“42.7 percent of all statistics are made up on the spot.”
Steven Wright
Another addition of leadership and talent management “facts” from all over the world.
Some intuitive and some not….what do you think?
1. According to a recent survey conducted by Right Management, the top priority for HR managers this year will be leadership development. Globally, 2,200 senior HR leaders were surveyed and 46 percent of them claim leadership development is the most important issue to address this year. A small margin, 13 percent, of respondents are confident that they have enough strong leaders to fill the critical openings in their pipeline.
2. Human Resource Executive (7/24/14) reported on a CNN survey that asked people what characterized the best bosses. Here are the top three things:
- Respect and appreciate their employees
- Create trust and support
- Give employees the backing and resources to do their jobs
3. Job security is very important to talent. In fact in two recent surveys–one of 32,000 workers worldwide and another of 1,637 human resources executives – found that employees rate job security as a critical factor when deciding whether to accept a new position or stay with their current employer.
4. Research for the American Express LifeTwist Study was completed online among a random sample of 2,184 U.S. adults 18+. Only 33% of Americans think that having a lot of money is the key to a “successful life”. The top “bucket list” items reported included traveling (885), having kids (76%), translating passions into a career or hobby (75%), volunteering (70%) and doing things that are physical in nature (60%).
5. In a recent survey by Gallup, 79 percent of employees said that they consider the ability to work remotely outside of normal business hours (e.g., using a computer or tablet) as a positive development.
Fewer employees said that they regularly connect to work after hours: 36 percent said that they frequently do (and spend, on average, nearly 10 hours a week working remotely), while 64 percent said that they occasionally, rarely, or never do (and spend, on average, nearly four hours a week working remotely).
6. According to a recent CareerBuilder survey, 1 in 4 workers have had 5-plus jobs by the age of 35. (Yes, you read that right.) Older workers have job-hopped far less; just 1 in 5 of those 55 and older have held 10-plus jobs in their lifetime. Industries that can expect more hopping than usual. What with the infamous talent shortage and all, IT not-too-surprisingly comes in at No. 1 (42 percent). Meanwhile leisure & hospitality (41 percent), transportation (37 percent), retail (36 percent) and manufacturing (32 percent) aren’t far behind.
7. New research by Priyanka Carr and Greg Walton of Stanford University studied participants who first met in small groups and then were separated to work on difficult puzzles on their own. One of the groups was told they were working on the task “together” (even though they were doing things individually) and the other group was not told this. They found that simply saying the word “together†with the one group caused them to work longer (up to 48% more), improve accuracy of tasks, felt the task was more stimulating and report being less pooped out at the end.
8. The 70/20/10 “rule” proposed by the Center for Creative Leadership seems to make sense in concept but doesn’t specifically follow this ratio. Current survey research by The Conference Board and DDI with 13,124 leaders suggests that the actual time spent is 55% one-the job learning, 25% learning from others and 20% formal learning (e.g., workshops).
9. The same Conference Board/DDI study looked at critical skills in leaders that aren’t getting enough focus. Fostering employee creativity and innovation/leading across countries and cultures — are not actually being focused on very much. For the future, coaching/developing talent, identifying future potential, managing change and inspiring others appear to be very important for for global leadership development.
10. A recent 2014 study found that students who went for 5 days without using a phone or watching TV were significantly better at “reading” human feelings than those who did not. This study adds some evidence to the notion that today’s wired youth might not establish and develop emotional and social competence as they are so tied up with electronic, rather than, direct interpersonal interactions.
Back to research some new talent development facts….Be well….
Ken Nowack
Kenneth Nowack, Ph.D. is a licensed psychologist (PSY13758) and President & Chief Research Officer/Co-Founder of Envisia Learning, is a member of the Consortium for Research on Emotional Intelligence in Organizations. Ken also serves as the Associate Editor of Consulting Psychology Journal: Practice and Research. His recent book Clueless: Coaching People Who Just Don’t Get It is available for free for a limited time by signing up for free blog updates (Learn more at our website)
