How high performance organisations accelerate leadership development

Globa

How High-Performance
Organizations Accelerate
Executive Leadership
Development
An i4cp Report
Strategy Leadership Talent Culture Market

How High-Performance Organizations Accelerate Executive Leadership Development
The five domains of
high-performance organizations
About i4cp
i4cp focuses on the people practices that make high-performance organizations unique. Years of research
make it clear that top companies approach their workforces differently. At i4cp, we work with our network of
organizations to:
 Reveal what high-performance organizations
are doing differently.
 Identify best and next practices for all levels
of management.
 Provide the resources to show how workforce
improvements have bottom-line impact.
Through our exclusive, vendor-free network – in which peers
collaborate to drive strategic research and share tools and
insights – i4cp provides a unique, practical view of how human
capital practices drive high-performance.
Visit i4cp.com to learn more.
About this report
This report addresses executive leadership development and how high-performing organizations
accelerate executives along the path to leadership. It presents the acceleration practices that HPOs
favor, approaches for overcoming obstacles that hinder such efforts, and quotes from survey
participants.
About the Market Performance Index (MPI)
i4cp’s Market Performance Index, or MPI, is based on self-reported ratings of organizational
performance in four key areas—market share, revenue growth, profitability and customer satisfaction—
as compared to the levels achieved five years previously. The average of the four ratings determines
MPI score.

Contents
Executive leadership development: Finding speed-ups and avoiding speed bumps................................... 1
Accelerating executive leadership development ............................................................................................3
High-performance organizations favor a portfolio of acceleration approaches.............................................4
Internal resources; external institutions..........................................................................................................6
Friends who mentor; colleagues who coach...................................................................................................8
Time in the limelight; time in the trenches.................................................................................................. 10
Recommendations for accelerating leadership development..................................................................... 12
Barriers are substantial, even for high-performance organizations ............................................................ 14
Tighten accountability .................................................................................................................................. 16
Sharpen succession...................................................................................................................................... 18
Loosen the borders....................................................................................................................................... 20
Recommendations for Breaking Down Barriers to Acceleration................................................................. 22
Conclusion.................................................................................................................................................... 24
Authors and contributors .............................................................................................................. 26
About the survey.......................................................................................................................... 26
References................................................................................................................................. 27
©2013 Institute for Corporate Productivity (i4cp)
Use of all results, analysis and findings requires explicit permission from i4cp.

www.i4cp.com Page 1 | Proprietary
Time-to-full-productivityHow High-Performance Organizations Accelerate Executive Leadership Development
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Executive leadership development:
Finding speed-ups and avoiding speed bumps
It takes time to develop a leader—one who can turn a vision into reality, a market laggard into a top-performer,
an employee into an ambassador. It takes even more time to develop a team of leaders whose collaboration
and synergy can elevate organizational productivity to new heights. Members of i4cp’s working group, the
Executive Leadership Development Exchange, set out to explore how organizations accelerate leadership
readiness in executives; this report, and the findings of a corresponding survey are the result of that
exploration.
First, we sought to learn how seriously organizations were addressing executive leadership development, which
we defined as “the process to prepare individuals for executive-level roles of VP or higher, above and beyond
the scope of general leadership development processes.” The Accelerating the Path to Leadership Survey
found that five of six high-performance organizations (HPOs) with 1,000 or more employees have a leadership
development process in general, and nearly half (46%) offer both a leadership development process and a
separate executive leadership development process. This dual focus is a practice found to be significantly
correlated to i4cp’s Market Performance Index (MPI).

Proprietary | Page 2 ©2013 Institute for Corporate Productivity (i4cp) www.i4cp.com
The survey also asked respondents if they believed their organizations’ executive leadership development
processes were effective at producing ready, capable leaders. Just 20% of study respondents from HPOs that
have executive leadership development programs judge their efforts as extremely or very effective, with two-
and-a- half times as many (48%) estimating their processes to be moderately to fairly effective. This may reflect
an acknowledgement that leadership skills aren’t being acquired quickly enough to create robust succession
pipelines.
We got to the heart of the matter when we examined the practices used by respondents from HPOs to
accelerate leadership talent development, as well as the factors that hinder their organizations’ leadership
acceleration efforts. We sought out which practices HPOs favor, which differentiate HPOs from LPOs, and which
are correlated to market performance.
High-performing organizations offer a balanced approach to developing leadership talent:
 They access internal resources as well as external institutions to provide
leadership development learning content.
 They call upon trusted individuals for mentoring as well as professional
colleagues for coaching.
 They utilize high-visibility assignments as well as hands-on developmental
opportunities.
These firms have insight into the barriers that keep leadership acceleration at bay and readily acknowledge
what they’ve identified: Lack of enforced accountability on the part of leaders, inadequate succession plans,
and inflexible organizational structures are some of the key obstacles cited that need to be addressed.
Building on i4cp’s first report from this study, Accelerating High-Potential Employees on the Path to
Leadership, this report shifts the focus from high-potential employees to a broader view of executive leadership
development. In addition to the research findings, this report includes observations and insights from study
participants. A subsequent report will follow, including interviews with executives detailing stories of their own
“journey to leadership” experiences—what worked, what didn’t, and their personal reflections on executive
development.
Together, this knowledge provides organizations with data, recommendations and insight on the practices that
high-performing organizations use to accelerate executive leadership development.

ACALL FOR ACTION
Accelerating executive
leadership development
Leadership development has long been in the spotlight
as a corporate priority, appearing on i4cp’s list of the top
10 critical human capital issues for the past four years,
as noted in Building a Change Ready Organization:
Critical Human Capital Issues 2013. As the business
world demands more speed and agility, the need to
accelerate leadership development is garnering more
attention.
The sense of urgency is compounded in organizations
that are expecting large proportions of their workforces
to reach retirement age within a few years. This
effectively reduces the number of senior leaders to
mentor replacements as well as the population of
managers, directors and other executives who might
otherwise have risen to take their places.
Therefore, fully preparing rising executives for
leadership roles is a task that many firms have realized
needs immediate attention. This call to action presents
several challenges, including determining the best
approaches for developing executives as well as
identifying and overcoming the obstacles that hold back
the acceleration needed.
Those firms that succeed in accelerating executive
leadership development will find their efforts are
correlated to higher market performance. For example,
creating a separate executive leadership development
process to prepare individuals for executive-level roles
of VP or higher (above and beyond the scope of a
general leadership development process) is a practice
that is significantly correlated to both market
performance and to executive leadership development
effectiveness.
Organizational impact of
acceleration of leadership
development on i4cp's five
domains of high performance
Leadership – ELD acceleration builds a cadre of
leaders at multiple levels, from work teams to
entire business units, who demonstrate strong
leadership principles and create a robust
succession pipeline.
Strategy – It fortifies the executive team with
leaders who can draw from intellectual and
experiential learning to analyze issues, make
decisions, and lead teams toward results.
Talent – It provides the leadership needed to
identify, develop and engage critical talent pools
and continue the cycle of leaders developing
future leaders.
Culture – It creates a business environment
that nurtures the development of leaders,
values the potential that each employee brings
to the organization, and attracts/retains talent.
Market – It amplifies the company’s reputation
for products/services with a brand that also
signifies excellence in leadership, creating value
for stakeholders and customers.
Despite the clear and compelling benefits of
developing executive leaders, many companies
struggle to muster the necessary resources,
sustain top-level commitment and implement
the strategies required to build leadership
bench strength. This report highlights those
practices shown to speed up the development
of executive leaders and identify ways to avoid
or overcome the most common obstacles that
get in the way.

High-performance
organizations favor a
portfolio of acceleration
approaches
Organizations that pride themselves on their market
performance know that business success comes about
through the alignment and synergy of multiple facets of
the enterprise—spot-on strategies, tight financial
controls, innovative marketing, well-oiled operations,
engaged human capital and more. These high-
performance organizations (HPOs) carry that broad
approach into the ways they address executive
leadership development.
Approaches HPOs favor
The study asked about the extent to which participants’
organizations used 11 practices to accelerate
employees on the path to leadership. In the pages that
follow, we’ll examine those used by HPOs to the highest
extents (very high/high) as well as the practices that
most differentiated HPOs from LPOs and those
correlated to market performance.
 Internal and external resources – The study
found that HPOs find value in both in-house
leadership development training as well as
external academic or leadership development
programs.
 Mentors and coaches – The use of formal or
informal mentors was found to be a big
differentiator for HPOs in the study, and the use
of coaches—from superiors, peers or external
coaching professionals—was found to be highly
correlated to market performance.
 High-visibility and hands-on learning – Study
participants value getting exposure to the board
of directors as well as opportunities to engage
in experiential/action learning. Both are
practices that differentiate HPOs from LPOs.
Eleven leadership
acceleration practices studied
1. Conventional in-house leadership
development training program
2. Coaching (from superiors, peers, external
coaching professionals)
3. External academic or leadership
development training program
4. Informal learning (learning that takes
place without a conventional instructor
and outside of structured training)
5. Formal or informal mentoring
6. Exposure to board of directors (guest at
meetings, face time, etc.)
7. In-role development (short-term stretch
assignments, practice using new
competencies in current assignments,
etc.)
8. Multi-rater feedback to increase self-
awareness
9. Leadership assessment instrument
10. Experiential or “action” learning (games,
exercises, simulations, role-play, physical
activities, case studies, etc.)
11. Rotation to another major
SBU/function/geographic location

Two other study findings bear examination:
Informal learning
It is worth mentioning that informal learning (learning
that takes place outside of structured, traditional
training) is an approach that HPOs value. One-quarter
(25%) of HPOs use informal learning to a high/very high
extent, making it the #4-ranked leadership development
acceleration practice in this study.
In a study i4cp conducted in conjunction with ASTD,
practices found to be correlated with the occurrence of
informal learning included sharing best practices
(successes) and sharing lessons learned
(errors/corrections). In fact, Social and Informal
Learning: Strategy Into Bottom-Line Results (2009),
notes that sharing best practices had the strongest
prediction of market performance.
Organizations sometimes overlook the importance of informal learning, but the collaboration and relationship-
building that occur during informal learning may well be as important as the knowledge-sharing itself. Such
day-to-day learning may occur through planned discussions, quiet observations, processes shared via internal
social networking platforms, social commentary on who to go to for what, and other types of non-organized
activities that never-the-less deliver critical information to potential leaders. Informal learning may also be an
effective approach for knowledge transfer between generations or from experienced leaders to rising leaders.
A surprising area of neglect
One acceleration strategy often touted as a must-have developmental experience returned a lukewarm
response in this study. Rotation to another major strategic business unit, function or geographic location was
the least popular approach used by HPOs, with just 11% of respondents reporting that their organizations used
such rotations to a high/very high extent.

In their own words
Here’s how one study participant simplified a
strategy for leadership development: “Identify
and define competencies needed for leadership.
Create specific learning interventions for
building knowledge, skills, and abilities in those
areas. Perform assessments to see how people
are doing on delivering business results. Identify
the gaps and make the interventions available
as needed.”
Internal resources; external institutions
There is a strong desire within organizations to be able to create and deliver leadership development programs
that are just right for producing executive talent: programs that aren’t too big and expensive or too small and
inadequate. The hope is that by creating internal development programs, leaders will reflect the company
culture, the industry knowledge, and the differentiating skills that will bring the organization a competitive
advantage.
The desire to leverage respected external programs offered through academic and/or professional
development vendors is also a pull. This study found that HPOs value both approaches.
HPOs rely most on internal resources to develop executive leaders
The survey found that conventional in-house leadership
development programs are the go-to approach for the
largest proportion of HPOs. Such in-house training is
typically delivered in a classroom setting which provides
such advantages of ease of access for attendees, the
opportunity to build relationships with co-workers and
convenient follow-up with instructors. But the proximity
to one’s daily work can often interfere with immersion in
the training.
In fact, a recent study i4cp completed in conjunction
with the American Management Association bears out
the popularity of traditional leadership development. In Global Leadership Development 2013: Everybody’s
Game, organizations still look to traditional instructor-led classroom training as their number one source for
developing leadership skills. It was the top approach cited by more than half of HPOs for addressing
executives’ skills in such competencies as change management and critical thinking/problem solving.
In this study on accelerating executive leadership development, nearly half of HPOs favor conventional in-
house leadership development programs to a high/very extent, making it the top developmental approach
used by HPOs (and LPOs). While this approach doesn’t show a correlation to market performance,
organizations seem to favor the control they have over the content and delivery of home-grown programs.
In-house leadership training is
the #1 development approach
favored among HPOs
High performers
46%*
Low performers
52%*
*To a high/very high extent
Source: i4cp’s Accelerating the Path to Leadership Survey
#
1

Academic institutions and external development programs also garner HPOs’ attention
While many organizations covet the Ivy-league leadership programs offered by respected business schools of
renowned academic institutions, cost can be a factor. Firms need to weigh the investment against the reward—
not an easy concept with which to grapple. Institutions named by study participants include Harvard, Wharton,
Stanford and others. More respondents simply pointed to university programs with MBAs as popular sources
for external development. Such academic programs can be valuable resources for developing the broad
business foundation that is important for leaders to master, but many executives join firms with such an
education already under their belts. Executive MBA programs from elite institutions may be more heavily used
for developing top-level leaders.
Other HPOs decide on using off-the-shelf leadership development programs created by professional
development vendors. Such decisions allow companies to avoid the cost of developing and delivering their own
training and to reap the benefit of having participants mingle with executives from other companies, industries,
and locations, thereby exposing them to new perspectives.
In either case, these external academic and leadership development training programs are the third most
popular approach for accelerating executive development (to a high/very high extent), differentiating HPOs
from LPOs by 5.6 percentage points.
Using outside institutions is the third
most popular development approach
for HPOs
High performers
27%*
Low performers
22%*
20%DIFFERENCE

Friends who mentor; colleagues who coach
Individuals aspiring to leadership roles understand that they’ll need to build on the knowledge and strength of
others to attain the skills needed to lead effectively. Those others may include mentors and coaches. While
some use the terms interchangeably, mentors and coaches serve very different purposes:
 A mentor is a strategic career advisor who typically focuses on the individual, providing guidance and
advice on the broader area of work life. For example, a mentor may advise an executive on how to
expand his or her network, suggest good sources for foreign language learning or connect the mentee
with a contact for a public speaking engagement.
 A coach is a hands-on advisor on developing specific leadership skills who typically focuses on the
task, providing an individual with approaches for building and practicing skills needed for
performance. For example, a coach may work with an executive on softening his approach to
performance improvement discussions with direct reports or sharpening her negotiating skills with
vendors.
High-performance organizations ensure that rising leaders have access to both types of support. The use of
mentoring and coaching each proved to be a differentiator between HPOs and LPOs in our study.
Mentoring as a strategy to guide rising stars differentiates HPOs from LPOs
Of the 11 practices studied for accelerating leadership development, formal/informal mentoring delivered the
largest percentage point differentiation between HPOs and LPOs. HPOs are 1.8 times more likely than LPOs to
use mentoring to a high/very high extent.
With formal mentoring, the organization may facilitate the pairing of experienced and rising leaders. The
mentoring assignments may have a fixed time span—and training in mentoring would likely be provided—since
the organization, as well as the mentee, expects to benefit from the assignment.
In informal mentoring, the relationship may be initiated by either the mentor or the mentee or even by a third
party who recognizes the potential in the match-up. Training is unlikely to be a part of an informal mentoring
pairing, but some relationships can last a lifetime.
Mentoring produced
the highest differential
between HPOs and LPOs,
nearly 10 percentage points
High performers
23%*
Low performers
13%*
56%DIFFERENCE

In their own words
Here’s how one study participant summed up
thoughts on the right support: “There is no
substitute for a rising executive having a more
experienced leader to look up to and learn from.
Having a good developer of leaders as one’s
manager would be worth 10 programs.”
Coaching by colleagues is the go-to approach of HPOs
to develop and hone leadership skills
Coaching (from superiors, peers, external coaching professionals) is the #2-ranked approach used by HPOs for
accelerating employees on the path to leadership. What’s more, the study finds the use of coaching to be
significantly correlated to market performance (.19**). Findings show a differentiation of 8.4 percentage
points between HPOs and LPOs that use coaching to a high/very high extent.
Often coaching is expected to be provided via superiors, although this expectation is less prevalent at
executive levels. While the use of coaching is clearly valued, respondents also admitted that managers of high-
potential employees weren’t all that effective at providing that coaching, as presented in i4cp’s report
Accelerating High-Potential Employees on the Path to Leadership (2013). More than half (51%) of
respondents said that leaders who are ineffective at coaching and managing their hi-pos are the top hindrance
to the success of high-potential development programs, This provides clear evidence that providing leaders
with adequate training on how to coach effectively is critical to both coach and coachee.
Peer coaching, with the relationship feeling more
collaborative than with coaching from superiors, can be
an effective option with some levels below the rank of
senior executives. Take care to ensure that peer
coaches are taking assignments voluntarily and that
they are provided with training on coaching techniques.
This training should also include how to lead in a virtual
environment, given the growth of virtual and global
teams.
The use of external coaching professionals is another option and, likely, the most relevant to executives. When
the “build or buy” question arises, organizations may want to consider engaging professional coaches for rising
leaders rather than calling upon current executives. The use of such external coaches provides several
advantages: they are not ingrained in the politics of the organization, they are certified in the intricacies of
coaching, and they are accustomed to bringing out the best in a wide variety of personalities, including those
who resist coaching.
Coaching is the practice most highly correlated
to market performance
High performers
43%*
Low performers
35%*
21%DIFFERENCE

Time in the limelight; time in the trenches
There is a time to rise and shine, and there is a time to buckle down and get dirty. To truly accelerate executive
leadership development, organizations must provide executives with opportunities for both. Our study finds
that development blossoms when it’s balanced by a combination of high-visibility assignments and hands-on
challenges.
HPOs give rising leaders ample opportunities to shine
Rising leaders value high-visibility assignments that give them an opportunity to shine in front of important
people, such as the board of directors. In fact, exposure to the board of directors (such as by being an invited
guest at a meeting or having face-to-face time) is the acceleration practice that provided the third highest
differentiation (7.5 percentage points) between HPOs and LPOs using such exposure to a high/very high
extent.
The chance to provide project results to directors at a formal board meeting gives rising executives an
opportunity to polish presentation skills, demonstrate expertise and field questions. It’s also an effective way
for board members to connect a name with a face. Another way to increase the visibility of rising workplace
stars is to connect them with community leaders in philanthropic efforts. This allows up-and-coming executives
to hone their leadership skills by practicing them in a different context.
One and a half times as many HPOs as LPOs
use board exposure to accelerate
leadership development
High performers
21%*
Low performers
13%*
HPOs ensure that future leaders have learning opportunities beyond their own jobs
The use of hands-on assignments that leverage experiential/action learning is yet another acceleration
approach that differentiates HPOs from LPOs (by 5.2 percentage points), the fourth-highest differentiator
among the 11 practices.
Such experiential or action learning goes beyond on-the-job learning and includes activities like games,
exercises, simulations, role-play, physical activities, case studies and other hands-on methods of development
that are designed to build skills and traits needed in senior positions. These various methods of development
offer their own advantages in specific settings:
 Business simulations play an integral role in experiential learning, especially at the senior executive
level. Disney ABC Television Group, an i4cp member, delivers a 2 ½ day business simulation as one of
the modules in the 4-part Disney Executive EDGE (Essential Development Growth and Expertise)
program. “This simulation is successful because it is as real-to-life-as-possible and challenges
47%DIFFERENCE

In their own words
thoughts on the ideal development combination:
“Coaching, mentoring and action learning in
combination are the three best approaches for
accelerating the development of executive
leadership capabilities.”
participants in leading large, complex organizations and making critical decisions that drive
profitability,” noted Clare O’Brien, director of learning & development. Disney developed this program
through rigorous interviews with over 40 senior executives and partnership with a steering committee
made up of the CEO and presidents from each business unit.
 Physical activities, such as ropes courses, build team camaraderie, confidence, and trust. Companies
such as 3M Unitek, Farmers Insurance Group, and Mattel have participated in such activities with Los
Angeles-based firm Fulcrum Adventures, one firm offering ropes courses as part of its indoor/outdoor
team-building experiences.
 Case studies allow participants to exercise their
brains and analyze why specific actions worked
or didn’t work. The Boeing Company (an i4cp
member) uses an internally developed online
application to support collaboration and
knowledge transfer across the enterprise as
independently contributed content, or as
groups. The Facebook-like application includes
contributions from subject matter experts and
communities of practice.
 Games and exercises provide a fun way to reinforce important concepts. Firms such as i4cp member
Microsoft Corporation, Procter & Gamble, Qwest Communications and Hewlett-Packard have
participated in such programs with Peak Experiences International, Inc., just one of the companies
providing experiential learning activities such as a “silo” experience examining group dynamics and a
“maze” experience using strategic planning and collaborative decision-making.
Offering a variety of hands-on development approaches ensures that participants build skills regardless of their
preferred learning style.
Experiential/action learning is another practice that
differentiates HPOs from LPOs by more than
five percentage points
High performers
18%*
Low performers
13%*
32%DIFFERENCE

Recommendations for accelerating leadership development
Recommendations Actions Benefits
Fully leverage internal
learning expertise and
experienced executives when
creating in-house leadership
development programs.
 Offer in-house development
programs via a variety of
modalities: traditional
classrooms, virtual classrooms
or online classes.
 Leverage internal social
networking platforms to identify
internal expertise.
 Involve senior leaders in
designing content for programs
and participating as guests in
the delivery of training.
 Providing a choice of learning
modalities increases the appeal
to various generations, leading to
better engagement and retention
of the content.
 Facilitates passing on the wisdom
of experienced leaders and
provides opportunities for rising
leaders to connect with senior
leaders.
Encourage mentor/mentee
relationships, both formal
and informal.
 For a formal mentoring program,
create a database of willing
mentors supplemented by video
introductions.
 For informal mentoring, provide
mentees with training on how to
specify goals, propose a
timeframe and go for the
“ask.”
 Even though it’s difficult to isolate
quantitative results from
mentoring programs, increased
satisfaction and retention of key
talent are two relevant measures.
 Mentees who are clear about
what they want to accomplish will
find it easier to connect with the
right mentor.
Personalize coaching for the
specific development needs
of individuals.*
 Select external coaches based
on relevant business experience,
recommendations from trusted
sources, an interview and
validated client results.
 Match coaches and coachees on
personality fit as well as the
coach’s expertise/issue fit.
 Interviews and validated client
results are the selection criteria
most highly correlated to
coaching success.
 Avoids the #1 reason coaching
assignments are terminated:
coach/coachee mismatches.

Facilitate exposure to
corporate leaders and
thought leaders to build
confidence and networks.
 Ensure that executives being
developed have opportunities to
manage projects and schedule
those executives to present a
synopsis of results to the
executive team or board of
directors.
 Seek out opportunities for rising
leaders to attend high-profile
business or community functions
to make new connections.
 Sharpens presentation skills and
Q&A responses as well as helps to
create or deepen relations with
senior leaders.
 Builds visibility in the larger
business community, enhancing
personal and professional
reputation.
Offer experiential/action
learning to practice and hone
new skills.
 Develop simulations and role-
play exercises based on true-to-
life scenarios.
 Document important business
transactions or decisions as case
studies to be reviewed and
analyzed.
 Provides an opportunity to try out
and practice valuable and
relevant new skills without risk.
 Gives rising leaders a glimpse at
decision-making with incomplete
data and ambiguous
circumstances.
Source: i4cp’s Coaching: What Really Works Playbook

Barriers are substantial,
even for high-performance
organizations
The portfolio of executive leadership development
approaches presented in the first half of this report
provide high-performance organizations with a wealth
of strategies for accelerating leadership development.
However, these HPOs are also cognizant of the
challenges they face that hinder such acceleration.
Three pockets of hindrances exist
Our study asked participants about 17 factors that may
inhibit their organizations from accelerating employees
on the path to leadership.
Of these 17 hindrances, six rose to the top, with more
than one-third of respondents from HPOs indicating
these barriers as hindering them to a high/very high
extent. These six factors fell into three pockets of
hindrances:
 Inadequate accountability among leaders –
Our study found that leaders aren’t being
adequately held accountable for developing
their direct reports, a factor with a high negative
correlation to market performance. What’s
more, their coaching skills were perceived as
inadequate as well.
 Weak succession plans – One of the top
hindrances to acceleration was having a
succession plan that just didn’t reach down
far enough into the organization. Further,
respondents told us that leaders weren’t
being held accountable for adhering to
those succession plans.
 Rigid silos – Functional or business silos were
found to have a negative correlation with
market performance. Even in HPOs, such
organizational barriers were keeping firms from
leveraging job rotations to their advantage.
Seventeen hindrances to
accelerating leadership
development studied
1. Leaders are not held accountable for
developing their people
2. Succession plan does not reach down
far enough in the organization
3. As an organization, we don’t use
rotations to our advantage to broaden
knowledge
4. Leaders are not held accountable for
adhering to the succession plan
5. As an organization, we are not good
enough at coaching
6. Functional or other business silos
7. Lack of a succession plan
8. As an organization, we are not good
enough at mentoring
9. No follow-up to training
10. Lack of budget
11. Training provided is not relevant to needs
12. Lack of talent mobility
13. No formal mechanism for progressing
diverse candidates to leadership roles
14. No formal mechanism for progressing
women to leadership roles
15. Lack of CEO support
16. No defined leadership competencies
17. Inability to demonstrate ROI

Barriers caused by lack of leadership development
budgets and inability to demonstrate ROI
Two factors related to spending bear examination, even though less than
one-quarter of respondents from HPOs selected these barriers.
First, the lack of budget (for leadership development) produced the
highest negative correlation to market performance (-.26**) as well as
the largest differentiation between HPOs (23%) and LPOs (52%). This
suggests that effective leaders are a driver of market performance and
investment in development is a driver of effective leaders. While we
can’t point to causation to say that lack of spending on leadership
development leads to low market performance, we can point to the
relationship between the data and see that LPOs are 77% more likely
than HPOs to say a lack of budget for leadership development is a
hindrance to leadership acceleration to a high/very high extent. This
reflects a lack of commitment and ability to invest in and develop
executive leaders.
Second, the inability to demonstrate return-on-investment (ROI for
leadership development) is a large differentiator, with 2.5 times more
LPOs (35%) than HPOs (14%) seeing it as a hindrance. This difficulty in
demonstrating ROI may well be related to the state of or lack of a
measurement mindset in an organization. Just 26% of respondents from
LPOs use a formal measurement tool to determine the effectiveness of
executive leadership development efforts to at least a moderate extent,
compared with 45% of HPOs.
This research identified three strategies that organizations can use to
overcome or avoid entirely the hindrances to executive leadership
development.

Tighten accountability
The aforementioned observances on lack of budgets and inability to demonstrate ROI for leadership
development relate to another failure of commitment, that of lack of accountability. The study found this
accountability issue rearing its head more than once. Respondents said:
 Leaders aren’t being adequately held accountable for developing their people.
 Organizations aren’t ensuring sufficient coaching skills in managers.
 Leaders aren’t being held accountable for adhering to succession plans
—a factor that’s presented more fully in the next section.
This perceived lack of leader accountability is a red flag, warning HPOs that superficial treatment of
development can’t be tolerated. Enrolling rising executives in leadership development programs and having
them earn a certificate is not the objective. Nor is rolling out a coaching initiative without providing managers
with the proper training to coach their direct reports effectively. Accountability can only come by stating specific
expectations up-front and comparing results to expectations, granting rewards and meting out consequences
as appropriate.
Hold leaders accountable for development
This transgression of not holding leaders accountable for developing their people is the top hindrance among
respondents from organizations with 1,000 or more employees, even among the HPOs. Within those HPOs, it is
tied (with shallow succession plans) as the top hindrance to the acceleration of leadership development.
What’s more, it has a significant negative correlation (-.24**) with market performance, the second highest
negative correlation to MPI among the 17 factors studied. This suggests that addressing this barrier could
boost market performance for HPOs and LPOs alike.
More than half of HPOs have flagged this loose end as problematic to a high/very high extent. It’s clearly not
enough to send individuals off to attend leadership development programs and consider one’s job done. While
the participants certainly also hold responsibility for their own development, leaders need to be held
Not holding leaders accountable for developing
their people is seen as the top hindrance
to accelerating employees on the path to
leadership and has one of the highest
negative correlations to market performance
High performers
51%*
Low performers
61%*

In their own words
the need for accountability: “Senior leaders
[must be] held accountable. A significant portion
of their annual bonus [should be] tied to
achieving specific objectives toward
acceleration.”
accountable for ensuring that the expected development has occurred and remedying the situation if it has
not. Does the problem lie with the student? The program content? The instructor? The leader must carefully
audit what’s hindering development, then take the appropriate steps to correct it.
Develop critical coaching skills
If coaching rising executives is being handled internally,
as opposed to being delivered by external coaching
professionals, those doing the coaching must be
instructed in all the nuances of coaching. Yet 35% of
respondents from HPOs say to a high/very high extent
their organizations just aren’t that effective at coaching.
This message came through loud and clear in i4cp’s
Accelerating High-Potential Employees on the Path to
Leadership report, where more than half (51%) of HPOs said having leaders of hi-pos that were not effective at
coaching/managing them was the #1 hindrance to the success of their hi-po development programs.
Regardless of whether an individual is labeled a hi-po or not, each employee from entry-level to executive
deserves to have coaching for skills development and performance improvement conducted by someone with
the skills and temperament to effect behavior change.
Even in HPOs, more than one-third say their
firm’s coaching skills are inadequate
High performers
35%*
Low performers
39%*

Sharpen succession
Succession planning is listed among the top 10 human capital issues of critical importance in 2013 and has
maintained prominence on that list the past four years, according to i4cp’s most recent iteration of its annual
analysis, Building a Change Ready Organization: Critical Human Capital Issues 2013. But recognizing the
importance of succession planning and addressing it well are two different issues. While 73% of respondents
to the critical issues study said succession planning was important, just 25% said they were effective at it.
i4cp’s research on accelerating leadership development bears out this need for more effective succession
strategies. Respondents noted problems in two key areas: succession plans that didn’t go deep enough and
leaders that didn’t adhere to the succession plans made. These strategic misses put the organization at risk
for being unprepared for sudden departures and for eroding trust in leaders among succession candidates.
Create deeper succession plans
Inadequate or superficial succession plans tied (with leaders not being held accountable for the development
of their people) as the top hindrance to accelerating leadership development for HPOs. Demonstrating just how
pervasive this problem is, it is also the #1 hindrance for LPOs to a high/very extent, with an 18.4 percentage
point differential.
While the critical issues study showed about half of HPOs (54%) were taking their succession planning
initiatives two layers below the executive level, just one-third (34%) of LPOs had done so. In fact, HPOs
included succession planning for executives and non-executives alike among their top 10 issues in 2013.
Driving succession plans down further into the organization supports the position that critical roles exist
throughout the firm, not just at the executive level. What’s more, it identifies the candidates whose
development needs to be accelerated, the key competencies that need to be strengthened and a timetable for
producing ready-to-serve succession candidates.
Shallow succession plans top the list of
leadership acceleration hindrances
High performers
51%*
Low performers
70%*
Adhere to the succession plan created
Just as devastating as not having adequate succession plans is putting such plans in place and then not
adhering to them. Even among HPOs, a sizeable proportion of respondents say that not holding leaders
accountable for sticking to the succession plan is a hindrance to leadership acceleration to a high/very high
extent. This lack of adherence to the succession plan could be due to pipeline candidates that are not yet
adequately prepared for a move, making acceleration of development all the more important.
31%
DIFFERENCE

In their own words
thoughts on succession: “A consistent plan
needs to be put in place that will be aligning
succession and talent development initiatives.
For this plan to be effective, the support of all
levels of management is absolutely necessary.”
When an executive vacancy is filled with someone other
than a planned successor (either external or internal), it
sets off a chain of negative reactions. First, the planned
successor gets an unpleasant surprise. Next, succession
candidates for the planned successor’s position are
stymied for movement. This could continue down as far
as the succession plan goes and possibly beyond. Also,
the actual successor (who was not on the plan) may face
resentment from colleagues whose sense of fair play
has been disturbed. If the successor is external, that person may have greater than normal difficult getting
established and accepted, which is already a sizeable challenge for executives sourced from outside. If the
successor is an internal candidate that was not on the succession list, the credibility of the whole succession
process becomes suspect and trust in the executive team could erode. In other words, breaking with
succession plans can be a costly faux pas. This issue is a little less prevalent among HPOs, suggesting that the
other 56% of HPOs are creating succession pipeline candidates that are ready to be moved when a succession
event occurs and, therefore, are less likely to experience this hindrance.
More than four in 10 organizations say that not
holding leaders accountable for adhering to the
succession plan is a hindrance to acceleration
High performers
44%*
Low performers
48%*

In their own words
thoughts on the right developmental
assignments: “[Use a] strategic staffing
approach that links development and job
assignments that both rotate the individual
through key positions and develop the portfolio
of experiences necessary for executive
leadership.”
Loosen the borders
Our study makes one other point crystal clear: the organization needs to think and act as a unit when it comes
to talent. Siloed thinking, selfish motives and protective actions won’t elevate organizational performance to
the level it might otherwise reach. Talent belongs to the organization, not to any single business unit or
individual manager.
One-third of HPOs admit that functional or business silos are getting in the way of accelerating executive
leadership development. Even more say they’re not using rotations to the organization’s advantage as a
strategy for broadening knowledge. These hindrances prevent rising executives from gaining the broad
business perspective or global immersion that might ready them for promotion opportunities.
Collaborate on increasing opportunities to offer rotations
Job rotations to another function, another business unit or another geographic location can provide rising
executives with knowledge and experience they would not be able to acquire in their own little corner of their
corporate world. Yet even HPOs (more than 40%) say to a high/very high extent they are not adequately
leveraging such opportunities.
One culprit is an ownership mentality about talent.
Managers with exceptional employees want to keep
them, not send them away to learn more or get snatched
up for a promotional opportunity. Another is the “not-my-
job” mentality—managers may be wholly focused on the
performance and productivity of their own employees
and aren’t warm to the idea of developing an ongoing
rotation of visitors to train and monitor. Both types of
thinking inhibit the creation of job rotation opportunities
and, with it, the further development of key talent.
Not leveraging rotations is the only hindrance that is more
of an issue for HPOs than LPOs
High performers
44%*
Low performers
39%*
Rid the organization of siloed thinking
The inability to expand one’s sense of responsibility beyond one’s job has a detrimental effect on corporate
performance. In fact, having too many functional or business silos produced the third highest negative
correlation (-.22**) to market performance of the 17 hindrances studied.

The keys to overcoming this thinking involve leveraging systems-thinking, technology and rewards. Use
systems-thinking (enterprise-wide awareness of opportunities) to create assignments that can produce useful
deliverables that serve the dual purpose of also building new skills or honing current ones. Use technology to
connect executives seeking broader learning opportunities with leaders in other business units or geographic
locations that could provide them. Use appraisal and rewards to acknowledge efforts of managers actively
facilitating the development of others.
Organizations struggling with
functional/business silos
see a negative correlation
with market performance
High performers
33%*
Low performers
61%*
60%DIFFERENCE

Recommendations for breaking down barriers to acceleration
Build accountability into
leaders’ performance
expectations and
compensation plans.
 Include audit processes and
specific success measures in
leaders’ accountabilities for
their staff’s development.
 Reward leaders who successfully
develop direct reports; redress or
replace those who have not
accomplished this.
 Clarifies the quantity, quality and
timeframes of leadership
development expected in direct
reports.
 Reinforces a message to leaders
that development is a key
accountability and creates a
culture where learning is prized.
Ensure qualified, experienced
coaches for executive
development.
 Internally, use role-plays to build
coaching skills such as listening,
probing and giving feedback.
 Externally, research sources of
certified professional coaches to
select those whose style and
substance match your
organization.
 Create a coaching bank of
managers with specific expertise
that can be called upon when
needed, such as negotiation
coaches, performance
improvement coaches or
global acumen coaches.
 Builds coaches’ confidence which
helps build coachees’ trust in the
coaches.
 Rising executives benefit from
expert coaching in how to
negotiate, how to deal with
difficult people, how to present a
business case and other key
skills.
 Ensures the ability to provide just-
in-time coaching so that those
who need it get it from someone
with coaching talent and subject
matter expertise.
Design doable succession
plans and timetables and
stick to them.
 Involve the executive team and
human capital professionals in
creating a succession plan that
details which positions require
succession candidates, how
many potential successors are
to be named for each, and the
process for selecting and
developing potential successors.
 Create a specific timetable for
assessing and developing each
potential successor as well as a
“Plan B” for emergency
successions.
 Allows organizations to begin the
lengthy process of preparing
potential successors.
 Succession transparency in such
plans may boost engagement and
retention of potential successors.
 Ensures sufficient time to
determine developmental needs,
provide relevant learning
experiences and bring successors
to a state of readiness.

Make the scope of rotation
strategies and possibilities
enterprise-wide
 Create and promote a process for
business unit leaders to identify
short-term (< one year)
developmental rotation
assignments and the criteria for
applying for consideration.
 Pilot the rotation project, get
feedback from assignment
leaders and participants, then
modify as needed and roll-out
system-wide.
 Encourages cross-organizational
learning opportunities.
 Creates transparency of
opportunities and criteria.
 Provides means to report and
track rising leaders’ development
activity and progress.
 Promotes systems-thinking in
terms of building corporate talent.
Eliminate siloed thinking and
reward enterprise-thinking.
 Cultivate organizational-thinking
about job rotations, encouraging
managers to create assignments
that will produce a deliverable
that adds value. Leverage
technology to facilitate the
matching of assignments with
rising executives seeking
development.
 Create reward systems that offer
a financial bonus to managers
who actively facilitate the
development of others.
 Provides a win-win, with managers
gaining new departmental results
that current staff may not have
time to deliver and rising
executives gaining valuable
developmental experience in
another function, business unit or
location.
 Acknowledges the efforts put
forth by managers to promote
organizational bench strength by
actively facilitating leadership
development in rising executives.

Accelerating executive
leadership development adds
"budget and years" to "blood,
sweat and tears."
Conclusion
Accelerating executive talent toward leadership
readiness is no small challenge. It is a process that adds
“budget and years” to “blood, sweat and tears.” But
organizations that master the portfolio of learning
experiences that pave the way for leaders as well as the
foresight to avoid common barriers to effective
leadership development can, indeed, create a pipeline of
ready leaders.
Using the “Audit, Act, Accelerate” approach outlined in our initial report from this study, Accelerating High-
Potential Employees on the Path to Leadership, i4cp offers the following actionable strategies for accelerating
executive leadership development:
Audit.
Objectively assess how well your organization prepares
executives for key leadership roles.
Ask yourself these questions:
 Has the content of your in-house leadership development program
kept pace with the challenges faced by today’s organizations?
 Does the off-the-shelf leadership development program offered by
your vendor adequately address the specific needs of your
organization?
 Do you have the right coaches and leaders grooming your rising
executives?
 Are you enabling opportunities for rising leaders to have
meaningful access to senior executives and the board of directors?
 Is your organization using a variety of hands-on experiences to
allow rising executives to learn and practice critical skills?





Act.
Build, upgrade or buy the programs and resources needed
to produce the cadre of future leadership talent your
organization requires.
 Customize a competency model that reflects what it will
take to bring your organization success in the coming
decades.
 Create learning opportunities that specifically build
these future competencies.
 Acquire vetted external resources for initiatives
requiring expertise that is not readily available
within the organization.
Accelerate.
Create a strategy for executive leadership acceleration
that will ready your organization for succession events.
 Create a specific succession plan that defines the
number of prepared successors desired for each
position and the levels in which such successors
will be named.
 Establish a development plan and timetable for each
succession candidate.
 Analyze the effectiveness of processes used and modify
as needed to ensure that the acceleration strategy is
moving the organization to a state of perpetual readiness.
As a consistent entry on i4cp’s annual list of critical issues, leadership development is a key factor in creating a
strong, sustainable, high-performing organization. This audit-act-accelerate model can guide firms in achieving
that status.

Authors and contributors
Donna Parrey is a senior research analyst for i4cp and the author of this report. Donna is the lead researcher
for the i4cp Executive Leadership Development Exchange. She received her MS in Management from the
University of South Florida and has an extensive background in human resources as a business partner,
director and generalist prior to joining i4cp. Donna may be reached at Donna.Parrey@i4cp.com.
Tony DiRomualdo, VP of research, oversaw development of the findings discussed in this report. Lorrie Lykins,
managing editor and director of research services, edited this report; Eric Davis, i4cp’s senior editor, provided
graphic design and proofing.
Several i4cp staff members provided background research and other support for this report. Thanks to Joe
Jamrog, who provided research support, and Andrew Dixon, who provides research coordination and manages
i4cp’s surveys.
i4cp’s Executive Leadership Development Exchange
This survey is a product of i4cp's Executive Leadership Development Exchange group. This group is comprised
of representatives from the following organizations:
AT&T Pitney Bowes
Cargill PNC Financial Services Group
ConAgra Foods SGS
Deloitte Services SunTrust
Federal Reserve Board Toyota
Penske Zebra Technologies
Our gratitude and appreciation go out to the exchange group contributors whose dedication to the study of
executive leadership development made this research project possible. Their time and expertise were essential
in the production of the initial survey instrument, in the final analysis of the data and in the source material for
the case studies.
About the survey
The findings in this report are from the Accelerating the Path to Leadership Survey conducted by i4cp and
fielded in October/November 2012. Responses from 337 participants were analyzed in 2012/2013, and the
data in this report reflect responses from organizations with 1,000 or more employees.

References
Fulcrum Adventures. http://fulcrumadventures.com/index.html
Institute for Corporate Productivity. (2013). Accelerating High-Potential Employees on the Path to
Leadership.www.i4cp.com
Institute for Corporate Productivity. (2012). 2012 Accelerating the Path to Leadership. Interactive Data.
www.i4cp.com
Institute for Corporate Productivity. (2013). Building a Change-Ready Organization: Critical Human Capital
Issues 2013. www.i4cp.com
Institute for Corporate Productivity. (2008). Coaching: What Really Works. Playbook. www.i4cp.com
Institute for Corporate Productivity. (2009). Peer Coaching: Pulse Survey Results. www.i4cp.com
Institute for Corporate Productivity. (2009). Social and Informal Learning: Strategy Into Bottom-Line Results.
www.i4cp.com
Peak Experiences International, Inc. http://www.peakexperiences.org/experiential_training.htm

The Executive Leadership Development Exchange
i4cp is grateful for the contributions of i4cp’s Executive Leadership Development Exchange, a research
working group of peers representing several of the largest organizations in the world, who helped craft our
survey on Accelerating the Path to Leadership. This report is the second published from the study.
Other recently released reports on human capital issues that are available exclusively to i4cp member
organizations include:
AVAILABLE NOW
Accelerating High-Potential Employees on the Path to Leadership
In this first report from the Accelerating the Path to Leadership study, i4cp addresses the identification and
development of high-potential employees, specifically examining how high-performance organizations
(HPOs) approach this development. It presents a five-step framework for accelerating the development of
high-potential employees toward leadership readiness.
AVAILABLE NOW
Purpose-Driven Performance Management in High-Performance Organizations
In this report, i4cp addresses performance management processes, practices and technology solutions,
specifically examining how high-performance organizations (HPOs) approach performance management
(PM). It reveals the five differentiating components of HPOs that lead to the development of a “purpose-
driven” performance management system
AVAILABLE NOW
HR Analytics: Why We're Not There Yet
i4cp's HR Analytics: Why We're Not There Yet examines the use of predictive analytics, common obstacles
in using HR data and the ability of organizations to tie HR data to business outcomes. Recommendations
based on the findings of the report follow an examination of each key data point.
AVAILABLE NOW
The Future of HR: The Transition to Performance Advisor
i4cp's The Future of HR: The Transition to Performance Advisor combines in-depth research with insights
from international HR leaders to reveal the next steps in HR's strategic evolution.

Peers. Research. Tools. Data.
i4cp enables high performance in
the world’s top organizations.
Contact us at:
1-866-375-i4cp (4427)
or at www.i4cp.com

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