According to new research, commissioned by global e-learning company SkillSoft, the majority of business leaders expect to be replaced within the next five years.
A survey of 503 CEOs was conducted and the results conclude that 83% of them expect to go within the next five years. This latest piece of research suggests that businesses are seeking innovative new talent to drive business success.
Kevin Young, Managing Director of SkillSoft EMEA, commented: “CEOs need to up their game if they want to keep their roles in such a competitive market. Businesses are becoming more ruthless, especially after the recession, so business leaders need to ensure they are cutting edge and can outshine competing candidates.”
Young added: “This is exactly why not only valuable experience, but training and development is absolutely crucial for leaders to maintain, update and learn new skills.”
Recently, leadership development has been raised up the agenda in many organisations. Leaders today need additional and different skills than they did 10 years ago. Once it was enough to have leaders who were good at strategy and finance, now there are a whole set of additional skills necessary to drive business success.
Without downgrading the value of the core leadership skills of strategic thinking and financial management, contemporary leaders need to also possess many of the other so called ‘soft skills’. They have to be great communicators and influencers and have a high level of emotional intelligence in order to maintain an organisation’s competitive advantage. Most good Management training courses and leadership training courses are geared towards developing excellence in these areas.
If leaders want to retain their current position or move on to new challenges they must be committed to continuous development for themselves, their leadership team and for the rest of the organisation. The days when leadership development was seen as surplus to requirements are long gone and modern leaders need to recognise which skills are required now and in the future, identify gaps in their own skills set, and challenge themselves to acquire what is needed to support long term organisational growth.
Thales Training and Consultancy offers a wide range of management courses and leadership courses which deliver the latest, cutting edge management and leadership skills. For more information or to book a course, please contact Sarah Harvey on 0800 313 4712
