80 vision and executing strategy was on 61 Action learning 48 building the individual leadership 52 Comm. vision & strategy 62 capability to undertake these initiatives, 48 Support change 56 whereas 0 18 36 54 72 90 Australian data - 2007 US/Intern. data - 2004 the US/International respondent focus was on the communication of these organisational foundations. Figure 1.7: US/International versus Australian data Key objectives of executive development in – Clearly at the heart of the US/International the next 2-3 years. response on this question was the Section 3 Hot Topics – requirement for executive development When asked to identify the hot topics that activities to support and reinforce would be most important to their organisational alignment. This in turn executive and leadership development emphasises the strategic nature of efforts in the next 2-3 years, respondents executive development activities for highlighted (see Figure 1.8 below) US/International firms, a point noted in the managing human performance (83%), 2004 building leadership Trends Report9: capability (78%), leading / managing change vision and strategy “…communicating (70%) and strategy execution (70%) as the and creating alignment is a major most important. Complete responses are objective of executive development in included in Figure 2.3 (Appendix 2). all regions. It is consistently among The Top 5 topics’ selected would ‘hot the top objectives in our past surveys seem to reflect a balance between and unchanged in its ranking since addressing the practical ‘people 2000. This is encouraging as it challenges’ of modern organisational life reinforces the unmistakable march and making investments over the last ten or more years toward in professional development payoff a more strategic use of executive through delivery of improved ‘bottom-line’ development” business performance. In contrast, those topics which have in the past attracted significant attention in the media as key 83 Develop HPMs 62 drivers of 74 Leadership capability 53 74 business performance such as Re-engineering Execute vision & strategy 44 65 Benchstrength / Process Management (13%), Key Trends in Human Capital 2006 p5. 9
vision and executing strategy was on building the individual leadership capability to undertake these initiatives, whereas the US/International respondent focus was on the communication of these organisational foundations. Clearly at the heart of the US/International response on this question was the requirement for executive development activities to support and reinforce organisational alignment. This in turn emphasises the strategic nature of executive development activities for US/International firms, a point noted in the 2004 Trends Report9: “…communicating vision and strategy and creating alignment is a major objective of executive development in all regions. It is consistently among the top objectives in our past surveys and unchanged in its ranking since 2000. This is encouraging as it reinforces the unmistakable march over the last ten or more years toward a more strategic use of executive development” Develop HPMs 83 62 Leadership capability 74 53 Execute vision & strategy 74 44 Benchstrength 65 80 Action learning 61 48 Comm. vision & strategy 52 62 Support change 48 56 0 18 36 54 72 90 Australian data - 2007 US/Intern. data - 2004 Figure 1.7: US/International versus Australian data – Key objectives of executive development in the next 2-3 years. Section 3 – Hot Topics When asked to identify the hot topics that would be most important to their executive and leadership development efforts in the next 2-3 years, respondents highlighted (see Figure 1.8 below) managing human performance (83%), building leadership capability (78%), leading / managing change (70%) and strategy execution (70%) as the most important. Complete responses are included in Figure 2.3 (Appendix 2). The Top 5 ‘hot topics’ selected would seem to reflect a balance between addressing the practical ‘people challenges’ of modern organisational life and making investments in professional development payoff through delivery of improved ‘bottom-line’ business performance. In contrast, those topics which have in the past attracted significant attention in the media as key drivers of business performance such as Re-engineering / Process Management (13%), 9 Key Trends in Human Capital 2006 p5.
AusExecTrendsReport_2007_Final.docx