Each year since 2005, Chief Executive magazine has sought to identify those companies that excel in leadership development. This year’s top companies for leaders included P&G, IBM and General Electric.
The ranking is based on five factors: 1) having a formal leadership development process in place; 2) the commitment level of the CEO to the leadership development program, as measured by the percentage of time spent; 3) the depth of the leadership funnel, as measured by the percentage of senior and middle management positions filled internally; 4) the number of other companies that report recruiting from the company being evaluated; and 5) a shareholder value/performance metric based on the 10-year change in market capitalization.
Looking at that last criteria reminds us that the ultimate question for business leaders when it comes to leadership development is whether making the effort really pays off. Data from the magazine’s program this year shows that the answer is a definite yes. The top 15 percent of companies surveyed for the ranking had an average market capitalization growth of 200 percent over a 10-year period (2003 to 2013). This compared favorably to the 85 percent average market capitalization growth demonstrated by companies that ranked in the bottom 15 percent.
Although CUES is a way smaller organization than the likes of P&G, we’re doing our best to walk this talk, too. One of my colleagues is at a Stanford University program as I type. Another earned her Credit Union Development Educator designation last year. Personally, I’ve just signed up for a massive open online course about “content strategy” on Coursera, led by top journalism professors at my alma mater, Northwestern University. Carving out time for such endeavors requires the full support of the CUES leadership team—and departmental peers.
I’m fortunate that the CUES culture believes that professional development will create great outcomes for CUES and for its members. While Chief Executive's 40 Best Companies for Leaders were chosen from among public companies with minimum revenue of $1 billion, it seems like these ideas would translate well to credit unions as well. What are you doing to support leadership development in your shop? If CUES’ CU Management magazine ranked top credit unions in this area, would yours make the list?
Lisa Hochgraf is a CUES senior editor. There's still time to invest in CUES' CEO Institute for your leadership team this August at Wharton. Or for high-level development without travel, consider CUES' new Blended Learning through Cornell University. Photocredit: dollarphotoclub.com/tiero
