On September 19th, Hewitt announced in a press release Europe’s Top Companies for Leaders. Sponsored by global human resources services company Hewitt Associates, in partnership with The RBL Group, a firm dedicated to helping clients increase quality of leadership and deliver the strategic HR agenda, and FORTUNE magazine, the Top Companies for Leaders were selected and ranked by a panel of judges based on criteria including leadership practices, company reputation, leadership culture and values, and business performance.

Europe’s top 10 companies for developing leaders are ranked as follows:

Among the Top Companies, Hewitt found one overarching characteristic that set them apart from the rest – they all make leadership a critical part of the company’s organisational fabric.

Leadership Practices Explicitly Aligned With Business Strategy

European Top Companies focus on leadership practices as a way to drive their future business success, and therefore tie those practices tightly to strategy. Among Top Companies, 80% explicitly align leadership development practices to business strategy, compared with just 32% of other European participants.

True Accountability Reinforces Desired Behaviours and Effective Execution

Mark Hoyal, leader of Hewitt Associates’ European Leadership consulting practice said:

“In this increasingly complex and global market-place, companies must leverage talent and build leadership practices that have consistency throughout the world if they want to be successful.

This requires dedicated focus, passion and commitment to leadership.

Today’s global companies face a number of unrelenting business challenges – including becoming a leaner organisation and growing at double-digit rates while facing intensified competition, tightening demographics and a global business arena. Leaders must have the capacity to lead complex organisations with global scope and scale, demonstrate visionary thinking, hold the highest standards of ethics and understand the business as a whole. Through our research, it is evident that Top Companies ingrain leadership in every aspect of the business – it’s not simply an action item on a ‘to do’ list. This mindset differentiates successful businesses from unsuccessful ones.”

Like most things in life, it is the the intentionality that is important. In the press release, it was noted that these organizations provide coaching and action learning. One of the key enablers of building leadership quality and depth is active involvement from the CEO and Board of Directors. We wholeheartely agree but finding appropriate ways to be involved and collaborative is another story. Accountablity includes a full 360 degree feedback process and must measure exactly and clearly what one is trying to foster.  At 1-Focus International we feel that we have successfully identified and can measure those collaborative leadership behaviours that are needed in our complex global world.