Coaching and mentoring are being adopted in place of expensive MBAs by the financial services sector, a new report by business psychologists, OPP Ltd finds.
100 senior officers and HR directors from the sector took part in the survey. Responses show that businesses are choosing to nurture top performers through their own development schemes rather than opting for more traditional routes including MBAs.
34% of respondents preferred tailored executive coaching over alternative developmental methods. While 30% of businesses elected to use mentoring as their favoured technique for developing leadership and professional skills.
Managers differed in their opinions on the importance of ongoing development and training for senior employees.
Most senior staff rejected the idea that further training would be beneficial to them considering experience to be the best means of development and ongoing learning.
Perceptions differed however between senior and junior staff. 31% of front office staff felt that ongoing development would be beneficial to senior management and the board.
Commenting on the findings, Nathan Hobbs of OPP said: “The best leadership development programmes incorporate work-based challenges, coaching and mentoring, alongside more traditional training and development.”
