Best Leadership Practices

What are the top 20 U.S. companies recognized for leadership doing right to ensure more and better leaders, ready to step up quickly?

Most executives and HR specialists know a large percentage of Baby Boomers will retire over the next five to 10 years — and with them, 50% of the CEOs of major companies. The talent to replace them will be chosen from the next generation of only 45 million available workers. Globally, with economies growing rapidly, the demand for leaders is outstripping the supply.

Here are the best practices of the top 20 companies known for leadership development:

2006 Best Practices *1. Having leaders at all levels who focus on creating a work climate that motivates employees for peak performance *2. Ensuring the company and senior management make leadership development a top priority *3. Providing training and coaching to help intact leadership teams, as well as individual leaders, work together more effectively 4. Rotational job assignments for high potentials 5. External leadership development programs for mid-level managers 6. Web-based self-study leadership modules for mid-level managers 7. Executive MBA programs for mid-level managers

To determine who's doing it right and the leadership development practices that should be implemented, the Hay Group, in partnership with Chief Executive magazine, surveyed 1,279 top companies worldwide (of these, 564 completed the survey).  This research shows that the most successful companies develop their own leaders.