Just under half (47%) of respondents made this their first or second priority (compared with 35% last year), while 71% said their number one learning priority for 2012 was to use learning and development as a tool to aid growth (up from 64% in 2011).
The survey suggests respondents are focusing on the development of key skills for leaders and see this as key to business growth. As one respondent remarked: "be more rigorous in who are truly managers and who the leaders are, or could be. Sort the wheat from the chaff".
As business conditions continue to be tough it appears that learning and development has moved from the preserve of HR and learning & development departments to become a priority for senior management as a whole.
In 2010 just 40% of respondents were non-HR, in 2012 61% are non HR with 73% at director level or above.
Economic turmoil has not affected organizations recognition that learning and development is crucial to success, with 84% of respondents saying they would be doing more or the same learning and development activity in 2012.
But the survey also showed that learning still seen as key to employee engagement ( cited by 70% of managers surveyed). Using learning as a tool to help manage change still a strong priority (63% 2012 vs 52% 2011) and whilst development of leaders seen as top priority, development of middle managers is still important (45%)
Developing hi-potentials (31%) third priority for learning - talent still crucial to sustainable organisational success
A pragmatic, 'back to basics' skills focus is revealed by such priorities as "purely tactical skills development", "to improve sales capability" and "to equip talent with cross functionality skills to make them more versatile". Equally, organisations will be seeking to leverage existing knowledge within the organisation, with 55% saying they will be doing more informal knowledge sharing between peers and 59% saying they will increase their peer mentoring.
For the first time pragmatism has overtaken reputation as the key driver for organisations when selecting a business school partner. The top three requirements are: delivery by experienced practitioners (81%), reputation of school (64%) and use of up to date case studies (62%).
Delivery by well known faculty was the least important criterion whilst the importance of the "inclusion of recent, original research" has dropped from 86% in 2010, 72% in 2011 to 41% in 2012.
Hugh Evans, vice dean, executive education at Henley Business School, told HR magazine: "Respondent's comments echo the requirement expressed by our clients for development interventions that are pragmatic, that address current and future business challenges and that equip leaders to lead collaboratively, ethically and sustainably. As one respondent succinctly commented, 'Credibility of course and faculty - not, absolutely NOT, academic pedigree and papers published on esoteric, theoretic and desk research for the sake of self-aggrandisement/profile raising.'"
The survey was conducted online in December 2011 It was sent to 4,000 corporate client and non-client contacts of Henley Business School. These were a mixture of HR and non-HR senior managers from private and public sector organisations employing in excess of 500 people. There were a mix of Alumni and non-Alumni of Henley Business School in the sample.
A total of 136 responses were received vs. 225 in 2011 and 119 in 2010 of which 73% were from directors, VP's or heads of department and 61% were from non-HR functions. 55% of the respondents were UK, 30% from other European countries, 8% from Asia Pacific and 7% rest of world.
