The English football team is not the only organisation suffering from lack of leadership talent – HR chiefs are not happy with the leadership potential within their companies either, according to a survey.
The survey of 500 HR directors, by Personnel Today and Impact Training and Development, found that 86 per cent of respondents felt their organisations could do more to encourage leadership.
When asked what the country could do to improve the standard of leadership 29 per cent referred to education at secondary level. One in five said that training and development would help and 13 per cent cited a change in culture and attitude.
Leadership development expert John Adair said lack of investment in leadership development and outdated approaches in business schools and organisations such as the CIPD were to blame.
"Our professional institutions and business schools have been remarkably slow to change, clinging desperately on to yesterday’s model of management," said Adair.
"Our greatest failure in this field has been lack of strategic thinking. Like footballers, our leaders increasingly have to be recruited from abroad."
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However, seven in 10 of those surveyed believed that British leaders were equal to their international counterparts.
Richard Branson emerged as the most admired leader among women and Winston Churchill among men.
