LEADERSHIP     LEARNING & DEVELOPMENT

Canada - According to HR professionals in Canada, they have witnessed poor leadership being the cause of high staff turnover, declining morale, underutilised employees and increased workplace conflicts in their companies.

The study of 517 HR professionals across Canada by HR consultancy firm Psychometrics Canada reported that leadership is viewed as an important area in organisational function and development. Around 63% of respondents see leaders as having a lot of influence over their organisations' financial performance. Only 2.5% said leaders have very little influence in the workplace. However, close to 92% of HR respondents revealed that poor leadership has led to good talent quitting and a lack of morale in their workplace. Similarly, 87% said employees were not properly utilised while staff feuds and failed projects at 68% and 60% respectively were other common reasons for ineffective organisational performance.

HR respondents felt there were a few important leadership skills their business leaders should improve on in order to be more effective at leading their teams. Nine in ten said communication is critical, while slightly under half cited good change management skills as key. Setting goals, solving problems and project management were also listed as essential leadership skills by HR.

But respondents believed that there are a few obstacles preventing leaders from developing and improving their current level of effectiveness. Around seven in ten said their leaders do not see the need for improvement and 63% cited insufficient training time. Half of respondents polled said lack of senior management's support while 42% said the lack of training budget was an obstacle. "What surprised me was that, even with the understanding that leadership is key for organisational success," said Mark Fitzsimmons, president of Psychometrics Canada. "The leaders themselves were not actively pursuing their own development, despite the opportunities available."

Three top suggestions HR respondents felt could help leaders become more effective include clearly communicating how the organisation plans to manage change (89.4%), talking less and listening more (81.4%), and providing clear expectations (78.1%).

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