Malaysian firms are struggling to develop leaders

Leadership development might be a key area of focus for companies in Malaysia, but are they really ready to actively deal with the issue?

Apparently not really, at least according to the Southeast Asia results of Deloitte's Global Human Capital Trends 2016 survey.

The survey found leadership development was identified as the top human capital trend in the country by 97% of respondents in the country.

This was higher than the global average of 89%.

Despite that, only 40% of local respondents felt ready or very ready to tackle this issue.

“The data indicates that organisations in Malaysia acknowledge the importance of having great quality leaders, but are not ready, or may not have the necessary resources to address the leadership gap" said Jason Seng, human capital director for Deloitte Southeast Asia.

"However, more are taking into consideration the importance of understanding and appreciating Gen Y and Millennial employees who are motivated to work in a dynamic organisation led by inspirational and visionary leaders. The lack of strong leadership pipeline for want of talented leaders is a cause of concern.”

Worldwide, however, organisational design was highlighted as the top human capital trend - as chosen by 92% of global respondents and 91% of those in Southeast Asia.

Despite organisational design being ranked fifth in Malaysia (88%), more than half (57%) of Malaysian respondents revealed that they are ready for it.

This shows that organisations are cognizant of its importance and aim to consequently move towards a leaner, more efficient structure, albeit at a moderate pace, the report stated.

“This trend indicates that, in general, organisations are aware of the need for organisational structural changes to accommodate the changing business trends and talent generations. However, organisations operating in Malaysia may not be quite ready to take the leap at this stage. Transformation efforts may be more focused on leadership and culture, and this will ultimately define the organisation structure of the company,” said Seng.

Image: Shutterstock