Strategic investment in leadership development is crucial for accelerating business goals, increasing profitability, and improving recruitment and retention.
In today’s dynamic business landscape, strategic investment in leadership development is crucial for accelerating business goals, increasing profitability, and improving recruitment and retention. Research consistently supports the benefits of nurturing leadership within an organization.
According to the Center for Creative Leadership, companies with robust leadership programs respond better to business changes, with 86 percent of such companies navigating change successfully compared to 52 percent of those with less mature programs.
Leadership development is a magnet for high performers, boosting employee retention by up to 20 times, particularly among millennials and Gen Z, who value personal growth and career progression. Essential skills like critical thinking, problem solving, active listening, and accepting feedback improve professional performance, making individuals more self-aware, resilient, and adaptable.
Combating the chaos curve. Every organization faces the “chaos curve,” which is the discrepancy between true leaders and simple headcounts. This chaos can derail momentum and halt growth, creating inefficiencies and frustrations. To combat this chaos, companies can focus resources into the right areas, such as:
- Culture and talent management. Hire, fire, and promote the right people, and address underperformance swiftly to maintain a healthy culture.
- Leadership opportunities. Ensure a robust pipeline of leaders ready to step into roles. Increase the number of employees who “get it” and align with the company’s vision.
- Professional development. Invest in professional development to improve the client experience and project delivery and enhance the employee experience, recruitment, and retention efforts.
Start with identifying where you’re going and why. In 2023, ISG launched a five-year growth plan, identifying opportunities for client, talent, and geographic expansion. Every company’s goals are going to be different. The important thing is that employees are working from a common vision – rowing in the same direction – even if leaders take a different approach to get there. ISG is taking the coach approach to leadership development to achieve our strategic goals.
The coach approach. There is a difference between a coach and mentor. One of Google’s studies, known as Project Oxygen, revealed that high-quality managers who excel in coaching and communication tend to have more engaged and productive teams. Google identified that their best managers share specific behaviors, such as being good coaches, empowering teams, and fostering an inclusive environment.
ISG has experienced the benefits of hiring in-house performance strategists. Leading our effort is Dave Williams who is trained in sports psychology. Dave and his team apply similar coaching techniques to enhance the skills, behaviors, and effectiveness of leaders within the firm. This method emphasizes personalized, one-on-one interactions where performance strategists guide leaders through a process of self-discovery, goal-setting, and action planning. If your company does not have the internal resources to hire directly, there are many coaching resources and consultants available externally for you to consider.
The leadership development ripple effect. Over the last eight months, ISG has piloted a leadership program that is designed to fast-track leadership skills of select employee owners through coaching, assessments, and team-building activities. Participants were selected based on their broad influence, creating ripple effects that will benefit all employee owners and improve overall leadership capabilities. The impact of this program and its success is already evident through the positive testimonials from the pilot cohort and excitement it has created firmwide.
One size does not fit all. Using your vision plan, work backward from your goals to identify the behaviors you need to implement today to achieve the results you desire tomorrow. Develop leadership programs around this approach, ensuring there are opportunities at every milestone to keep individuals engaged and growing as leaders throughout their careers. This method fosters continuous development, aligning daily actions with long-term success.
We have also seen success in engaging young leaders early in their careers through client interactions, industry committees, and public engagement opportunities. This early engagement positively impacts retention and makes ISG known within the AEC industry as a firm that invests in young talent. This is a competitive advantage in a challenging recruitment industry. Conversely, leveraging the experience of our seasoned professionals helps to minimize the chaos curve and maintain growth momentum.
The investment is worth the return. We get it. The investment in leadership development is real, but so is the return. In the last five years, we have increased our staffing levels by 42 percent, expanded our office locations from 10 to 14, and increased profitability by 34.8 percent. Refining and expanding our leadership development programs has led to our lowest turnover rate in four years, demonstrating the effectiveness of these initiatives. By aligning our business goals with our leadership goals, we are building a high-performing firm that leverages the strengths of our team and amplifies the culture of employee ownership.
Leadership development is not just an investment in your leaders; it is an investment in the future success of your organization.
Lynn Bruns, PE is chief executive officer of ISG. Connect with him on LinkedIn.
