Leadership growth with social responsibility has positive results

When organisations include social responsibility programmes within their leadership development efforts, it delivers results, according to a global study by the Hay Group division of people and organisational advisory firm Korn Ferry. The survey, which includes data from more than 7,500 business and HR leaders in 107 countries, found that across all leadership levels, an average of only 36 per cent of employees are "highly engaged". The survey also found that leveraging a social responsibility agenda to develop leaders can help reverse this trend. The vast majority (87 per cent) of respondents say that linking an organisation's social responsibility efforts to leadership development has a positive impact on overall engagement and performance. Unfortunately, only 59 per cent of respondents say their organisations actually do link the two. A separate Korn Ferry study shows the top factor that improves people's feelings about their job is working for a company whose culture aligns with their values. This is especially true for younger workers.