Forum Corp.'s Leadership Challenges Index: Corporate Leaders Worry That Too Little Talent, Not Enough Speed Stunt Profit Growth

BOSTON, Sept. 20 /PRNewswire/ -- Faced with a still-struggling economy and stalled growth, organizations are increasingly looking to boost performance by developing more and better leaders who can jump-start new strategies, according to the inaugural edition of The Forum Corp.'s Leadership Challenges Index, which ranks learning and development issues of greatest concern to organizational leaders.

• Topping the list is leadership bench strength, with many organizations looking to recruit and/or develop new leaders at all ranks in the hopes of stimulating growth, according to Forum. Many organizational leaders believe they do not have enough skilled talent to achieve their strategic goals, and are repeatedly missing opportunities to grow revenues and profits as a result. Research confirms their suspicions. Two out of three executives believe they are not adequately prepared to lead their companies' efforts to grow, according to Forum research.  

"Leadership development, which waned in 2008 and 2009, has returned -- big time," said Ed Boswell, CEO of The Forum Corp., a global provider of strategic learning solutions. "The opportunity costs are simply too high to ignore."

• Second on the list is the closely-related issue of accelerating execution of strategies so that organizations realize fast and lasting growth. Companies that are faster at executing their strategies have an average of 40 percent higher sales growth and 52 percent higher growth in operating profit than slower companies, according to Strategic Speed: Mobilize People, Accelerate Execution (Harvard Business Press), co-authored by Boswell and Jocelyn Davis, executive vice president of research and development for Forum. Nine out of 10 organizational leaders believe speed is critical to business success but only 4 out of 10 believe they are faster than their competition, according to the book.

Three issues tied for third, including:

• adopting sales models that are consistent through the organization but significantly different from competitors, enabling sales leaders to make better sales-force deployment decisions and to align all interrelated components of execution;
• creating of loyalty-inducing customer experiences, which often are tied closely to superior customer service; and
• delivering on a key strategy by aligning organizational culture, a challenge for many organizations that have undergone significant change, such as through mergers or acquisitions.

"The common denominator is people. The areas that organizations are hoping will spur growth all depend on the ability of people -- whether leaders, salespeople, or service professionals -- to execute strategies faster and better than their competitors," said Boswell.

"The question isn't so much what organizations need to do but how they're going to do it, and in just about every case, it's through people, by providing them with the insight and skills to understand and execute strategies," added Davis.

Many of the issues that emerged on the list are related to "strategic speed" -- the ability to reduce time to value and increase value over time by executing strategies quickly and well. Recognition of the importance of strategic speed has grown, particularly during the recession. Despite the high stakes, companies routinely fail to execute their strategic initiatives on time, resulting in lost investment and missed opportunities, according to Forum research.

The Forum Leadership Challenges Index, which tallies inquiries on specific management topics fielded by Forum over the preceding six months, offers a quick snapshot of some of the pressing concerns that organizations are currently facing. "It's a useful, high-level look at emerging priorities among many of our clients and others, and it's interesting that it is consistent with the findings of more scientific surveys and studies that show organizations are investing more in leadership development recently," said Boswell.  

To learn more, visit Forum's blog. (also at http://www.forum.com/blog/2010/09/14/leadership-challenges-index/).

About The Forum Corp.

Forum is a global professional services firm that mobilizes people to embrace the critical strategies of their organizations and accelerate results. The firm helps senior leaders with urgent strategic agendas equip their organizations to perform, change, and grow. Forum's expertise is built on decades of original research. Forum's business insight keeps companies out ahead of their markets, competitors, and customers. For more information visit www.forum.com.

SOURCE The Forum Corp.

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