Human Resources: Fortune 500 Companies Link Leadership Development to Success

SAN FRANCISCO - Dec. 15, 2005 - Ninth House, Inc., the leadership development company, today announced the findings of its comprehensive 2006 Leadership Development Practices of Top-Performing Organizations study, evaluating the power of leadership development programs in Fortune 500 companies. The study quantified the effects that leadership development has on improving managerial effectiveness in a wide range of dynamic and highly competitive business environments.

According to the survey, organizations committed to improving the real-time leadership skills of their management ranks believe that the following attributes are the cornerstones of successful leadership development programs:

Active Leadership Development: 70 percent of respondents link leadership development efforts to business success.
Top Management Involvement: 85 percent of respondents believe executive management commitment is essential to developing leaders and 85 percent of respondent companies require senior executives to be actively involved in leadership development.
Curriculum Variety: 85 percent of high-performing organizations incorporate not just one but a variety of learning platforms, including e-learning, classroom training, experiential training, and blended programs.
Defined Programs and Guidelines: 100 percent of high-performing organizations responding to the survey use a defined set of leadership competencies to guide development efforts. In addition, 90 percent of these organizations have specific programs to identify and develop high-potential leaders and integrate these programs with performance management and succession planning. Furthermore, 85 percent actively track the turnover of high-potential leaders.

"Companies continue to face the challenges associated with increasing revenues, company performance and business results while simultaneously balancing the organizational effects of outsourcing, downsizing and geographically dispersed employees," said Jeff Snipes, Ninth House CEO. "Cracking the code on developing effective leadership has the potential of conferring incredible advantages, both competitive and organizational, for today´s winning companies. We initiated the research project to help provide companies with direction and guidance with respect to growing their leaders."

The study looked closely at how organizations in highly competitive industries develop leaders to achieve continued business results, proving that leadership development yields higher performing organizations through improving leader effectiveness. In addition to the above, the survey showed the following concerning leadership development at today´s high-performing organizations:

Action Orientation: 33 percent of survey respondents identified experiential learning and action learning as key components to leadership curriculum.
Executive Coaches: 95 percent of respondent companies use external executive coaches to enhance their programs.
Rotational Assignments: 45 percent of high-performing organizations have specific programs to rotate assignments of high-potential leaders to ensure a broad base of leadership skills.
Quantitative Measurement: 55 percent of these organizations have programs to objectively measure leadership effectiveness and 40 percent tie these measurements to leadership development programs in order to find ways to improve their existing programs.

The complete study is available at www.ninthhouse.com.

About Ninth House

Ninth House helps organizations develop current and future leaders by providing the most effective and engaging leadership development available today. The Ninth House ® approach combines the community and interaction of the classroom with the reach and affordability of online learning to deliver the teachings of the world´s foremost business thinkers across the organization. The Ninth House faculty includes industry luminaries like Ken Blanchard, Tom Peters and Peter Senge. This innovative, blended approach results in 75-95 percent course completion rates at industry leading client organizations such as British Telecommunications, Wachovia Corporation, JP Morgan Chase, CNA Insurance, the U.S. Navy, and the U.S. Department of Justice. Ninth House is headquartered in San Francisco, Calif. For more information, please visit the Ninth House website at: www.ninthhouse.com, or call: 415-277-8200.