December 2006

Nearly half of U.S. employers plan to spend more time and money on supervisory and executive-level development next year, according to a survey of more than 2,046 senior HR executives by Novations Group, a global consulting organization based in Boston.

Supervisory/management skills and leadership/executive development ranked first and second among 11 categories of training. Other areas where training will be stepped up include sales/customer service and technical training related to a particular industry.

With respect to T&D spending and staff priorities for next year, how much will your organization budget for each of the following kinds of learning content?

"We expect T&D budgets to remain relatively stable, but we always track subtle year-to-year shifts in priorities," said Novations CEO and President Mike Hyter. "Greater focus on building management skills and bench strength has been a trend for at least three years. And it tells us organizations are worried about senior-level turnover and the loss of retirement-ready baby boomers."

Among other trends Hyter expects to see in 2007:

• Blended learning solutions will continue to play a larger role in the T&D mix.
• Employers will increasingly create alliances with training organizations in order to leverage resources more effectively. External trainers will be asked to develop specific competencies, while core needs will be met in-house.
• There will be growing pressure to calculate the value of T&D initiatives, particularly in diversity and inclusion.
• Generational issues will draw more attention as organizations address the gap between baby boomers and their replacements. Accordingly, succession planning will rise to the top of the T&D agenda.
• Organizations will expand talent management efforts that look at an employee’s entire life cycle in an integrated way.

The Novations Group Internet survey of 2,046 senior HR and development executives was conducted in November and December 2006 by Equation Research.

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