UK Training Industry Press Releases

A research project launched today will consider how innovative learning approaches are impacting leadership development. The research, conducted by the independent Benchmarking practice Towards Maturity aims to uncover what learning approaches are making a difference in developing great leaders and managers.

Nurturing great leadership skills is critical to the success of all organisations. In a bid to save both time and money, innovative online leadership and management development programmes have become increasingly popular - but how effective are they?

If you are responsible for leadership and management development within your organisation, we encourage you to participate in an independent industry benchmark study from Towards Maturity, designed to uncover good practice that delivers results. The results will be freely available to all participants and will be released on the 15 June.

The Ready to grow  report from the CBI last year highlights the priorities facing business in this area. More firms in 2010 (48%) than 2009 (39%) say improving leadership and management skills is essential for future success, and this is even higher for the public sector (73%). The same report also highlights that over two thirds of organisations are looking for more targeted and cost effective routes for training.

The Institute of Director's Skills Crunch also highlights that leadership and management skills are at the top of the list for those organisations which are reporting skills gaps in their current staff.

As a result, leadership and management training continues to be a high priority and, increasingly, organisations are considering more cost effective learning technologies as part of their learning & development approach. In fact, according to the latest Towards Maturity benchmark, 50% of all leadership and management programmes are now e-enabled, compared to just 34% in 2008. But how are they being used and under what circumstances are they effective?

Laura Overton, MD of Towards Maturity commented: "Our research has shown that when top leaders use learning technologies in their own development, the overall impact and business benefit of investment in learning technologies is increased, so we are particularly pleased to be able to conduct this study.

"We are aiming to understand how organisations can improve their use of learning technologies in leadership development programmes, to encourage great experiences for participants - even at the highest levels of organisations."

The independent study is being supported by of LMMatters, the UK partner to Harvard Business Publishing, and a founding Ambassador of the  Towards Maturity 2011 Benchmark. Martin Baker, Managing Director  of LM Matters commented: "We are proud to be backing this independent research project and would encourage anyone using online leadership and management resources to participate. Nurturing leadership skills is a priority for all forward thinking organisations, and effective delivery is critical at a time when resources are stretched."

How  to take part

Participants can take part online via the following link:

https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/TMleadershipinnovation

The survey will take about 15-20 minutes. Individual responses will be kept completely confidential, unless agreed otherwise. All participants will receive a free copy of the final report which will be published on 15 June 2011 and complementary resources from Harvard Business Press.

About Towards Maturity

Toward Maturity's not for profit benchmark practice provides independent expert advice and support in using learning innovation to accelerate business performance. Towards Maturity leverages the wealth of data provided by its benchmark, an internationally recognised longitudinal study based on the inputs of 1,200 organisations and 3,000 learners over 8 years. Benchmark findings, case studies and resources are available to download for free on the website.

http://www.towardsmaturity.org/

About LMMatters
Leadership and management eLearning specialist LMMatters is the UK partner to Harvard Business Publishing and provides trusted resources to develop leadership and management excellence. These include:

Harvard ManageMentor: The world leading leadership and management development programme from Harvard Business Publishing

And LMKnowledge: A searchable portal of leadership, management and business articles, podcasts and videos from the best world-wide sources; a knowledge resource which can be used to communicate with management team

LMMatters has a wealth of experience in sourcing the right solution for organisations across many sectors - including Government, telecommunications, finance and retail - and prides itself on its dedication to customer care, ensuring that appropriate resources are successfully implemented to deliver innovative leadership and management development programmes.