Developing Successful Global Leaders

Everyone seems to agree the world desperately needs strong leaders who can manage a global workforce and all the inherent challenges that go with it. That’s a big part of the raison d’être for global leadership development programs. But are today’s organizations fully utilizing these programs to develop global leaders, and, if so, are they effective?

Trainingmagazine, in collaboration with the American Management Association (AMA) and The Institute for Corporate Productivity (i4cp), recently conducted the Developing Successful Global Leaders Studyto find out. AMA and i4cp first conducted a survey on this subject in 2010; Trainingmagazine subscribers participated in this second study, which asked for additional information in order to capture the current status of global leadership development programs and track ongoing progress with existing programs. Some key highlights of this year’s study:

• The percentage of companies that reported having developed a global leadership development program remained almost the same as in 2010, about 31 percent. Additionally, the competencies identified as critical components of these programs have remained constant.
• There is a clear gap between the importance of certain key competencies and the degree to which executives have mastered them—particularly concerning managing change, exhibiting agility, and developing global strategies.
• High-performing multinational and global companies are providing global leadership development opportunities to a broader segment of their management team.
• The demand for outside vendors and content experts is increasing.
• Business leaders agree that a combination of “soft” cross-cultural competencies, along with “hard skills” in supply chain management and virtual technology, should be the focus of global leadership development in the coming decade.

Download the PDF to read the survey's key findings.