Why it pays to take the long view on training leaders

A tough trading climate has a significant impact on a company's training budget. Assessment and development plans are generally among the first casualties of a downturn.

But leading-edge companies have learned the lessons of the last recession and realise that a clear strategy and sound management development during the difficult years will put them at the forefront when the upturn comes.

  • Assessing true potential   Assessment and development is increasingly enabling organisations to realise the true potential of their workforce, while making development more focused and results based. Writing in Personnel Today, Caroline Horn examines how different companies are using these useful programmes.

  • Talent management  Personnel Today's Nic Paton reports on a roundtable discussion of selected HR professionals, which looked at ways of identifying and managing talent more effectively.

  • Engaged in talent warfare  The war for talent is an ugly concept that may prove just as destructive as other management fads, writes XpertHR's commentary editor, Stephen Overell.

  • Strategic resourcing and HR: planning for success   Personnel Today's Keith Rodgers investigates organisational development and finds workforce planning is critical to business success.

  • Look to the long term to remain strategic   Writing in Personnel Today, John Connolly of Deloitte & Touche, advises HR practitioners to adopt and maintain an ongoing strategic management process in response to the current economic downturn.

    • Also

    Skills on the line  Training Magazine's Elaine Essery looks at development options for supervisors and first-line managers.

    Case study: Learning to lead at COI  Writing in Training Magazine, Ross Wigham profiles the success of government agency COI's leadership programme.


    Failing to talk business  Writing in Training Magazine, Catherine Bailey and Martin Clarke consider new research claiming that line managers and development professionals are frighteningly at odds over what makes a good business leader.

    Tips for developing director level training programmes   By John Weston, director for training and development at the Institute of Directors, writing on personneltoday.com.

    Making a leader   Don Campbell argues that it is high time companies rejected the idea of leadership being exclusive to the top end of an organisation.

    IIP model aims to help develop future leaders   Investors in People has launched a new leadership and management framework to encourage organisations to develop more effective leaders for the future. Personnel Today reports.

    Ditch the targets and invest in leadership training plans   With the UK's managers under relentless attack for their ineffectual performance, it might be time to recognise that best practice and innovation are not intuitive and that training can make a difference. By Claire Spencer, Head of research, TSO Consulting, writing in Personnel Today.

    Building on talent  Writing in Training Magazine, Gary Ince of the Institute of Leadership and Management sets out his agenda for expanding skills.

    Are you bringing in quality leaders for the New Year?   As 2003 gets underway, many organisations will be looking to enhance their performance through the quality of their leadership. It is up to HR to set a good example and lead the way, argues Saudagar Singh of npower, writing in Personnel Today.

    Accelerated leadership development   Accelerating the process of identifying potential leaders is critical if business opportunities are not to be missed, according to international consultancy DDI, from Personnel Today.

    Developing strengths and weaknesses   International consultancy DDI offers guidance on dealing with both strengths and weaknesses in leadership training.

    Top 10 tips for hiring high fliers   By Charlotte Bradshaw, managing director of Bright Young Things, writing in Personnel Today.

    Follow the leaders Taking leadership culture to all levels of an organisation not only requires a recognition of the difference between the roles of manager and leader, but a firm commitment to a company-wide programme of change, claims Keith Rodgers in Personnel Today's BoardroomHR supplement.

    Cultivating creativity   How do you cultivate adaptable people and unleash their capabilities on a volatile world without losing control? Writing in Global HR, Philippe Masson of Cap Gemini Ernst & Young explains his company's recent experiences, and suggests that those enterprises which are most adaptable are the ones best able to cope with this volatility.

    Developing leadership competencies in local government   Writing in the IRS journal Competency and Emotional Intelligence, Elaine Essery reports on the results of a competency-based project to improve the quality of leadership in British local authorities.

    Test the mettle of future high-flyers   Writing in Personnel Today, Binna Kandola of occupational psychologists Pearn Kandola argues that employees identified as high-flyers should not be shielded from traumas which could serve to mould them into business leaders.

    How to grow new-style leaders   Writing in Training Magazine, Ann Edwards of Executive Training SHL looks for mentoring and coaching schemes suitable for high performers in today's international marketplace.

    When the feeling is mutual  Lucie Carrington of Training Magazine speaks to Helen Busby, senior manager for career development at Nationwide, about the building society's 'Pride' initiative - an exercise in matching employees' emotions with business success.

    Grooming leaders   Writing in GlobalHR, David Butcher of Cranfield School of Management argues that shaping up and advising leaders fit for the global stage is a messy business.

    Leadership in crisis  Personnel Today's Simon Kent reports on major new research which describes management and business leadership development in the UK as 'a dysfunctional system'.

    The state of the nation's leaders   In recent years great changes have taken place to the traditionally hierarchical nature of British firms. Writing for personneltoday.com, Liz Amos, former advisor to the Council for Excellence in Management and Leadership takes a look at the state of UK management.

    From one leader to another   What makes the essential difference to a CEO in times of trouble? Pepi Sappal of GlobalHR talks to three well-known companies which worked closely with their top HR executives to ensure the development of future leaders.