Researchers from the Center for Creative Leadership (CCL)® presented several sessions at this year’s annual conference of the Society for Industrial & Organizational Psychology (SIOP). The conference was held April 3–6, in Denver, Colorado.

SIOP is the premier professional association for the science and practice of Industrial-Organizational (I-O) psychology, which focuses on the scientific study of human behavior in organizations and in the workplace. This specialty focuses on principles of individual, group, and organizational behavior and applying this knowledge to solving problems leaders experience in the workplace.

CCL researchers presented and lead discussions on several topics at the conference, ranging from wellbeing to coaching and more.

Listed below are the sessions researchers presented along with descriptions for each:

Does Team Virtuality Affect Perceptions of a Leader’s Power and Influence? A Natural Experiment from the COVID Pandemic

CCL Presenters: Dr. Andy Loignon and Dr. Diane Bergeron

This session featured a study that leveraged data from 485 senior leadership teams, collected around the COVID pandemic, to explore how virtual work impacts a leader’s power and influence. By using a network-based approach, it examined how virtuality affects a leader’s role as a source of influence and their reliance on others. By addressing endogeneity bias, the study offers causal insights from a natural experiment driven by pandemic-related shifts in team virtuality.

Capturing the Complexities of Leadership Coaching: A Test of AI-Assisted Evaluation

CCL Presenter: Katelyn McCoy

Coaching can be a highly effective method of leadership development, but evaluating its impact has traditionally been a difficult task. Evaluators often find participant reflections most insightful for understanding how and why coaching works well for leaders. To better understand the process and impact of coaching provided as part of leadership development programs, we engaged OpenAI’s GPT-4 model and a group of human coders in identifying and tagging themes to 1,500 participant comments from program evaluations. In this session, researchers shared their methods, lessons learned, and results.

Should’ve Learned That in Grad School: Gaps & Solutions in I-O Practitioner Curricula

CCL Presenter: Katelyn McCoy

Although most I-Os end up in nonacademic roles, graduate students often receive limited insight into the activities and competencies needed for applied careers. This session invited the audience to join breakouts to discuss the KSAOs that are lacking in I-O curricula and brainstorm practical solutions. A diverse range of professionals representing various stakeholders (e.g., professors, students, administration, managers of new grads) facilitated the breakouts which identified what is missing in I-O curricula, barriers to improving it, and concrete steps to bolster I-O education.

The Working Wounded: The Effect of Bereavement Grief and Workplace Practices on Employee Outcomes

CCL Presenters: Dr. Diane Bergeron

This symposium on bereavement (i.e., the death of someone significant), examined relationships among bereavement grief, bereavement leave, other organizational policies and practices, and work-related outcomes (job behaviors, work engagement, perceived organizational support). The insights shared showed concrete implications for people leaders and organizational decision makers.

The Bereavement Burden and Employee Leave Policies

CCL Presenters: Dr. Diane Bergeron and Dr. Andy Loignon 

The study featured in this session provided concrete evidence for managers, organizational leaders and policy makers to reference when making decisions about bereavement leave. In a survey of 1,535 bereaved employees, researchers investigated the prevalence and impact of various types of bereavement leave policies. Regardless of policy, 53% of participants reported their manager told them to “take as much time as you need.” They found that more generous bereavement leave policies predicted greater employee fairness perceptions, satisfaction with bereavement leave, and more favorable perceptions of the organization as supportive. Supportive leader behaviors also predicted these outcomes, but leader support does not substitute for flexible and generous bereavement policy.

Good Grief: Rethinking Workplace Policies and Practices Support Bereaved Employees

CCL Presenter: Dr. Diane Bergeron

Bereavement has a significant impact on employee well-being, and yet, surprisingly, it is a seldom-explored topic in the organizational sciences. This symposium covered the prevalence of bereavement in the workplace, the impact of bereavement, bereavement leave, and workplace practices on employee outcomes (e.g., work engagement, fairness perceptions, organizational commitment). It also focused on how organizations can better support bereaved employees.

Leading Wellbeing at Work: Creating Environments Where Humans Thrive

CCL Presenters: Sol Bulkin and Dr. Paige Graham

Leadership is pivotal in fostering workplace wellbeing. This session explored the integration of wellbeing into leadership development programs, the importance of recovery-friendly leadership, sleep leadership, and the impact of leadership on mental health. Presenters also shared practical communication, connection, and belonging tips. Following presentations from each panelist, participants also engaged in guided discussions in small groups, allowing for more in-depth exploration of the topics.

Practical Solutions to Common Challenges in Impact Measurement

CCL Presenters: Dr. Heather Champion and Dr. Jeff Kosovich

Drawing on the collective knowledge and experience of practitioners and researchers in impact measurement, this session explored common challenges in measuring the impact of learning and development initiatives. It introduced three practical, undervalued solutions to help address these challenges and demonstrated the application of the solutions with data and tools. Panelists also shared insights to demonstrate the value of learning and development through impact measurement.

Navigating the Labyrinth: Diverse Pathways to Success in I-O Psychology

CCL Presenter: Dr. Stephen Jeong

This panel discussion explored the diverse and often unexpected career paths in I-O psychology and featured four professionals sharing their unique journeys from aspiring students to successful practitioners and academicians. Designed for both aspiring and early-career I-O psychologists, the session illuminated the challenges, opportunities, and pivotal moments that shape careers in the field, demonstrating that success often comes through adaptability and embracing the unpredictable nature of professional growth.

Coaches Gone Wild? Executive Coaching in an Unregulated Environment

CCL Presenter: Patricia Overland

In this session, experienced practitioners from diverse backgrounds shared their insights regarding the self-regulated field of executive coaching. Panelists discussed ethical considerations surrounding navigating the coaching industry and used prompts to share how they would respond to specific ethical dilemmas.

Is Nature the Best Leadership Teacher? Outdoor Adventure for Leader Development

CCL Presenter: Trevor Rosenberg 

Drawing on the collective expertise of practitioners and researchers in experiential leadership development, learning agility, and nature contact, this session examined current practices in outdoor adventure leadership development. Panelists identified key elements in program design and execution and discussed potential challenges and opportunities. Panelists also shared insights to the benefits of outdoor adventure leadership development for individuals and organizations.

As a pioneer in the leadership development space with over 50 years of experience in leadership research, CCL’s presence at the SIOP conference allows us to amplify vital insights that help shape the field across leader levels, industries and sectors. It also provides an opportunity to integrate differing approaches and perspectives, further strengthening our dedication to our mission of advancing the understanding and practice of leadership for the benefit of society worldwide.

The post CCL Researchers Present at 2025 Society for Industrial & Organizational Psychology Conference appeared first on CCL.

Each year, the Journal of Business and Psychology awards the Editor’s Commendation to papers that the journal’s editors find particularly intriguing and exciting. This recognition is awarded to the top 2% of all papers submitted to the journal each year.

Written by CCL’s Senior Research Scientist, Dr. Andy Loignon, and Senior Data Scientist, Sirish Shrestha, the paper was completed in conjunction with colleagues at Rice University and the University of North Carolina at Charlotte.  It discusses synthetic data as a solution to address concerns surrounding privacy and integrity in data sharing.

This recognition underscores CCL’s 50-year legacy of pioneering leadership research driven by cutting-edge data science.

“This groundbreaking work on synthetic data represents a pivotal advancement in leadership research, offering innovative solutions to data privacy challenges while enhancing the rigor and accessibility of our studies,” said Dr. Sarah Stawiski, Vice President of Leadership Research & Analytics. “By pioneering new methodologies, CCL is setting the stage for future explorations in leadership science.”

Learn more about our leadership development research.

The post CCL Researchers Honored With Editor’s Commendation appeared first on CCL.

In partnership with ExecOnline, we conducted a research study on today’s top leadership tensions by surveying more than 43,000 people currently in managerial roles. Together we identified 3 primary tensions facing the majority of workplace leaders, as well as steps organizations and people leaders can take to alleviate and navigate them.

This research fits into our continuing effort to understand the challenges faced and competencies needed by those in leadership and provide organizations with tools to equip their people to balance leadership tensions, prioritize resources, and manage conflicting demands. By understanding the core leadership tensions that today’s managers are grappling with, your organization can improve retention and overall performance.

Regardless of industry or geography, the majority of leaders we surveyed find themselves in a bind. In addition to focusing on their own personal development, managers are tasked with the needs of direct reports and team members who depend on them for guidance and support. Add to that external factors such as economic uncertainty, technological shifts, the rise of hybrid work, and the ongoing recovery from a global pandemic, and it’s clear that leaders today are facing new and daunting challenges that they need support to resolve.

What Are the 3 Key Leadership Tensions?

Leadership Tension 1: Addressing Social Isolation While Embracing Remote Work

Though it’s widely believed that people leaders are particularly motivated to return to office settings, 99% of those we surveyed who work virtually at least part of the time reported that they’ve found remote work offers several benefits that working in an office doesn’t. For instance, 75% of leaders reported appreciation for additional time available through avoiding long commutes, and 56% pointed to flexibility as a key advantage. Leaders also recognized other organizational benefits, especially related to attracting and retaining talent with a broader talent pool.

Although many prefer remote work, the arrangement also often leads to social isolation. Most leaders in our study reported increased difficulty building relationships with coworkers, and agreed that reduced social and professional interactions have caused strain. Feelings of isolation can negatively affect peer-to-peer and peer-to-supervisor relationships.

That’s why finding a way to embrace the benefits of remote work while also addressing social isolation is a critical leadership tension faced by today’s people managers.

Leadership Tension 2: Managing Burnout While Pursuing Development Opportunities

The cumulative effects of pandemic stress and its global aftermath have created unprecedented levels of collective exhaustion. A staggering 72% of leaders surveyed reported that they are “at least somewhat” burned out — the 6th successive quarter this figure has been above 70%. Further, nearly half (46%) of those in leadership positions told us they need more resources to be effective at work.

We know that people burn out from a lack of support and resources, conflicting or unclear work tasks, a lack of autonomy, and forced attention on matters that are unimportant. It’s important to note that the quality of relationships (or lack of them) in the workplace is also directly connected to burnout, adding an additional level of risk of exhaustion and overwork for those working virtually or in a hybrid arrangement. These elements, especially combined together over long periods of time, can lead to sustained burnout that’s difficult to overcome.

When leaders experience burnout, they struggle to find a place for growth and development in their already-hectic schedules, and they have a hard time learning, or being able to absorb and apply the things they do learn. Yet when asked what would help them be more effective in their roles, 41% of leaders reported that they desired more leadership and development opportunities than they currently receive. It’s a major challenge to fit in professional development and work toward career advancement when you’re already struggling just to manage or prevent burnout.

Organizations must look for ways to support their people leaders in spending time on growth and development opportunities while also fending off burnout.

Leadership Tension 3: Making Hard Decisions While Motivating and Engaging Talent

For organizations to thrive despite economic uncertainty (including the possibility of a recession), leaders must be able to effectively manage conflicting job demands and show strategic leadership by prioritizing resources.

Recent economic volatility and the many workplace changes relating to the global pandemic have caused managers to face heavier workloads — along with fewer personnel and resources. In fact, the top 2 responses in our survey that leaders noted as their biggest challenges in the current work environment were managing more work with smaller teams and boosting employee engagement and motivation without monetary incentives. Also, any financial incentives that leaders do have at their disposal are less effective motivational tools, due to persistent inflation.

That’s why a 3rd key leadership tension that today’s managers face is becoming skilled motivators of talent who can engage and retain their employees while also making tough decisions using limited resources.

How to Resolve These 3 Leadership Tensions

Recommended Strategies for Organizations

1. Address Social Isolation While Embracing Remote Work.

One way to enable people to move past feelings of isolation is to provide ample opportunities to enhance human connection. Facilitate chances for those who don’t interact with each other on a daily basis to discover shared interests and commonalities through working together. Be intentional about enabling social interaction through more cross-functional projects, working groups, breakout sessions during organization-wide meetings, and events like “lunch and learn” presentations open to all employees. Create virtual spaces for connection, such as coffee breaks and water cooler chats, to create opportunities for connecting on both work and non-work-related topics.

Development can play a role, too. Make sure people leaders are trained to be empathetic, show compassionate leadership, and create an inclusive work environment. Consider offering development specifically aimed at improving virtual communication effectiveness and work to build conversational skills across the organization. In addition, group or team coaching can assist with bringing leaders together to work toward a common goal and encourage better communication and collaboration.

Lastly, look for opportunities to build connections among remote teams, and facilitate as many opportunities as possible for real-time, synchronous collaboration. Research has shown that teams who take advantage of real-time technology, such as video meetings and instant messaging/chat, have a much greater connection to each other and the work they are doing. You’ll want to leverage technology thoughtfully to facilitate effective virtual collaboration, and be intentional about selecting the right technological tools and setting clear expectations for their use. Encourage leaders to establish team norms and work with team members to agree on appropriate cadences and platforms for check-ins, brainstorming sessions, and virtual social events.

These steps will help balance the leadership tension between embracing the benefits of remote work and the accompanying social isolation, loneliness, and disconnection it can bring — all while your organization improves retention through embracing flexible work arrangements.

2. Manage Burnout While Pursuing Development Opportunities.

To support today’s stretched-thin leaders, organizations must focus on providing development opportunities that mitigate burnout — or at least avoid increasing it further. This means training must be easy to access and fit into busy schedules, and should help leaders who are dealing with burnout to heal from it and alleviate its effects, while also growing needed skills.

For example, virtual leadership development programs are an effective way to provide leaders with access to learning at their own pace, without the hassle and expense of travel. Furthermore, those we surveyed reported that virtual programming, shorter modules, and on-demand options among the top reasons that would enable and encourage them to participate in learning opportunities. Leaders who put in the effort to offer professional development that meets these criteria enable exhausted individuals a chance to turn away from their daily work to focus on putting energy into reflection, growth, and self-improvement. This is way that organizations can help mitigate work-life conflicts among their employees.

Similarly, one-on-one coaching can improve performance and show support, providing a way for organizations to enable their talent to prioritize development and bring their best selves to work, while focusing on the participant’s individual needs, values, and challenges. The combination of coaching and mentoring with tailored professional development can enhance personal growth while also reinforcing learning and trying out new mindsets and behaviors — ultimately helping leaders to build their leadership skills and resilience.

To address this leadership tension, organizations should be intentional about creating an environment of support, and treat managing burnout not just as an outcome of development, but as a learning objective for development in its own right.

3. Make Hard Decisions While Motivating and Engaging Talent.

Given the impact of economic uncertainty, shifting generational expectations, and high employee turnover, organizations need leaders who are skilled at motivating and engaging employees. They must also understand how leadership development powers engagement and retention. Our research found that while a third of leaders are highly proficient at strategic prioritization and talent engagement individually, a meager 9% are highly proficient in both skills. That’s why organizations must focus on leadership development to ensure that their managers are as skilled at strategic decision-making and financial insight as they are at effective communication, showing compassion, and leading hybrid teams.

Our research with ExecOnline also found that when leaders believe their organization prioritizes and invests in their professional development, productivity is 12% higher and retention increases by a whopping 41%. This investment also helps increase people’s ability to take on daily challenges and build meaningful connections in the workplace. These aspects combined have the potential to dramatically increase employee motivation and engagement and improve your organization in a way that attracts and retains future talent, too.

Managers can ease these leadership tensions by prioritizing work tasks for themselves and team members, delegating workloads given the reality of fewer team members, and becoming comfortable making critical business decisions amid organizational uncertainty. And organizations should plan to continue to invest in leadership development even during economic downturns to ensure they’re securing their pipeline of leaders for the future.

To manage the leadership tension of keeping talent engaged while making hard decisions with limited resources, focus on supporting overall employee wellbeing and work to identify ways to motivate people without monetary incentives by building and maintaining and positive culture of inclusion in the workplace.

What These Findings on Leadership Tensions Mean for Leaders and Organizations

Managers in today’s work environment face unique and increasingly difficult challenges. Our findings show that now is the time for leaders and organizations to take the necessary steps to acknowledge and address these 3 key leadership tensions to ensure long-term success. In short, offering cross-functional opportunities for remote workers to connect, investing in professional and personal development while mitigating burnout, and being strategic about the skillsets leaders need is vital for organizations navigating these leadership tensions.

When organizations invest wisely in their people and supply leaders with the right tools to be successful, they can increase employee wellbeing, improve the culture of the organization, and cultivate a competitive edge in an increasingly volatile and unpredictable world.

Ready to Take the Next Step?

Take steps to support your workforce facing these leadership tensions. We can help you foster connections within teams through group coaching and reinforce learning by pairing training with one-on-one coaching.

The post Today’s Top Leadership Tensions & How to Address Them appeared first on CCL.

Results of more than 43,000 leaders surveyed globally show clear patterns. According to the joint findings in a new research insights paper titled “3 Tensions Leaders Should Resolve in 2023,” professionals are grappling with 3 critical tensions:

• Leaders want to work virtually — but it’s socially isolating: 75% of leaders reported that they appreciate the time saved by avoiding a commute and most also welcome added flexibility; however, more than half (53%) of leaders surveyed identified difficulty building relationships as a major barrier to effective virtual or hybrid work.
• Leaders want more development opportunities — but they are burned out: 41% of leaders said they want more learning and development opportunities — second only to the 46% who said they need more resources. Yet, 72% of leaders say they are at least somewhat burned out, so fitting in development may seem overwhelming.
• Leaders need to make hard decisions — but they also need to motivate and engage talent: With a near consensus about a pending recession, but facing an ongoing battle for talent, nearly half of leaders (48%) said they struggle to motivate employees without monetary incentives, while 44% cited the challenge of managing workload with a smaller team. Over time, survey results show the desire for better reward structures ticking up steadily from Q1 2021 to Q4 2022.

“This research underscores that these 3 workplace tensions are becoming increasingly important in today’s workplace,” said Jean Leslie, co-author of the paper and Senior Fellow at CCL. “Leaders who are able to successfully resolve these tensions will be better positioned to lead their organizations to success.”

ExecOnline and CCL recognize the pressing need for leaders to develop new skills and adapt their leadership approaches to thrive in the dynamic and complex global marketplace. The new research paper includes actionable insights for organizations in resolving these tensions, including:

• Invest in virtual collaboration and communication technologies to help leaders balance the benefits of working virtually with the human connections they crave.
• Offer continuous development opportunities, including integrating easy-to-access, short learning sessions, along with leadership coaching, to make development more manageable for already-stretched leaders.
• Reprioritize leadership development programs to focus on the most critical capabilities for today’s workplace — both strategic thinking and talent engagement skills — to ensure leaders can lead effectively and empathetically.

“Leadership development improves leaders’ confidence and ability to overcome daily challenges,” said Adam Brinegar, co-author of the paper and Head of Research and Advisory at ExecOnline. “When organizations unlock the force-multiplying power of continuous, on-demand learning and coaching at their organization, their leaders see greater impact and are 1.5X more likely to apply learnings into their daily workflow.”

To learn more, watch the webinar co-hosted by CCL and ExecOnline, 3 Tensions Facing Workplace Leadership Today, and read our article about addressing today’s top leadership tensions.

The post CCL & ExecOnline Identify 3 Critical Tensions Workplace Leaders Face Today appeared first on CCL.

Leadership today faces a uniquely challenging environment in the workplace — economic uncertainty, technological shifts, and recovery from a global pandemic have all taken a toll on how both leaders and employees see themselves and their talents. Because of this, the need for organizations to do all they can to support and develop leaders is more important than ever.

For organizations to succeed in this environment, our research with ExecOnline surveying more than 43,000 leaders shows why your organization must understand and work to resolve the challenges and pressures facing workplace leadership today. Organizations must also equip leaders with the tools to work past these tensions, prioritize resources, and manage conflicting demands. In turn, these efforts can also improve performance and retention among leaders.

Join CCL and our partner ExecOnline for this webinar as we discuss the 3 key tensions organizations must address to enable effective and successful workplace leadership.

What You’ll Learn

In this webinar, you’ll learn:

• 3 key tensions facing those in workplace leadership today
• How leaders and organizations can take action to alleviate these tensions to keep talent engaged and motivated

The post 3 Tensions Facing Workplace Leadership Today appeared first on CCL.

Most economists agree that there’s a high likelihood of a recession within the next 12 months. Increasing global inflation and anemic growth forecasts suggest worrisome conditions ahead. Many countries are close to, or already slipping into a recession, and a full recovery doesn’t appear likely for many months.

Previously, during difficult times, many organizations would rely on cost-cutting measures that impacted talent, such as pay cuts, furloughs, and even layoffs. Businesses also have historically looked at other areas where they might be able to cut expenses in their budgets for the next fiscal year, and one of the biggest areas for budget cuts has often been training and development.

While such cuts can result in short-term expense savings, reducing training and development — especially leadership development — can have negative long-term effects, especially given the challenges of leading in the new hybrid workplace environment at many organizations.

With the pandemic driving talent shortages around the globe in nearly every industry, and the ensuing “Great Resignation” keeping turnover rates high for most organizations, furloughs and layoffs may not be the de facto cost-cutting measures they once were during downturns and recessions. With the arrival of more flexible work arrangements, a significant challenge for many companies over the past 2 years has been recruiting and retaining talent.

A resilient jobs market with unemployment rates near half-century lows have made talent shortages very real for many companies. As a result, layoffs will likely be a tactic of last resort in the upcoming downturn for most organizations who are already struggling to find and keep the talent they need.

Additionally, your top talent powers your organization’s growth both during and after an economic downturn, and you need to ensure they have the skills and competencies to survive and thrive. Developing and retaining top-performing employees is essential in any business strategy, and especially during a time of economic uncertainty.

Development opportunities are also one of the biggest proven drivers of employee engagement and retention, so providing access to leadership development even during downturns will not only help your organization keep the leaders you already have. It will also help your organization weather the economic storms and position it for success as it navigates out of the recession and back into growth.

Our Survey Findings on Leadership Development Budgets During a Downturn

With the threat of a possible recession looming in the fall of 2019, we surveyed 300 HR leaders from both domestic and multinational organizations. These buyers were asked about their concerns of an economic downturn or possible recession, how their overall leadership development budget would be affected in a downturn, and the business impact to the organization they expected from an increase or decrease in leadership development spending. The results are summarized in our research report benchmarking the state of leadership development spending.

Many of our findings from 2019 are just as applicable to the situation organizations find themselves in today. And we discovered that organizations are continuing to prioritize investments in leadership development in the 2020s because it can:

• give them a competitive advantage (a full 82% of respondents said this),
• help them achieve their business strategy, and
• improve their ability to attain their goals, even as the economy is shaky.

Typical investments in leadership development vary. Our research found that the median overall budget for leadership development is approximately $350,000. Nearly 40% of the organizations were spending more than $500,000 annually on leadership development, and almost 20% were spending more than $1 million a year on developing leaders.

Budgets are largely staying the same. In 2019, the majority of the HR leaders surveyed maintained the same budget levels as the year before, and over 1/3 of those surveyed increased them. Prior to the pandemic, most (57%) reported they still plan to keep the same budget levels as the previous year, and nearly 40% expect to spend even more on leadership development for their workers in the next year. Only 5% of the respondents reported they were expecting a decrease to their leadership development budgets.

HR teams are doing contingency planning. While the HR leaders we surveyed felt optimistic about the future of the economy, over half were also making contingency plans for their businesses. The prevailing attitude was to “plan for the worst and hope for the best.”

We asked HR decision-makers how their spending strategies might change in the event of an economic downturn and found the number of organizations who said they would cut their budgets (30%) was almost offset by those that said they would increase budgets (27%). Furthermore, many organizations in the survey (42%) said they would try their best to maintain their leadership development budgets in a downturn or recession.

“Effective leadership is valuable no matter the health of the economy,” noted one respondent in our survey, a senior-level HR leader from the healthcare industry. “Leaders need to be flexible to make decisions in any environment.”

Budgets for developing top leaders and “high potentials” will likely be preserved. While development budgets were expected to remain more or less the same across leader levels in a slowdown, we found that budgets for development of senior-level leaders were slightly more likely to be protected. This may be because these leaders will be the ones expected to lead the organization through the current crisis or downturn and position the company to take advantage of opportunities as the economy recovers.

Similarly, we also discovered that most organizations said their high-potential employees would continue to receive development during a downturn. In fact, 42% of respondents said they planned to increase the leadership development budgets set aside for their high-potential talent. Interestingly, this was even more prevalent among newer organizations that have been in business for 20 years or fewer.

Why Protect Your Leadership Development Budget in a Downturn?

HR leaders we surveyed noted that it’s critical to protect leadership development budgets during an economic decline. A majority, 70%, said they feel motivated to protect their budgets because of the many benefits leadership development provides to the organization.

The top benefit they identified of continuing leadership development in a downturn is better-trained leaders and ensuring a strong leadership pipeline is in place, which is consistent with the many reasons organizations invest in leadership development.

As an HR leader in the aerospace industry told us, “Well-educated leaders can run a more efficient business. They can motivate and engage their employees through a recession, therefore improving retention and cutting down on employees leaving the company. Better educated managers typically have more engaged teams. Better engaged teams have higher customer satisfaction and profits.”

Strong leadership will give an organization competitive advantage and better prepare it for growth in the recovery. Another motivation is to ensure the organization has an adaptable, efficient, and agile workforce in order to implement the business strategy and direction. Fortunately, online learning for development offers many (unexpected!) benefits, and at CCL, our research has found virtually equal client satisfaction with our in-person and online programs.

Cutting Development Budgets Creates Challenges

The research also found that nearly 90% of the organizations that expected to be asked to cut their leadership development budgets in a downturn also believed that the budget cut would create a moderate to strong challenge to the success of their organization in the future.

Over half of our respondents, 55%, said they believe a cut in leadership development budgets would produce significant challenges, some with long-term effects lasting far beyond the current economic downturn. The biggest consequences of cutting development budgets were identified as:

• issues with employee morale and engagement;
• increased turnover;
• a weak leadership pipeline;
• a less skilled workforce;
• inability to attract new talent due to a lack of development opportunities;
• increased costs/resources required to hire and develop new talent;
• decreased training innovations;
• competitive disadvantage as compared to other companies who continue to invest in their leadership development efforts; and
• inability to take advantage of any new business opportunities that arise.

According to an HR leader from a financial services company, “I think a budget cut will have a sizable impact as it is related to staff morale. There will also be a loss of ideas for innovations.”

Another respondent in the professional services industry worried about decreased budgets having an adverse effect on employee retention, saying, “I feel that my team relies on training and would perceive negatively a decrease in budget. I also feel that other firms that do not decrease training could then lure employees away.”

Investing in Development During Good Times & Bad

About the same number of organizations in our survey said they would decrease their budgets during an economic downturn as said they would increase them. Furthermore, most reported they are motivated to protect leadership development budgets, and the majority believe a cut would create a significant challenge for them.

Organizations that continue to make leadership development a priority will find it gives them a competitive advantage, helps them achieve their strategy, and improves their ability to attain their goals. Because leadership development is so closely linked to an organization’s success, investments will continue to be made in good times and in bad.

During the impending downturn, top organizations will continue to budget for leadership development, particularly for their high potentials, and will prioritize options that can either be delivered digitally or brought in-house.

Ready to Take the Next Step?

If your organization sees the tremendous value in continuing to invest in development during a downturn, we’re here to help. Partner with us for customized leadership development, or leverage our world-class, research-backed leadership development tools and training materials to support your internal initiatives.

The post The Importance of Investing in Development During Economic Downturn & Recession appeared first on CCL.

The past 25 years have witnessed an unprecedented shift of global economic growth from West to East. Developing Asia economies are projected to grow 5.2% in 2023, despite global uncertainties and a sluggish economic outlook. Asia has the largest population of world youth, it has a growing middle class, and it’s on track to be the biggest market in the future.

Increasingly, global organizations will have to “look East” to sustain business growth, calling upon local leaders with a nuanced understanding of social and cultural norms to drive regional expansion.

But despite the business need for Asian leaders, and Asian talent displaying several unique leadership attributes, in top organizations Asians represent only about 4% of the executive teams in U.S.-headquartered companies and 3% in Europe-headquartered firms.

This new report, an extension of our 2018 study, unpacks factors that have stalled the growth of Asian leaders in breaking through the “bamboo ceiling” over the past 5 years, including evaluating the impact of current trends like the pandemic and rising nationalism.

Must-Have Leadership Traits for Global Asian Leaders

To override cultural hardwiring and succeed in global roles, our research has identified 5 must-have traits that Asian leaders must demonstrate:

• Courage to find comfort in discomfort and take on unfamiliar challenges.
• Curiosity to experience new situations and experiment with new skills.
• Trust to build relationships across cultures.
• Influence to affect decisions via compelling communication and people skills.
• Strategic thinking to see the long-term, global implications of decisions.

Asian leaders have made progress in cultivating these traits since the previous study, but a gap remains between Asian leaders and those of non-Asian ethnicity — with notable room for improvement in attributes like trust, curiosity, and courage.

To break this “bamboo ceiling,” the report outlines a 5-step action plan for aspiring global Asian leaders, along with organizational shifts needed to build a diverse leadership pipeline.

How Organizations Can Build an Asian Leadership Pipeline That Cuts Through the Bamboo Ceiling

While individual Asian leaders can take steps toward global leadership, multiple stakeholders — Asian leaders, their managers, regional HR, regional leadership team, global HR, and global executive sponsor(s) — must jointly work together to develop a stronger pipeline of Asian talent.

There are 5 steps an organization must take to build its pipeline of global Asian leaders:

1. Reflect. Align on what you need in your leadership roles and the importance of Asia in your global strategy.
2. Take stock. Evaluate your leader inventory in the region, including the key capabilities and leadership gaps of your Asian talent.
3. Enable access. Remove challenges that Asian leaders may face, such as inherent biases and trust issues, in being considered for regional/global roles.
4. Enable success. Help Asian talent develop global leadership capabilities through development programs, rotations, coaching interventions, and mentoring to set them up for success in global roles.
5. Sustain. Ensure an ecosystem of initiatives around development so that there is a constant pipeline of regional/global-ready leaders in Asia.

Most importantly, the initiative must come from the top. Global sponsors at the executive team level need to drive the Asian leadership development agenda, giving careful consideration to organizational success factors and practices.

Leaders must identify the root causes of their “bamboo ceiling” and build “diversity in leadership nationality” into their organization’s agenda. And regional leadership teams and HR must enable Asian leaders to access global succession pipelines.

With Asia fast becoming the world’s driving force, organizations must have Asian leaders who can take on vital roles in their global strategy. These global Asian leaders need to effectively direct local and regional businesses, and to contribute and execute toward the joint global growth plans.

By understanding the strengths, enablers, and blockers of Asian leaders, organizations can improve their access to global roles, and their chances of success once they are in those roles. Download the full research report to learn more about each.

Download Research Report

The post The Global Asian Leader 2.0: From Asia, for the World appeared first on CCL.

The Covid-19 pandemic and fluctuating international trade rules may have caused organizations’ cross-border activities to plummet in 2020. However, this does not mean that they are not aggressively looking at recovery and expansion plans. With Asia becoming the world’s driving force, organizations must have Asian leaders who can take on a vital role in their regional or global strategy.

Backed up by our 2018 research, The Global Asian Leader: From Local Stars to Global CXO, dealing with the local and global environment are 2 extreme polarities in many aspects. Therefore, it is crucial for Asian leaders to harness the skills and traits required to take on a global role. In this webinar, we’ll explore insights from the GAL research and show how our Prepare – Engage – Apply model helps to make learning stick while developing the 5 key traits of global Asian leaders: Courage, Curiosity, Influence, Trust, and Strategic Thinking.

What You’ll Learn

In this webinar, you’ll learn:

• Research insights on Global Asian Leaders
• Developing the 5 attributes for your Global Asian Leaders
• How AstraZeneca prepares its Asian leaders to rise and be global-ready

Our research-based Global Asian Leader program helps develop the attributes and experiences that prepare Asian leaders to tackle complex challenges and achieve success in senior global roles.

The post Preparing Your Asian Leaders to Be Global-Ready appeared first on CCL.