Learning in Organizations - Survey Review

In September 2011 IEDP, in association with Deloitte’s Leadership practice, surveyed over 300 executives on their perceptions and experiences of leadership development.

We collected 302 completed responses from a wide range of industries. Of the 40 industry sectors represented education returned 80 responses (26.5%); the public sector 35 (11.6%); manufacturing 19 (6.3%) and the remaining sectors all 5% or less. So the breadth of representation was fulsome.

Over three-quarters of respondents had been with their current organization for over 3 years and a quarter for more than 10 years. Nearly 80 % of them were between 36 and 60 years old. Only 15% of respondents came from SME’s (with workforce smaller than 250), while the modal organization size was between 250 and 3000, but with 29% engaged at firms of over 10,000 and of those 10% at firms larger than 50,000.

When asked how strongly they felt their organizations were performing currently and how effective they believed their leadership was, there was a strong correlation:

However when asked how effective they believed their leadership development and succession planning was in their organizations the picture was less upbeat and had plenty room for improvement: 

Turning to what forms of learning practice respondents thought the most effective there was a clear majority for experiential learning (63.5%) placing it in poll position, with Coaching (34%) and Action Learning (30%) vying for being the second most identified practice. Classroom based learning still had a hardcore of supporters (17%) who thought it was still the most effective practice, but overall it languished behind mentoring, informal, and self-teaching as a methodology rank.

Pragmatic issues of scheduling and cost presented the largest barriers to formal learning in respondents’ organizations, though support from line managers and then culture and appropriateness of program content were not far behind. Actual program design was the least important barrier identified.

Linking the learning program to respondents’ personal development plan was seen as being the most influential element at supporting their learning. Interestingly e-learning was seen as having little impact in supporting learning objectives from these respondents with only 5.6% identifying it as an important element. Whether this is because they have had little experience of e-learning based platforms or do not like it is not clear; IEDP will shortly be conducting further research into this area.

In terms of what respondents got out of their learning experiences the two top contenders were ‘increased self-awareness’ and its stablemate ‘increased self-confidence’  with 77.2% and 76.2% of respondents choosing these as top outcomes. ‘Improved skills/capabilities’ were not that far behind on 71.9%. Career progression, increased sales and, mercifully, ‘no gains’ all scored lowly with 27.2%, 3.6% and 0.7% respectively.

While having a mentor or coach (24.5%) was clearly seen as being the most effective way of fitting learning around people’s schedules, interestingly ‘offsite/away-days’ (14.6%) were the next most popular along with ‘self-assessment/reflection’ and ‘short-term learning programs’ (13% each). This may reflect the seniority of the respondents and their experience with other types of programs.  E-learning scored poorly, but again this may partly be to do with the experiences and age range of the relatively senior respondents.

The most effective forms of feedback were clearly ‘inspiring leadership’ taking first choice for over 50% of respondents, followed by clarity of direction.

Hearteningly, and often at variance with reasons given for learning engagements having low impact back in the workplace, over three-quarters of respondents believed that their managers had either been always supportive or mostly supportive of their learning needs. Nearly 90% believed that manager support was quite or very important.

Most respondents agreed that learning can be accelerated, but the responses were statistically normally distributed here:

Learning and Development Process can be Accelerated for those with Limited Time
 

These responses were supported by a series of comments, which we offer a selection of below, but in essence those that did believe learning can be accelerated were all very much of an opinion that it had to be very individually focused, delivered in easy to digest ‘bite-sized’ modules, and critically must emerge from a learning environment which is fostered across the organization where mistakes and experimentation are permitted and coaching and simulations readily available.

There were also a handful who did not think accelerated learning was possible – largely as it was thought that real learning takes time and practice and this cannot be short-cut without thinner, less well understood results resulting.

While we at IEDP offer no specific conclusions to these results, our partners at Deloitte’s have put together a paper, Head Start, which builds on these results and identifying four factors that drive effective learning and development for leaders.

We are very grateful to those leaders who took the time to respond to this survey, we experienced an unusually high rate of engagement, many C-level executives took time out to complete the survey which was clearly raising issues of real concern to them. We hope that the results will be of value to those involved in leadership development.

Respondent Comments on whether Learning can be Accelerated…..

• Yes, but as acceleration increases, so must tailoring so that you cut out what's irrelevant, not what's relevant, based on each person.
• Process learning rather than one time seminars.
• Yes - with quick and real application of learning, e.g. simulations, case studies, experiential activities. Also believe group or co-coaching is immensely helpful.
• Real-world, high impact, urgent challenges can push some people to learn faster and adapt quickly to different requirements. Learning agility is probably a key factor for this.
• Accelerated learning can be achieved by creating a climate in which learning is supported, risks is encouraged and where clear goals and objectives are stated. Each person must be valued and contributes equally regardless of the position within the organizational structure.
• Yes - experiential learning simulations. Real-time coaching.
• I think that learning can be accelerated where an individual has the motivation to learn and the vision of what they will achieve through that learning.
• Yes, when a culture exists that facilitates, supports, coaches, and inspires learning, it accelerates behavioural change across the organization.
• Yes; by focussing on the bespoke needs of a role or individual you can tailor make the learning to gain quick results.
• Yes. Ideally all learning interventions should incorporate accelerated learning techniques to help the delegates retain the information & to further develop their skills.
  Numerous methods are available, but personally when training members of the leadership team, it's always effective to use Action learning groups, case studies, business simulations etc.
• More action - project based - skills assessment - pre and post training. Shorter punchier session with real tools.
  
  …or Not…
  
  

Further Information
Read the related report from Deloitte