Frontline leaders aren’t meeting new job challenges and their organizations aren’t preparing them to succeed according to a new global survey of nearly 300 human resource executives.
The findings reveal that the cost of having “just average” leaders is significant with increased turnover, loss of employee engagement, loss of productivity, and lower profits, according to Be Better than Average: The State of Frontline Leadership, conducted by Development Dimensions International (DDI) in conjunction with HR.com and the Institute for Human Resources.
More than half of survey respondents (59 percent) indicated poor frontline leadership resulted in turnover of leaders themselves or their team members. Even more respondents reported a loss of productivity (65 percent) and loss of team member engagement (69 percent). One in four (26 percent) said their business suffered a loss in profitability due to poor frontline leadership.
Frontline Leader Selection Left More to Chance than a Plan
Not having a clear picture of the qualifications and motivations of individuals promoted internally into first-time leadership roles results in a success rate that is only a little better than 60 percent (the number for external hires is just above 50 percent). The failure rate is high because organizations rely too heavily on “gut” impressions of performance. Only 60 percent of organizations use interviews to help guide promotions. Worse yet, just 26 percent of organizations utilize tests and a mere 19 percent incorporate simulations to make frontline leader decisions. The survey also confirmed that the organizations that do use these methodologies have better bench strength.
Interpersonal Skills Number One Reason Frontline Leaders Fail
More than half of respondents (56 percent) rated the lack of interpersonal skills as the number one reason for leadership failure. These interpersonal skills—including listening, empathizing, and involvement—ensure leaders build strong relationships with their team and get work done.
The best HR organizations view frontline leadership as a springboard to higher-level roles and the most promising frontline leaders as future senior leaders. In fact, 73 percent of organizations who reported having very high quality frontline development programs were developing these leaders for future roles. So focusing on preparing high-potential frontline leaders early in their careers for higher-level positions makes sense.
Only 19 percent of respondents felt their leadership development quality was high or very high and only 18 percent felt they had a supply of capable employees to fill frontline leadership roles. Organizations which rated development as low described their frontline leaders as unprepared, indecisive, scattered and scared. But organizations rating their development quality as high and felt they had a strong bench, referred to their leaders as capable, confident, ambitious and innovative.
The research also found that leadership development should not be a one-time event.
Organizations that implemented a “learning journey” approach to training and development (including on-the-job training, learning from coaches, and formal training events), increase the perception of their development quality by more than 90 percent. And when programs are higher quality, confidence in frontline leaders to ensure the future success of the organization grows. Organizations using the learning journey approach to develop their frontline leaders are nearly three times more confident in that level of leadership.