Aon Hewitt recently released its annual list of Top Companies for Leadership, highlighting the importance of leadership development as a foundation for business success. Developing leaders is especially important for organizations that are looking to attract high-potential millennial employees. These young workers are interested in joining organizations that are willing to develop them and boost their careers.
This week, I’ve been reading articles that look at the importance of leadership development and offer ways organizations can help millennial employees learn to lead.
- Top Companies For Developing Leaders Share Five Leadership Traits. Forbes: “The top companies for leaders change their leadership development programs to meet market conditions but don’t cancel them due to market conditions. Your own professional development should also be sustainable, and not only when you have extra time or budget. In the next 12 months: which leadership books will you read? Which conferences will you attend? Which professional associations or individual contacts in your broader network will you prioritize? What professional development will you pursue?”
- Finding Leaders Early. Human Resource Executive: “How did these and other companies make their way onto the 2014 list? Aon Hewitt singled out five key characteristics these organizations shared in their approach to identifying and nurturing leaders. Top Companies, for example, ‘assess the whole leader’ early in their careers, evaluating leaders’ experiences, competencies, values and organizational fit, according to Aon Hewitt. In addition, these organizations boast leaders who demonstrate tremendous self-awareness by understanding their personal strengths and weaknesses … using this information to become more effective leaders, according to the Aon report.”
- 5 Workplace Trends to Watch in 2015. Customer Think: “Employers are being forced to adjust everything from their communication and training models to their retirement plans, career paths, and engagement programs to better appeal to Millennials and meet their needs. At the same time, there is a significant percentage of Millennial leaders who are largely unprepared for their roles, particularly those who have been thrust into leadership positions due to the retirement or transitioning of older workers. This means that HR and senior management must be prepared to deal with not only issues caused by age disparities within teams, but also those caused by unprepared or inexperienced leaders.”
- HR’s Challenge to Nurture Internal Talent and Stay Ahead of the Competition. HR.BLR.com: “This so-called ‘race for talent’ could be better described as a marathon rather than a sprint. A major organization in the manufacturing sector across Germany, mainland Europe, and North America, has recently brought Acuity Global Development onboard to oversee a 3-year long CEO succession program. From the five key candidates identified for the CEO position, assessment and CEO coaching over a prolonged time are being used to work out who is most suited to the role. Alongside this, the organization is running a benchmarking exercise, employing the services of a search firm to compare and contrast to high-quality external résumés with internal candidates. HR has a lot to deal with, not only the need to nurture existing talent, but to justify this strategy by keeping an eye on the best of the rest.”
- The Future of Work… Supply Demand Chain Executive: “As the single largest and most savvy workgroup, millennials represent a significant opportunity. Companies that can excite them about work, train them to fill in gaps on experience and adapt to their style of working can build a workforce that can successfully execute on the objectives of today and adapt to drive advantage for the business of tomorrow. But most can’t, because they don’t really understand them.”
I wrote my new book to be a resource for millennials who are working to become leaders. Becoming the Boss: New Rules for the Next Generation of Leaders is a great gift for every millennial employee.
