Insights from Top Companies for Leaders India 2014
India is today at the cusp of becoming a global economic
powerhouse. Over the last decade organizations operating in India have
achieved high levels of growth. However, as the economy matures and
new challenges emerge, many corporates are finding that sustaining
success will mean reorienting themselves.
The Top Companies for Leaders (TCFL) 2014 India study provides
insights into these challenges and how companies plan to deal with
them. Rising levels of competition, rapid disruption, and changing
consumer behaviour are the primary drivers for a disproportionate
focus on 'innovation' and 'sustained growth'.
 |
These business challenges are strongly related
to the top talent challenges of companies - 'insufficient number
of ready-now leaders' and 'lack of diverse talent in leadership
positions'. The TCFL 2014 India study reveals that many corporates
are using a variety of strategies, practices, and tools to be
future ready. |
However, we found that top companies focus specifically on the
'how', which helps them address the business and talent challenges
better. Our research has also helped us identify six critical factors
needed to build strong leadership, which critically distinguish the
top companies.
GOING BEYOND PROCESSES AND POLICIES
"Any process is only as good as the results it produces"
The companies which top the TCFL India study consistently measure the effectiveness of leadership practices, through metrics such as
strength of leadership pipeline, career movements, retention rates of leaders and high potentials, and the extent of talent mobility.
Additionally, leaders hold themselves accountable for these outcomes.
All Top Companies hold leaders accountable for
strength of leadership pipeline |
DRIVING ENGAGEMENT THROUGH LEADERSHIP
"Many people are unmotivated, not because they have a great reason
to be, but because they have not been given a great reason to be
motivated & engaged"
In top companies, leaders drive engagement initiatives and are held
accountable for engagement levels in the organization. Besides asking
leaders to hold themselves accountable for engagement at an
organization level, top companies are equally concerned about the
engaging the leaders.
All Top Companies regard the engagement levels
of their senior management to be
better over their industry / market benchmarks, as compared to 63% other companies |
INCLUSION COMPLETES DIVERSITY
"Diversity is being invited to the party; Inclusion is being
asked to dance"
- Verna Myers
Winning companies are going beyond focusing on diversity as a target to be achieved. Top companies specifically view diversity from
the lens of enabling innovation. Top companies are actively discouraging cloning of leaders, enabling mobility of talent, and making the company
leadership mirror or represent the customer perspective. However, most critically, top companies have identified the role of inclusion in
ensuring diversity succeeds. They do recruit leaders from outside, but what differentiates them is their ability to make these leaders successful
in their set-up.
All Top Companies have a formal strategy to
move talent across geographic locations |
BUILDING LEADERS, NOT FOLLOWERS
"The function of leadership is to produce more leaders, not more followers."
- Ralph Nader
TCFL study winners believe that the primary role of leaders is to identify
and nurture even more leaders. Building more leaders is one of the mandates of
leaders and this ensures their sustained success. Role of leaders as talent
magnets, coaches, and mentors is also deemed paramount. A significant amount of
senior leadership time is spent on coaching and mentoring future leaders.
Board of Directors in 57% Top Companies focus
on coaching and mentoring of
leaders, and giving developmental feedback, as compared to 25% other companies |
ASSESSMENTS - A WAY OF LIFE
"Leaders know the importance of having someone in their lives who will
unfailingly and fearlessly tell them the truth"
- Warren Bennis
Companies today are working to ensure that leadership assessment is an
ongoing process. And for different kinds of individuals and purposes, the
methodology of assessments is customized. Companies are focusing critically on
values, and ensuring that leadership decisions are based on assessments on
values too. This reveals that companies are placing paramount importance on the
'fit' of the individual in the role and in the company.
All Top Companies adopt leadership assessment
practices such as
360° assessments, competency based assessments, personality assessments,
and leadership style inventories |
HIGH PERFORMANCE WITH A PURPOSE
"When sustainability is viewed as being a matter of survival for your
business, you can create massive change."
- Cameron Sinclair
Top companies identify organizational outcomes and sustainability as one of
the top agendas for leaders. Leaders are significantly responsible for achieving
the common organizational goals, in addition to their own business or functional
goals. Furthermore, top companies are addressing dependencies and risks to
sustainable growth, by involving high potentials in critical organizational
projects.
In Top Companies, overall company performance
holds a weightage of 50% on a
leader's performance scorecard, as compared to 30% in other companies |
Our take from the study is that the link between leadership practices and business success is evident in
India Inc, just as among global organizations. Leadership development is no longer an informal activity,
or merely an HR agenda.
Companies in India are gearing up for their next phase of accelerated growth.
And for this, they are working to build leaders, who can help achieve financial
results, enable innovation, and sustain growth.
"A few years ago, the key objective of many companies was to prevail over the financial crisis. Contrastingly, the role
of leadership in today’s optimistic timeless. It is more than just a competitive advantage. It is a must for any company to be successful.
It is this spirit that forms the foundation of Aon Hewitt’s Top Companies for Leaders study" |
|
"Over the years, the TCFL study identified leadership trends and practices at the regional and global platforms. For the first
time, in 2014, the TCFL study aimed at identifying leadership best practices further specific to the contexts of organizations, at sub-regional
and national platforms. Thus the India edition of the Top Companies for Leaders study was born." |
|