You’ve worked hard to craft the perfect mission statement to drive purpose and leadership. But are you really getting the message out?
According to a recent report, while 90% of HR managers say their company has a mission statement, only 28% of first-level leaders make the same claim. Read more about the miscommunications happening in your organization and how you can bridge the gaps.
The literature often talks about the importance of “failing forward,” and leaders across industries agree that this is important to drive innovation. However, only 7% of leaders say failure is strongly embraced for innovation.
Among other findings in this report:
- Leaders identify five skills as most important for success (intellectual and cultural curiosity, 360-degree thinking, digital literacy, leading with digitalization, and leading virtual teams), but they say these get the least development focus at their organization.
- While HR managers identify skills related to the digital workforce as most critical for the future, leaders say they are least confident about their capabilities in this area. They are more confident about personal skills under their control (determination, empathy, adaptability, and alignment).
- HR managers often think that leaders don’t have the time or interest for formal learning. However, in this report, 59% of managers say they want more formal workshops, training courses, and seminars than they currently are offered.
- It’s often assumed that millennials want everything digital. However, 65% of young leaders say they want more formal classroom learning.
- Think your advice or guidance is unwelcome or doesn’t matter to leaders? In this report, 49% say they actually want more coaching from internal experts/executives, and 57% want more external coaching.
- There is a lot of talking about the value of mentoring. However, 60% of leaders say they have never had a formal mentor. In organizations where managers rate the quality of leadership as excellent, 53% say they’ve benefited from some form of mentorship. There is ample evidence that mentorships have value. This is particularly important in companies with aging leaders, as it is key to capture organizational knowledge before it is lost as managers and C-suiters retire.
One way to address these communication gaps is to break down the silos, which are still very much in place. In fact, only 48% of leaders say that employees in their organization work across boundaries and departments to accomplish goals and solve challenges. This is problematic considering that organizations with strong collective leadership make better-informed decisions and more confidently respond to competitive environments. The report authors suggest, “Organizations should focus on creating leadership teams that cut across boundaries and give their managers of all levels the skills that enable them to work collectively.”
