Third consecutive year, leadership development is the top priority in HR

According to a recent survey, leadership development will be the HR priority in 2025.

Gartner’s insights revealed that for the third year in a row, developing managers was a top priority. Three out of four respondents said they felt overwhelmed by their increasing responsibilities.

Seven out of ten (69%) HR leaders surveyed by the US-based consultancy company agreed that leaders and managers were not adequately prepared to lead change.

The top five HR priorities for organisations also included organisational culture and strategic workforce planning. Change management, HR technology, and change management were also on the list.

A survey of 1,403 human resource leaders found that traditional methods of developing leadership, like lectures and seminars, may have a negative effect.

Gartner advises that they should start putting more emphasis on “intentionally enabling repeated connections between peers” through team building and networking.

Mark Whittle is vice president of advisory for Gartner’s HR practice. He said that HR leaders define their priorities within the context of the three factors that CEOs focus on, and that impact the world of work. These are: growth, AI power and labour market changes that put pressure on talent strategies.

The survey also found that less than one third of leaders do not have a vision for the type of culture they desire, and 57% said their managers did not enforce this on their teams. Over half of respondents said that leaders do not believe they are accountable for exhibiting a desired culture.

Whitte continued: “Managers must be prepared for today’s challenges and tomorrow’s as well. “Despite the fact that 75% of organizations have updated their leadership programmes and more than 50% are increasing spending for leader development, there are no results.”

Two thirds (66%) of those surveyed said that strategic workforce planning is limited to headcount planning. They find it difficult to demonstrate a return on investment in this area.

Gartner suggests that leaders approach strategic workforce planning in smaller, more manageable phases rather than tackling it at an organisational level.

73 percent of employees say they are tired of change. And 74% do not think that their managers are well-equipped to manage change.

Gartner believes that HR leaders can improve change effectiveness and reduce fatigue related to it by focusing their efforts on determining the areas of transformational change in an organisation, working with business leaders and sponsors to assess the impact of the change, and identifying designated change influencers embedded in the change process who are embedded to boost adoption.

The survey found that more than half of HR leaders (55%) believe their current IT solutions do not address their current or future organisational requirements, and 46% think current solutions are hindering rather than enhancing employees’ experience.

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