Deloitte: Leadership crisis looming in Southeast Asian companies

KUALA LUMPUR: Companies in Southeast Asia are lacking leadership talent, with 86% human resource and business leaders in this quandary, says a report prepared by Deloitte.

The leadership gap, identified as the second most important issue in 2014, became even more critical for HR and business leaders in the region this year, says Deloitte’s “Southeast Asia Human Capital Trends 2015: Leading in the New World of Work” report.
 
Business and HR leaders must adapt to a new world of work that required tailoring human capital solutions to the culturally diverse markets and evolving business environments, it said on Monday.

All respondents had reported leadership was at least “somewhat important” to their business. However, most organisations were still struggling to develop a pipeline of leadership talent.

“It’s imperative organisations treat leadership development as a long term investment, rather than a discretionary development spend item when times are favourable.

“By implementing impactful leadership programmes, organisations will be able to create a strong differentiated leadership pipeline and enjoy improvements in their business performance. 

“We believe that leadership is the only sustainable competitive advantage organisations will enjoy in the future,” said Deloitte Consulting executive director and Southeast Asia Human Capital practice leader Nicky Wakefield. 

The report looked at 57 responses surveyed from the region while the global report reviewed survey responses from more than 3,300 HR and business leaders in 106 countries.

In the report, only 5% of respondents in the region rated themselves as “very ready” to address the leadership challenge through programmes such as leadership assessment and development, succession planning, and talent mobility.

Respondents in the survey had also noted that a general lack of skilled talent was likely to affect business growth and cited workforce capability as the second most important issue.

Overall, it said, respondents were noticing difficulties in understanding the competencies required by their businesses, and even less clarity on what competencies will be needed in the future.

“The rapid economic growth in Southeast Asia is driving an accelerating demand for highly qualified talent but we see a lack of such talent threatening continued growth.

“Despite intense spending on training programmes, organisations are quickly falling behind on developing the right skills across all levels,” said Deloitte Consulting SEA human capital consulting director Daniel Russell.