How a company’s success is measured depends on where you are in that organization, according to a new report surveying 220+ management-level leaders by The Predictive Index.

The survey suggests that success looks dramatically different in 2024 compared to five years ago.

Of those surveyed, 86 percent of survey respondents say their views of what makes a successful people leader have changed in the last five years, but their organization’s views of success have not caught up.

The new report highlights the difference in industry perceptions and individual leader perspectives on what makes a successful leader, including insight into five areas of misalignment causing friction:

• Undefined roles and responsibilities: More than one-quarter of organizations (26 percent) surveyed do not clearly define roles and responsibilities for people leaders today.
• Insufficient training opportunities: Nearly one in four survey respondents (23 percent) say their organizations view insufficient training as one of the most significant challenges impeding people leaders’ success.
• Undefined success metrics: Nearly one-third of organizations (30 percent) surveyed do not have a formal method to measure the success of people leaders.
• Poor work-life balance: Only 10 percent of organizations surveyed prioritize promoting healthy work-life balance as a key criterion for successful people leadership.
• Misaligned goal tracking: People leaders are 50 percent less likely than organizations to say their teams are “always hitting their goals.”

“People want to be good at what they do, but employees can become disengaged for a number of reasons,” said Will Otto, VP of Talent Optimization at The Predictive Index, the data-driven HR platform to hire top performers, develop effective managers, and retain your people.

“Maybe they’ve been sent the message, either implicitly or explicitly, that their work is not important to the organization’s strategic goals, or maybe they’re unclear about what it takes to reach the next stage in their career. Creating a framework that supports roles and responsibilities or defines what success looks like brings greater alignment to your company mission and a greater understanding of future advancement opportunities.”

The online survey report was conducted in partnership between HR Dive’s studioID and The Predictive Index from March 25 to April 3, 2024. Respondents come from various industries, including Financial Services/Real Estate/Insurance, Technology/Software, Healthcare, and Education and all participants work for organizations with 100 to 999 employees.