Only Half of Australia & NZ Bosses Deemed Effective

Only 49 per cent of employees believe their leaders are effective, falling from 51 per cent in 2011, according to new research.

A study of nearly 71,000 Australian and New Zealand employees across over 150 organisations, including Not for Profits, also revealed that only 52 per cent of employees felt that senior leaders were worthy of their trust.

The study was carried out by international insurance and risk management company Aon Hewitt. Some six percent of the employees in the study were from Not for Profit organisations.

“In tough economic times leadership is harder, with employees demanding more from their managers in times of uncertainty,” Aon Hewitt’s Head of Leadership Consulting, James Rutherford said.

“Effective leadership is strongly linked with organisational success and leaders are clearly failing to have impact. Organisations need to step up and start investing in the development of their leaders,” Rutherford advises.

“Not many organisations are successful at developing effective leaders and a strong leadership pipeline.”

Aon Hewitt’s global Top Companies for Leaders study also looked at leadership and talent management with 478 companies participating in 2011. Two Australian organisations – Coca-Cola Amatil Limited and Commonwealth Bank of Australia were named a ‘Top Company for Leaders’ in the 2011 study.

“These businesses know that developing talent is their top priority; they place a premium on talent and know that strong leadership is more than a competitive advantage. It separates world-class companies from the rest,” Rutherford said.

The study identified that Top Companies for Leaders:

• Execute the fundamentals very well
• Believe that the HOW matters more than the WHAT
• Have a cadence to their leadership processes that continually strengthens the pipeline
• Build leaders who achieve results
• Are never satisfied.

To request a copy of Aon Hewitt’s Global Top Companies for Leaders report, contact frances.denny@aonhewitt.com