Attempts by British companies to improve leadership are failing, according to research by business leadership consultancy DDI and the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development.

The report found that less than half (44%) of UK executives thought other leaders in their organisation were either ‘very good' or ‘excellent' and just 42% were happy with what their company offered in terms of leadership programmes.

The research concluded that the blame for poor leadership development was due to organisations failing to hold senior management accountable for leadership development, with almost half of those polled (48%) admitting this was the case.

Other problems were the failure of organisations to measure the results of leadership development and failing to learn from mistakes (21%) and a lack of consistency in the way programmes were deployed across locations (23%).

"Identifying the future senior leaders and putting in place an effective programme to develop them is essential for the long term health of any organisation," said Steve Newhall, European vice president at DDI. "This is the first stage.

"Effective measurement and accountability will then ensure programmers deliver the promised results. In the UK, the message seems to be that the effort is there, but we are not yet reaping the rewards."

The survey revealed that putting high potential staff on leadership development programmes benefited from a higher level of job satisfaction from those employees, with 66% compared to 34% on regular leadership development programmes.

"A lot of effort is going into developing leaders, and a lot is going right," said Vanessa Robinson, organisation and resourcing adviser at the CIPD. "But this report shows that when it comes to delivering outcomes from leadership development, UK organisations could do better."