Leadership Statistics: 21+ Surprising Facts You Need to Know to Drive Growth Easily

Leadership is a fundamental aspect of the organizational culture yet it’s also required to evolve and adapt to circumstances. Leadership statistics and trends can help orient the way in which leaders need to develop. With this in mind, we will look at several leadership trends that businesses should be aware of to stay competitive.

The landscape of leadership can be seen as both evolving and changing, which means there are many different ways to approach it. While this may seem like a good thing on paper, there are many pitfalls for organizations that aren’t prepared for these changes. There are also many different leadership styles and types of leaders. Some leaders have a strong vision for the future while others focus on more day-to-day operations.

In order to better understand what makes an effective leader today, we will look at some interesting facts and statistics around leadership that businesses should know in order to stay competitive with their organization’s culture as well as with other companies in the industry overall. These trends have not only changed how people view leaders within the organization, but they have also affected how people perceive themselves as members or prospective employees within the organization.

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A snapshot of surprising leadership statistics | Editor’s choice

• A startling 79 percent of employees will resign if they do not feel appreciated by their superiors.
• 69 percent of young people (Millennials) are concerned that their company does not foster leadership development.
• The average age of CEO’s in the USA is 54.1 and only 15% of boards of directors are comprised of women.
• Developing leaders is important to 83 percent of businesses.
• In 2020, 77% of organizations experienced a leadership gap.
• Training can increase leadership performance by 28%.
• In 2019, the percentage of women in senior positions of management grew by 5%.
• 37% of millennials in positions of leadership learned new work-related skills in their spare time in 2020.
• A mere 11% of companies can fulfill roles for leaders with their current human resources.
• An alarming 40% of new leaders fail in the first 18 months.

What leadership traits and qualities do great leaders possess?

According to a Gallup poll, exceptional managers possess the following skills:

1. They provide total transparency in addition to building trust and open communication.
2. Productivity, not politics, drives their decisions.
3. They are able to motivate and engage their teams with a compelling purpose and vision.
4. They establish a culture of unambiguous accountability.
5. They have the ability to drive outcomes, overcome obstacles, and overcome opposition.

Business leadership statistics

Just as a new normal has overtaken the whole planet, the same can be said for the manner in which enterprises and industries will operate in the new market climate. Of course, corporate executives will be at the helm to guide the world through this monumental transformation.

• According to a study by Deloitte, when it comes to the post-pandemic workplace, over half of the business executives (47 percent) said they want to focus on a variety of situations as their organizations transition into the new normal. The majority of those surveyed (17 percent) will be concentrating on improbable but high-impact incidents, while the remainder (32 percent) will be concentrating on additional events that may occur.
• 86 percent of consumers want corporate leaders to lead them on social issues that impact them. The expectation is higher than that of public officials.
• Leadership in the traditional sense is being phased out. 86 percent more exceptional work is inspired by modern leaders who utilize mentorship, connection, and employee appreciation to motivate and inspire their teams.
• People believe that corporate leaders should take over when their governments fail to handle societal challenges, with 68 percent believing this is the case.
• 81 percent of modern leaders are members of groups in which every person considers himself or herself to be a leader.
• Employees report a 57 percent reduction in burnout when their managers link them with the successes, purpose, and other members of their team, according to research.
• In the months leading up to the declaration of COVID-19 a pandemic, 219 CEOs resigned, representing a 40% increase over the previous year.
• External candidates are frequently appointed to fill the CEO position that has become vacant. In a study, among the 198 CEO positions, 107 were filled by outsiders, while 91 were filled by someone already working in the firm.

The leadership gap

A company leader’s primary aim is to achieve long-term success. There are several leadership talents that must be cultivated in order to succeed.

In times of crisis, leaders are not only entrusted with directing their companies in the proper direction but are also tasked with restoring order to their organizations. The foresight of a successful company leader is essential in identifying and cultivating talent inside the firm in order to assist with the massive responsibilities that lie ahead.

• Leadership abilities are essential not just for starting a business, but also for managing and developing a team. In their present organizations, 48 percent of executives rate leadership quality as strong, up from 34 percent in 2011.
• According to a recent poll, the top problem for 55 percent of CEOs is developing the next generation of leaders. This makes sense given that 63 percent of millennials say their companies are not completely developing them as leaders for management jobs.
• As statistics show, the leadership gap plainly causes difficulties with employee retention because many people aren’t being acknowledged as potential leaders fast enough and are leaving for other chances.
• In reality, just 11% of HR leaders believe they have a strong bench that can take over leadership responsibilities when they become available, resulting in growing leadership gaps.

Why does leadership development matter?

The statistics show that many firms do not prioritize leadership development. But such organizations are missing a trick, since leadership matters when it comes to employee engagement, retention, and company performance.

A study by The Economist found that 61% of organizations struggled to bridge the gap between strategy creation and execution. While many may attribute this to a lack of business acumen or strategic thinking abilities, the real culprit is typically leadership.

Executing strategy involves a mix of business and leadership abilities at all levels of the company. Business and department achievements are achieved through horizontal collaboration and experimentation, while strategic support is provided through empowerment and decision-making authority.

That’s why we think Leadership = Business Strategy Execution. Businesses are striving to adapt structures and procedures to evolving technologies. The old concentration on efficiency and effectiveness has to give way to speed and agility.

Without formal institutions or authority, leaders must comprehend the plan and encourage people to execute it. Leadership today is flexible, dynamic, and ever-changing. Company acumen combined with the orchestration of teams empowered by collaboration and knowledge-sharing is what will eventually drive business outcomes.

Let’s take a departmental view of what is often required in terms of leadership skills

Marketing and Sales – Marketing and sales are frequently viewed as spokespeople for the organization. They help define the company’s strategy and goals within the business as well as externally to its customers. Strategic execution requires appropriate messaging across audiences and media.

R&D – Research & Development often manages major strategic initiatives. Leaders in this sector must be able to recruit and develop the proper talent and mentality while encouraging innovation and change.

HR – Employees need to be able to develop and grow professionally, thus HR has to be a part of the strategy formulation process.

Business and department leaders – Business and department executives must transform strategic ambitions into on-the-job activities to succeed. Most businesses fail to bridge the strategy-to-implementation divide. Key leadership skills required include:

• Horizontal Leadership
• Global Acumen
• Discipline and Agility

Executive leaders – To execute strategy successfully, C-suite leaders must assist the organization grasp what that entails. The C-suite often identifies and prioritizes strategic goals, then communicates and supports them with financial and human resources. Key leadership skills required include:

• Big Picture Thinking
• Prioritization
• Communication

People leaders – People leaders need to make sure that people within the organization get the work done to succeed and execute plans. Frontline leaders must first grasp what is required, then convey it to each individual given their role within the organization. Coaching, growth, and engagement happen here. Key leadership skills required include:

• Coaching and Feedback
• Teamwork
• Horizontal Leadership

Individual contributors – To be effective and execute the plan, everyone should understand how their job contributes to the company’s success and be encouraged to collaborate. Key leadership skills required include:

• Collaboration and Teamwork
• Resilience to Change
• Creativity and Innovation

Operations – Leaders in operations need to connect strategy to day-to-day decision-making. Operational leaders need to ensure their teams grasp the broad picture and are adept at handling change.

Finance – Companies can accomplish everything correctly, but if cash flow and resources are not strategically aligned, it can hamper growth. Finance must be ready to assist the firm to prioritize investments and determine what might be sacrificed to meet the strategy’s goals.

Can leadership development be solved by investing in training your team?

According to Forbes – In the US alone an estimated $166 billion is spent on leadership development annually

At the same time according to an Association for Talent Development (ATD) study, 83% of businesses say it’s important to develop leaders at all levels.

Yet less than 5% of companies have implemented leadership development across all levels.

The situation doesn’t seem to be improving.

Bad leadership is still a problem.

Thomas Kereszti summed up the problem in this way on the Predictable B2B Success podcast recently.

The fact is, that (annual spend on leadership development) is a crazy astronomical number. How come we have such bad leadership in the US?

I mean, whether you’re looking at your local governments, the federal government, when you look at business leaders, who are leading companies, it’s just, it’s all around you.

Obviously, we recognize we need leadership training, otherwise, the companies wouldn’t be spending this kind of money.

But if we recognize it, and we’re investing so much behind it, how can we still be so bad at it?

Thomas Kereszti says there are four critical keys to leadership success.

But most of all leadership starts with you (something Minter Dial also agrees with during a chat earlier this year) and knowing who you are and what your strengths are.

My takeaway from my chat with him included 3 questions to help identify your strengths. They are –

Who are you? 🤔

What are you passionate about? 💗

And what are you good at? 💪

Thomas says – “If you have a clear answer to those questions, and also a good vision statement for yourself, then I think you have the most important things nailed down.”

Matt Mersino host of the REAL Leadership podcast had this to say in a LinkedIn post –

I believe a fundamental problem to the gap between investing in leadership development and the lack of skills that still exist has to do with the way leadership development is approached.

First, these trainings and/or initiatives are often spearheaded by decision-makers or executives who are great at what they do, but they are not pros at finding and developing leaders. That’s not their business or interest, and so they approach the topic like they would for any other business strategy. This leads to the second issue.

We need to get beyond surface level strategies, metrics, and/or isolated skills training and focus on the “whole person.” Many times leaders invest in training for their people so that they can improve certain efficiencies or deliver certain business outcomes. This is the majority of the training you see today, and it continues to fail.

Why? Because transformational work is not about the organization, its goals, or its strategies. It must go deeper to consider the uniqueness of every individual.

From there, you need to have a framework that makes sense. Where do you start with people? Why do you start there? Is it a guess based upon opinion, or is the framework rooted in historical success? Is it something that truly addresses the whole person, or is it still surface-level?

I have found that when leaders are truly passionate about their people, and approach leadership training with a “people first” mentality that addresses the uniqueness of each individual, they are on the right path. Combine that with an appropriate framework (e.g. the modernized Transformational Leadership framework I outline in my upcoming book, which is one of a few successful options), and you will find yourself in an incredible position where significant leadership growth is taking place.

Statistics on COVID-19 Pandemic Leadership

Leaders must accept responsibility and be visible and accessible during times of crisis. By doing so, they clearly demonstrate their accountability for their decisions and actions. As the COVID-19 epidemic unfolds, government and organizational leaders must demonstrate caution, foresight, resilience, and stability. And, because there is no clear indication of when the crisis will end, leaders must continue to do so for the foreseeable future.

• In the event of a pandemic, scientific and public health specialists are more trusted by the general population than non-health authorities.
• Only 14 percent of Americans desired political leadership to lead the country’s response to the COVID-19 epidemic, while 69 percent supported public health/scientific leadership.
• Norway, Denmark, New Zealand, Iceland, Finland, and Germany were among the countries with the most successful COVID-19 responses, with fatality rates hovering around 1% (the worldwide average is 5%).
• New Zealand Prime Minister’s exceptional COVID-19 reaction, which essentially entailed a quick, early lockdown, was lauded across the world. COVID-19 has caused less than 2,000 cases and 25 deaths in the nation so far.
• Because of the German Chancellor’s science-based approach, her country was able to handle up to 100,000 tests every week as early as mid-March 2020.
• Other countries, such as South Korea, did not take as drastic steps to combat the virus. Instead, the country’s officials used very systematic testing procedures with isolation/tracing/quarantine techniques. From late February to mid-March, the number of COVID-19 cases dropped from 909 to 74.
• Expertise in the online space has become 25% more important for CEOs (in the private sector) responding to the epidemic.
• According to Scientific American, former US President Donald Trump is widely regarded as having shown one of the worst displays of leadership during the epidemic. During his tenure, he demonstrated that scientific ignorance and a basic lack of caution can be catastrophic, especially as a leader holding the highest position in a country and enormous power.
• Instead of promoting hand-washing campaigns, the Brazilian President advocated for a more hands-off approach, such as discouraging Brazilians from following WHO-recommended health precautions. By March 2021 there were a total of 11,019,344 cases and 265,500 fatalities reported in the nation.
• In sharp contrast, the Chinese President ordered more than 50 million residents in the province of Hubei to remain in their places of residence.
• According to the Edelman Trust Barometer in 18 of the 27 nations studied, business groups are seen as more trustworthy than governments.

According to these figures, the effectiveness of leadership amid a global health crisis includes delegating authority to the true experts on the subject—the health and scientific authorities. However, this does not imply that you should completely withdraw from the situation. Instead, it entails harnessing medical professionals’ knowledge and talents for the greater welfare and safety of the public, which is something only a genuine leader is capable of doing.

Leadership burnout statistics

• A survey by the Ultimate Kronos Group showed that among employees and company executives, three out of five (59%) said their employers take some efforts to prevent burnout, despite the fact that almost a third (29%) wish businesses showed more empathy.
• Almost 60% of leaders reported feeling exhausted at the end of each day, which can be a sign of burnout. Another study showed, 44 percent of executives who feel worn and used up intended to relocate to a new organization in order to develop their careers.
• 26 percent of the same respondents want to leave their present employer within the next year.
• Those with strong leadership potential have been subjected to much more pressure. According to another study of over 1,000 high-potential workers, 86 percent of them felt weary by the end of the day, a 27 percent increase over the previous year.

Developing empathy as a leader has never before had such a spotlight placed on it.

Top leadership qualities statistics

So, what characteristics do you look for in a good leader? Are the most appreciated leadership attributes ageless, or are they merely limited by the passage of time?

Nonetheless, there are some characteristics like honesty, enthusiasm, courage, humility, and empathy that are eternal in their application. However, in today’s volatile global world, the stakes have been raised significantly.

Here are a few of the current leadership characteristics that both leaders and followers are looking for at this time.

• Effective and open communication is seen as the most critical attribute a leader should possess by three out of four employees, according to a recent survey.
• 60 percent of C-level executives believe that today’s leaders must be crisis prepared in order to assure the survival of their organizations in any situation.
• An online study found that all leaders should have a number of soft skills, including empathy (17 percent), humility (15 percent), self-awareness (7 percent), and the capacity to listen (7 percent ).
• 35% of employees express a desire for greater acknowledgment from their superiors.
• A strong sense of purpose is essential for 82 percent of organizational leaders, according to a recent survey. But just 42% of those surveyed said that their organization’s delivered reports around their organization’s mission and vision statements.
• In the face of a tragic crisis such as a pandemic, a successful leader must have a strong sense of optimism, particularly when transmitting the message that things will get better shortly after the outbreak. According to a recent study, 76 percent of executives from the world’s largest corporations believe that global economic growth would improve within the next year.
• Traditionally, the responsibility of being a leader has been to ensure legal compliance while also determining direction.
• Today, good leadership requires preparing the company for an unexpected future, which entails mentoring, encouraging cooperation, and developing the members’ capacity to learn and adapt fast.

Workplace leadership stats

What characteristics distinguish an excellent leader in the workplace? People who are able to operate their departments like clockwork without generating a tense and unpleasant workplace are considered inspiring leaders. However, only a small number of CEOs possess the necessary strength to be effective in their positions of leadership.

Within the first 18 months of their tenure, 38 percent of new leaders fail.

This is a very concerning statistic to have. So, what can you do to ensure that you do not become a statistic? Positive reinforcement and team motivation are important components of becoming a great leader, as is setting a good example for others to follow.

Women are more resilient leaders than males, according to research.

According to data on women in leadership, females have demonstrated greater resilience (54.7 percentile) than males in the workplace (49.3 percentile). Also, women have outstanding problem-solving abilities, and they’re extremely conscientious and dedicated in their work.

Interesting fact: Sanna Marin, the prime minister of Finland, at age 35 is the world’s youngest female leader in history.

Only 10% of CEOs lead by example and inspire their employees.

A great manager will model appropriate behavior for their employees by modeling it themselves. If leaders do not set an example of timeliness and productivity, they will be unable to influence others.

Employees have a tendency to pay close attention to what their supervisors are doing and to mimic their activities.

Leadership skills statistics

Workplace leaders possess the abilities that are necessary for the efficient operation of a business. Because of their problem-solving ability, they are capable of resolving any issue. More information may be obtained by reviewing the following data on leadership abilities.

Cybercrime, according to 73 percent of board members, is the most frequent problem in the workplace today.

You must be able to deal with every scenario if you want to be an effective leader. That is why most businesses have a planned strategy in place to deal with any issue that may arise in the workplace.

So, what are the five crisis management skills that every CEO should have in their arsenal?

Here’s how it works:

• Communication between employees and CEOs must be effective.
• The ability to adjust to new situations
• Developing and maintaining positive working connections with workers
• Being imaginative and providing novel solutions to challenges are important skills.
• On-the-spot judgments must be made

What methods do leaders use to engage their employees?

Through their behaviors and the way they interact with people around them, they demonstrate their values. Typically, uninspiring leaders are overly relaxed, expect others to do their work for them, and display symptoms of disdain for their employees in their interactions.

Uninspiring executives can have a negative impact on the success of a firm. Staff members may pick up on their supervisors’ negative behaviors since they lead by example, which might result in a reduction in productivity.

Because of the 25 percent leadership shortfall in 2018, emerging trends will create greater opportunities for women to assume positions of leadership.

If you want to begin implementing change in your workplace, you must stay abreast of the most recent developments. Corporations are now incorporating mental health care management and promoting more females into a variety of positions of leadership.

Millennials are often involved in the struggle for more diversity and authenticity in the workplace, as well as the celebration of many cultures. Leaders must also modify their management techniques in order to accommodate the varied generations under their supervision.

Diversity, equity, and inclusion statistics in leadership

Numerous studies have discovered that organizations consisting of socially diverse people are much more inventive than organizations formed of homogeneous people. To put it another way, working with people of diverse races, genders, and other backgrounds tends to make employees smarter, more diligent, and more creative as a result of their experiences.

In order to illustrate the importance of diversity, equity and inclusion in leadership in the workplace, here are a few examples:

• In comparison to organizations with limited diversity, companies with above-average diversity produced a bigger percentage of income through innovation (45 percent), according to studies (26 percent ). The end result was a more stable financial performance overall as a result of these efforts.
• According to research, 86 percent of female millennials believe that an employer’s policy on diversity and inclusion in the workplace is critical to their success.
• According to other research, 42 percent of today’s CEOs believe diversity and inclusion are extremely essential, 32 percent believe it is moderately important, and only 10 percent believe it has no value at all.
• However, 71 percent of people surveyed believe that while corporations talk about diversity, opportunities are not truly equal for everyone.

The state of diversity in organizations in the United States

Diversity, on the other hand, remains abysmally low in corporate America. For example:

• The number of black CEOs in Fortune 500 businesses was six in 2012, which was the highest to date. There are just five of them now or fewer than one percent of the population.
• In 2021, the number of female CEOs running businesses on the Fortune 500 hit an all-time record: 41. But that’s not all. For the first time, two Black women are running Fortune 500 businesses
• In a study conducted by a corporate watchdog, it was discovered that there is only 3 percent of CEOs, 3 percent of division heads, and 1 percent of CFOs that are black in Fortune 100 companies for 2020.
• Meanwhile, Latin Americans account for 3.4 percent of all senior executives at Fortune 500 companies, Asians account for 2.4 percent, and blacks account for 1 percent.
• There have been a number of high-profile names who have come out about their sexual orientation in recent years. For example, Apple CEO Tim Cook was the first openly homosexual Fortune 500 CEO to come out publicly about his sexual orientation when he revealed it in 2014.

These data points demonstrate why organizational leaders that are able to make use of the enormous opportunities that diverse teams provide tend to create more successful organizations as a result.

Poor leadership statistics

Employees do not just quit their employment; rather, they depart because of their management, as the adage goes. Business leaders that fail to inspire their teams lead to lower employee engagement, which in turn leads to bad business performance.

• It has been reported that, as a result of the epidemic, the credibility of corporate executives has reached an all-time low in various nations, including 22 percent in France and 18 percent in Japan.
• Businesses with engaged employees, on the other hand, have a tendency to generate 147 percent greater earnings per share on average. Only 30% of American employees, on the other hand, have been shown to be actively engaged.
• Many people in politics believe that former President Donald Trump was the worst American president in history. Among the various errors he committed during his four-year presidency, three stand out: he was the only president to be impeached twice, he exploited the position for personal financial gain, and he violated his constitutional oath on a countless number of occasions for political benefit.

Leadership stress statistics

Leadership stress may have a detrimental impact on a company’s bottom line. In reality, firms in the United States lose $300 billion every year as a result of workplace stress.

According to a poll of 2000 professionals,

• 76 percent believe that job stress has badly damaged their relationships
• 66 percent claim that work stress has caused them to lose sleep.
• 16 percent have had to abandon a job owing to stress.
• 35 percent believe their boss is a major cause of stress at work.
• 80 percent say a change in direct management or leadership has an effect on their stress levels.

An employees’ point of view of leadership

• According to a study, 75% of respondents said that their immediate supervisor is the most stressful aspect of their work duties. In other words, often employees quit their bosses as opposed to the company.
• 76 percent of employees perceive their employers as “toxic,” and they are more likely to trust someone they don’t know more about than their superiors, according to yet another survey.
• Furthermore, just one in every five employees believes that their manager always takes an active part in aiding people to progress and reach their full professional potential.
• Just 27 percent of employees believe their company’s executives always support and appreciate their ideas for development.
• 1 in every 3 employees believes that their boss is always open to incorporating ideas/practices from outside the firm in order to improve performance.

Trends such as the #GreatResignation have come about in part because a large number of people leave their employment because they believe their managers are inefficient or perhaps unsuitable to lead their organization. It takes more than just meeting quarterly sales objectives and maintaining operating costs to a bare minimum to succeed in business today.

Leadership development statistics

While some people are born with leadership abilities, such traits and talents must be developed, improved, and guided to the right channels through successful training.

• In 2020, global investments in training leaders were expected to total $357.7 billion, with North America accounting for $165.3 billion. This is a decrease from 2019, which makes sense given how challenging 2020 was for most firms globally.
• According to the findings of the study, individuals who received leadership training enhanced their learning capacity by 25% and their performance by 20%. Many of these programs not only teach leadership theory and methods but also how to apply them in the workplace.
• According to The Conference Board and Development Dimensions International’s Global Leadership Forecast 2018, firms that take a more inclusive approach to leadership development programs are 4.2 times more likely to outperform those that limit development to management.

Leadership training statistics

• A Brandon Hall study found that more than 77 percent of firms perceive a shortage of leadership and that only 19% of organizations agree that their leaders are good at developing leadership skills in others. This is not surprising given the number of baby boomers that are retiring.
• Simultaneously, 83 percent of organizations believe training is critical to developing leaders at all levels. Despite this, less than 5% of businesses have adopted a practice of investing in leadership at all levels.
• According to recent survey data, many businesses are facing a succession planning dilemma. There is a clear lack of efficacy in preparing people for positions of leadership.
• Half of those polled stated their organizations needed adequate leadership talent, and 47% projected a future scarcity of leadership or executive-level capabilities.
• By 2024, the corporate leadership coaching and training industry is anticipated to be worth $26.7 billion.
• Training in leadership improves leader behavior by about 30%.
• Managers in the public sector who receive leadership-specific training and executive mentoring are 88 percent more productive.
• fifty-eight percent of senior-level employees have gotten no training.
• 75% of millennials agree that changes in leadership style are being driven by new technology.
• One in every four managers believes that training in leadership has an impact on business outcomes.

Statistics on Women in Leadership

For the past 17 years, one question has perplexed schools, organizations, corporations, and individuals all around the world: Where are women in leadership? Not only in America, but all across the world.

• In a 2019 Harvard 360 assessment, women outperformed males in 17 of 19 criteria that differentiate exceptional leaders from mediocre or weak ones, including creating connections, cooperating, and communicating.
• According to a poll conducted last year, corporate America is finally witnessing a rise in the number of women in leadership roles. Between January 2015 and January 2020, the number of females in management went from 23 to 28 percent, while representation in the C-suite increased from 17 to 21 percent.
• Women of color, in particular, were under-represented, but the trend was improving. Still, according to one study, just 86 women were promoted to management positions for every 100 men.
• Women hold just 29 percent of top positions of leadership worldwide. Also, 87 percent of mid-sized businesses have at least one woman in senior management roles.
• The good news is that the proportion of American women in positions of leadership is changing. 37 of the current Fortune 500 firms are run by women.

The table below depicts the percentage of women in senior positions of management worldwide. As you can see, more and more businesses recognize the significance of women’s leadership abilities.

Women leadership statistics

Females in leadership positions are in scarce supply, despite the fact that women are 50.8 percent of the population of the United States.

Despite the fact that women make up more than half of the population in the United States, there is still a disparity in the representation of women in positions of leadership.

• Among master’s degree holders, women obtain 59 percent of the total, 48.5 percent of law degree holders, and 47.5 percent of medical credentials.
• Although these numbers are impressive, there is a conspicuous lack of females in leadership roles inside the business setting.
• Furthermore, women of color account for just 8.57 percent of all legal representatives in the United States.
• Also, just 2.6 percent of the executive leadership is extremely engaged.
• According to a Grant Thornton study, in 2019, the percentage of women in senior management grew by 5%.
• 17.1% of C-level jobs Down Under are occupied by women. Only 14.1% are women have the position of chair of the board which practically holds the same influence as a CEO. The percentage of women board members, on the other hand, is higher at 29.3% with female managers in Australia comes in at 36.7%.
• In October 2019, only eight FTSE 250 companies in the UK were managed by women. However, statistics also show UK FTSE companies are appointing more and more women into positions of senior leadership with the number of female board members reaching 582 (29.6%) and 35 non-executive female directors. Another positive trend revealed by human resources stats is that 63.3% of UK women hold positions as HR directors.
• Women in Canada assume less than 10% of C-level executive roles.
• The number of women leading Fortune 500 companies has reached a historic record of 37.
• 59% of Canadians feel comfortable with female leadership.
• Less than 20% of startups aim to add female board members in the US.
• Every fourth senior-level woman is currently mentoring or sponsoring a woman of color.

Women’s influence in the boardroom

The whole world, including the corporate world, had been ruled by men for a long time before that. Nonetheless, things are changing as the gender gap in leadership continues to narrow, although at a slow and steady pace. Here are some important statistics on women in positions of leadership:

• In terms of diversity, however, only one black female CEO has ever been appointed to the helm of a Fortune 100 corporation. Ursula Burns served as the CEO of Xerox from 2009 to 2016.
• According to Korn Ferry, women account for 25 percent of C-level positions in the top (by revenue) 1000 US corporations.
• According to the Foreign Office of the European Union, over 40% of board positions at the top 100 publicly traded businesses were filled by women in 2019.
• By 2030, a McKinsey report says that it is expected that American women will control the vast majority of the $30 trillion in financial assets that will be held by people born not long after the second world war.
• 28% of US startups had at least one woman as a founding member in 2020.
• in the European Union, 1 manager out of 3 is a female. Latvia leads the way with women managers making up 53% of the workforce.
• Africa has consistently been one of the best-performing regions for females in positions of leadership. 39% of women held positions of leadership in African companies in 2021.
• A staggering increase has occurred in the proportion of women-owned firms, which has increased from 4.6 percent in 1972 to 42 percent in 2019.
• The number of women-owned enterprises has climbed to about 13 million in 2019, representing a 21 percent growth from 2014.
• While the number of firms in the United States climbed by 9 percent, the number of women-owned businesses increased by 21 percent.
• Women have more than $31.8 trillion in purchasing power throughout the world, according to the World Bank.
• Women-owned businesses were forced to temporarily halt operations as a result of the pandemic, compared to just 17 percent of enterprises owned by males, as a result of the epidemic.

Developing a framework for effective leadership

A leadership competency framework is a collection of competencies considered essential for success in positions of leadership. Organizations often draw from a wide range of leadership capabilities to construct and improve the leadership framework that is appropriate for their leaders and their company.

When creating your framework, be certain that it is:

Results-oriented: Leadership actions and attributes must be clearly related to how they serve the organization.

Organization-specific: Despite the presence of some universal competencies, not all competencies are equally relevant to all organizations. The competencies you select must be closely matched with your company’s aims and strategy.

Thinking ahead: What worked yesterday may not work today. Determine what it will take for your organization to flourish in the future and choose leaders based on that criterion.

Clearly linked to incentives: It is crucial that employees who achieve performance standards for critical skills receive a relatively timely and suitable reaction and appreciation.

Accepted: All stakeholders must be on board.

Implemented leadership development: How to successfully implement your program

There is mounting evidence that most businesses fail to get even the most fundamental aspects of leadership and management properly.

Consider the findings of Australia’s largest leadership research in over 20 years. The Study of Australian Leadership (SAL), conducted by the Centre for Workplace Leadership at the University of Melbourne, discovered that Australian organizations lack the requisite leadership and management abilities to handle the challenges of the twenty-first century.

According to the findings, more than 40% of Australian businesses fail to meet their ROI and profitability objectives.

Furthermore, the same study discovered that most Australian leadership improvement strategies had uncertain payoffs in terms of workplace performance and employee engagement. Their advice is to avoid doing “more of the same.”

Not only does Australia lack high-quality programs to develop leaders, according to Bersin’s research at Deloitte, one of the key causes for a lack of leadership potential is an exclusive dependence on programs as the only way of leadership maturing.

Bersin’s research revealed that the most effective firms include leadership improvement strategies into their own DNA—that is, they put systems, processes, cultures, and practices in place to help leaders in their daily development. In other words, they don’t view a leadership improvement program as the be-all and end-all.

While these study findings are likely to make the ordinary learning and development professional cringe, the good news is that they provide a chance to consider how you may do things differently.

Here’s how –

1. Align overall program goals with high-level business objectives.

Are your leadership program’s objectives in line with your company’s strategic objectives? It is critical to assess your company’s strategic aims and consider what skills its executives will require to achieve them.

2. Design a learning experience that meets the needs of your learners.

First, make certain that the learning path is linked to well-constructed capabilities. What do you need your leaders to do, and why do you need them to do it? And what specific behaviors do you want to develop?

3. Determine your sponsors and allies and enlist their support.

your program will need all the support it can get so determining who your sponsors and allies are and enlisting their support while keeping them informed of developments is crucial.

4. Provide senior managers with the resources they need to assist their learners in succeeding.

In addition to your sponsors and supporters, pay particular attention to the position that might stymie learning—your learner’s manager. According to our study, the most powerful lever you can use to maximize the effect of your program is to include managers and leaders in supporting and encouraging the implementation of new skills.

5. Consider what aspects must be (globally) constant and what can be changed.

One of the most important lessons for global leadership program implementations is to establish what design aspects must be constant globally and what may be changed to regional preferences. Then there are the “backyard” requirements—very particular objects to a local event—to consider.

6. Create a deployment plan and assess whether a pilot is required.

One of the first decisions to be made is “Who goes first?” Then, “Where are we going to fly?” Many more firms are now hosting virtual sessions, making it easier to conduct pilots.

7. Don’t overlook the other important actors.

Of course, your students are crucial, as are the sponsors and allies mentioned above. The facilitators, producers, and project support team members who will make the leadership improvement program a reality are the critical players—the ones you can’t do without. They deserve particular attention.

8. Make it simple for students to get started.

How do you implement a good leadership program? Make it simple for students to locate your program and desire to attend!

Plan your touchpoints for all critical roles, including your learners, learners’ managers, sponsors, and key partners. Some businesses are leveraging their learning management system to automate touchpoints in order to send regular messaging with minimal effort. Additionally, it is critical to analyze your messages for conciseness and clarity.

9. Measure to demonstrate value.

Any training endeavor requires a significant amount of time and work to develop and deploy. As a result, some businesses may lose steam when it comes to measuring. Only 18% of businesses monitor the business effects of their leadership development activities, according to our Global Leadership Forecast report.

10 . Encourage potential leaders to engage online with their audience.

In these times of profound social and technical upheaval, social networks empower leaders to capitalize on the significant cognitive and relational shifts that are occurring everywhere. Social media increases the capacity of leaders and those who work with them to digest the complexity of our modern environment and convert it into a strategic advantage.

Leadership is more than just leading

The future of leadership is in jeopardy given the statistics we covered above. In the face of workplace injustice, political unrest, economic hardship, and a worldwide viral breakout, it will be incumbent upon leaders to fully sympathize with their employees and make the best possible decisions for their respective businesses.

However, the leadership gap and bad leadership statistics do not govern what the future can be but should serve as an impetus for the change that needs to occur.

Simply said, today’s leaders must embrace and actualize diversity, equality, and inclusion within their own ranks, as well as always pursue innovation and communicate in a transparent manner throughout their organizations. He or she must be able to manage difficulties in a positive manner, ensuring that everyone shares the company’s goal, and be many steps ahead of any crisis.

Leaders should strive to ensure that everyone, regardless of gender, race, sexual orientation, or generation, is included and engaged in the process. Furthermore, all employees must be provided with equal opportunity and assistance in order to one day assume positions of leadership.

Business is continuously evolving, necessitating ongoing change. Every day, new facts on leadership and how managers may be more effective in the workplace are discovered.

According to the data, firms and leaders must adapt to the changing needs of their environment and develop new strategies to achieve high staff retention.

Statistics suggest that when a corporation is constantly adjusting to changes, it is set up for long-term success.