1

Leadership Development Programs and its

Impacts on Employees Retention

Dr. Tunde Ogidan

Prisci Roca Tipton MBA

Summary of Study

Why Develop the Developers?

Results/Recommendations from the Study

Agenda

Background

Employee turnover rate has imposed a considerable amount of cost on some organizations (Yin-Fah, Foon, Chee-Leong, & Osman, 2010).

Vu (2008) claimed that the indirect and direct cost of turnover is difficult to peg; however, the cost can range from 25% to 200% of the departing employee’s salary.

From Human Resources (HR) perspective, the direct cost may be easier to quantify as opposed to the indirect cost.

Organizations are at a loss financially when new hires leave because leadership was not able

to provide the appropriate initiative to motivate employees to stay.

Why do employees leave?

1. Relationship with boss

2. Bored and unchallenged by the work itself

3. Relationships with co-workers

4. Opportunities to use skills and abilities

5. Contribution of work to the organization’s business goals

6. Autonomy and independence

7. Meaningfulness of job

8. Organization’s financial stability

9. Overall corporate culture

10. Management’s recognition of employee job performance

Top 10 Reasons Employees’ Leave

HR Resources.com

1. No vision

2. No Connection To The Big Picture

3. No Empathy

4. No (Effective) Motivation

5. No Future

6. No Fun

Top 6 Reasons Employees’ Leave

Forbes

What’s going on?

What’s Going On!

The dynamic between leaders and employees sometimes proves

to be difficult and often the relationship can lead to high

turnover rates. These turnovers are costly to the organization and

the corporate world is slowly realizing that good employees are

costly and difficult to replace (Yin-Fah, Foon, Chee-Leong, &

Osman, 2010).

What’s going on?

Studies about developing leaders exists in scholarly journals. However, studies

about the effect of leadership development programs on turnover are sparse. Little

is known about leaders and how they influence employee turnover in the workplace

Questions:

What are the lived experiences, opinions, beliefs, and attitudes of managers

related to leadership development programs on employee turnover?

How, if at all do leadership development programs aid with developing

leadership skills?

What role if any does effective leadership play in employee turnover?

What’s Going On!

Findings?

Findings: Thematic Groupings

Thematic Groups Prevalent

Number of participants to

offer this experience

% of participants to

offer this experience

Perceived Leadership

Attitudes about attended

Leadership Development

Programs

Leading and Leadership Skills 17 85%

Networking and Interaction 14 70%

Financial Acumen 9 45%

Business Acumen 8 40%

Understanding People 8 40%

Team Management 8 40%

Organizational Acumen 5 25%

Communication Skills 2 10%

Theme 1: Perceived Attitudes about attended Leadership Development Programs

Findings: Thematic Groupings

Theme 2: Perceived Impacts of Leadership on Employee Turnover - Positive and Negative

Thematic Groups Prevalent themes

Number of participants to

offer this experience

% of participants to offer

this experience

Perceived Impacts of

Leadership on Employee

Turnover - Positive and

Negative

Motivation 10 50%

Engagement 4 20%

Empowerment 4 20%

Providing Feedback 4 20%

Listening 3 15%

Fostering an Environment of Trust 3 15%

Job Satisfaction 3 15%

Creating Opportunities 2 10%

Understand the business 2 10%

Influence 2 10%

Recognition 2 10%

Respect 2 10%

Career Development 2 10%

Value 2 10%

Findings: Thematic Groupings Theme 3: Effects of Leadership Development Programs on Leadership Development

Thematic Groups Prevalent themes

Number of participants

to offer this experience

% of participants to offer

this experience

Effects of Leadership

Development Programs on

Leadership Development

Team Management 19 95%

Conflict Management 16 80%

Communication 15 75%

Understanding People - strength and weaknesses 13 65%

Building Relationships 11 55%

Personality 9 45%

Emotional Intelligence 6 30%

Leadership Tools 5 25%

Generational Awareness 5 25%

Motivation 5 25%

Cultural Diversity 5 25%

Listening 4 20%

Sensitivity 4 20%

Time Management 2 10%

Findings: Thematic Groupings

Theme 4: General Leadership Perception about the Value of Leadership

Development Programs to the Organization

Thematic Groups Prevalent themes

Number of participants

to offer this experience

% of participants to

offer this experience

General Leadership Perception

about the Value of Leadership

Development Programs to the

Organization

Turnover and retention 12 60%

Leadership skills and concepts 10 50%

Engagement 3 15%

Relationship and interaction 3 15%

Setting the right expectations 2 10%

Performance 2 10%

Motivation 2 10%

Team management 2 10%

Findings: Thematic Groupings

Theme 5: Ways to Reduce or Eliminate Turnover Intentions

Thematic Groups Prevalent themes

Number of participants to

offer this experience

% of participants to

offer this experience

Ways to reduce or eliminate

turnover intentions

Motivating the employees 10 50%

Effective Team Management 8 40%

Listening and caring 8 40%

Engaging the employees 5 25%

Providing valuable feedback 4 20%

Empowering the employees 4 20%

Building Relationships 3 15%

Challenging employees 3 15%

Create an environment of trust 3 15%

Job Satisfaction 3 15%

Create opportunities 2 10%

Recognition 2 10%

Switching gears – Related to education?

Some opportunities exist from leadership development:

Help leaders reduce employee turnover intentions

It increases the skill set and caliber of the leaders,

It enhances the organization’s developmental activities and education, thus

affording the organization a better competitive advantage,

It improves employee retention and reduces turnover rates,

It helps the organization to focus more on other specific strategic needs.

Why Develop the Developers?

Good employees are not easy to find. Retaining good workers with knowledge and skills to

contribute should be kept for the organization’s own benefit

Sometimes, you need to let some employees go. Strong organizations have turnover

Voluntary vs. Involuntary

Back tracking to why we develop developers?

This study is significant because it helps contribute to the growing body of

literature on the relationship of leaders and employees and the impact of

leadership development programs on turnover.

The study further shows that developing leaders through leadership

programs will help to justify the investments in leadership development

programs.

The study helps highlight the important points by scholars that a systematic

set of skills acquired from leadership development programs may improve

synergy between the leaders and employees; thus reducing turnover rate and

turnover intentions.

Results

The current study can be expanded to focus on evaluating the leaders that

have attended the leadership development programs.

The results from this research study can be used by leaders to create and

support the business case for developing leaders.

Another recommendation is using different organizations and population.

A qualitative study with focus on leadership development and employee

retention could be developed to provide for re-focus on organizational or

industry specific skills and acumen.

A recommendation for future research is a qualitative study on the failures

and success of leadership development programs to help organizations and

corporate leaders to focus on deliberate programs that yield good returns

and enhances productivity.

Recommendations

What questions do you have?

Questions

References

Bureau of labor statistics. (2013). Job Openings and Labor Turnover Summary. Retrieved from http://www.bls.gov/news.release/jolts.nr0.htm

Burns, J.M. (1978), Leadership, Harper & Row, New York, NY.

George, J. M., & Jones G. R. (2008). Understanding and managing organizational behavior (5th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson.

Jones, G.R. (2010). Organizational theory, design, and change (6th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.

Neuman, W. L. (2009). Social research methods: Qualitative and quantitative approaches (7th ed.). Boston, MA: Allyn and Bacon.

Ogidan, A. O., Lao, T. M. (2015). A case study on leadership development programs and the impact on employee retention. Leadership &

Organizational Management Journal, 2015(2): 1-18.

Scott, W.R., Davis, G.F. (2007). Organizations and organizing. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.

Vu, U. (2008). What's the real cost of turnover? Canadian HR Reporter, 21(13), 1-1,9. Retrieved from http://www. go2hr.

ca/ForbrEmployers/Retention/StaffTurnover/WhatstheRealCostofTurnover/tabid/1624/Default.aspx

Yin-Fah, B., Foon, Y. S., Chee-Leong, L., & Osman, S. (2010). An exploratory study on turnover intention among private sector employees.

International Journal of Business and Management, 5(8), 57-64.