findings.
ALM Intelligence: Tell us a bit more about those synergies.
Byham: We both knew that many things are keeping CEOs up at night—digital disruption, political instability, the potential for a global recession. C-level executives are acutely aware of the need to reinvent their organizations to successfully navigate and compete in the new world order that is emerging. More importantly, they know they cannot do this without the right kind of leadership in place to execute strategy and drive transformational change. This is reflected in TCB's research, which found human capital-related issues rated as top CEO concerns in 2018: developing the next generation of leaders came in at number one, followed closely by failing to attract and retain top talent. Our research more than validates these sentiments. Only 14 percent of CEO respondents say they have the talent they need to execute their business strategies. Furthermore, our data show that perceptions of leadership quality have diminished despite billions of dollars spent each year on development. The percentage of respondents who say they have high-quality leadership has hovered around 40 percent since 2011, and those who say they have a strong pipeline of future leaders has dropped from 18 percent in 2011 to 14 percent in this year's study. The message is pretty clear that organizations worldwide are facing a massive leadership shortage at a time when they can least afford it.
ALM Intelligence: What can CEOs do?
Byham: The good news is that our research reveals a clear road map of how organizations can start changing their people strategies today to excel tomorrow. GLF 2018 focuses on 25 key findings about the state and future of leadership. For each finding, a team of DDI, EY and TCB consultants co-authored a summary that describes the business issues and leadership implications, visualizes the data.
ALM Intelligence: Is there a high-level message for CEOs?
Byham: Most definitely and it is embodied in an integrated view of six leadership megatrends that emerged across the findings. In short, the message for the c-suite is that the digital world has radically changed the leadership landscape. To be successful in this new era, you need to challenge your mindsets and assumptions about who in your organization is a candidate for leadership. Most companies have a narrow definition of the type of person who has leadership potential and invest their resources in a small group who meet that criteria. Organizations that take a broader view of leadership potential and practice an inclusive culture that values diverse perspectives prove to be more financially successful.
ALM Intelligence: Is DDI taking its own medicine?
Byham: Yes, we are. We think of our entire talent pool as an ecosystem of leadership potential and consider ourselves a living laboratory for best practices. After all, we're on the same journey as our clients.
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