Organizational Change: Survey Finds UK Companies Focused on Organizational Change

Organizational Change: London — April 11

The most anticipated major change affecting learning and development over the next two years is predicted to be a greater integration between coaching, organizational development and performance management to drive organizational change. Forty-seven percent state this as the major L&D development in this year’s Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development’s (CIPD) Learning and Talent Development Survey of 600 organizations. Thirty-eight percent anticipated a change in responsibility devolved to line managers and 36 percent indicated a more emphasis on monitoring, measuring and evaluating training effectiveness.

Organizational development/change management activities will be high up on the agenda for the next 12 months too, with 43 percent of respondents stating it is set to be one of the top three activities L&D specialists will spend most of their time on. The other two are more operational, with 46 percent expecting to spend time on management/planning of L&D efforts and 44 percent on delivering courses/time in a training facility.

According to the study the focus on organizational development/change management is increasing as a part of an L&D specialists’ role. Last year it was in the top three activities for 36 percent and in 2009, just 22 percent. This focus is clearly influenced by the current economic volatility and the cuts to the public sector, but also by gaps in leadership skills in the area of ‘leading and managing change’. Fifty-five percent identified it as a gap, second only to performance management (59 percent).

The most common focus of leadership development activities in the next 12 months will be enabling the achievement of the organization’s strategic goals (43 percent), improving the skills of leaders to think in a more strategic and future-focused way (39 percent) and developing high-potential individuals valued by the organization (37 percent). Coaching is most commonly rated as one of the most effective talent management activities (49 percent), with in-house development programs second (28 percent) and high-potential development schemes third (25 percent).