Dive Brief:

• Companies that reach the top of various “Best Companies” lists reveal a lot about leadership, managing innovation and developing people, according to an analysis from Development Dimensions International (DDI).
• DDI examined the companies that earn “best” rankings and how they manage their talent differently compared to their non-ranked counterparts -- and what that means for their businesses. 
• The resulting research, “Behind “The Best”: Talent Practices of Top-Ranked Organizations,” asked 1,528 participating HR leaders if their company was included on rankings or lists identifying workforce strength. DDI researchers consolidated responses into three reputational categories: Most Admired, Best Places to Work and Most Innovative. Companies included on the Global 500 list were designated with a distinct metric based on revenue. Companies ranked on each of the lists were then compared with not-ranked companies.

Dive Insight:

The research compares ranked companies on each list with their unranked peers and reveals two sets of talent management practices—one set common across all rankings showing similarity among top-ranked companies and the other unique to specific rankings. Strong leaders managing within constraints and maintaining effectiveness despite unpredictability was one talent practice most likely to be in place across top-ranked companies.

In addition, ranked companies have more than 63% of their leaders promoted from within (versus 59% for unranked companies); a 71% success rate with internal leader promotions (64% for unranked); a 56% success rate with external leader hires (50% for unranked); a 67% success rate for high-potential leaders (55% for unranked); and are able to fill 52% of critical roles with internal candidates (45% for unranked).

“There’s more than ping-pong tables and open workspaces to being named a best-ranked company and we want to pull back the curtain on the leadership secrets to making these lists,” said Evan Sinar, study co-author and DDI Chief Scientist. “With this information, companies can emulate the leadership practices of the most admired companies and by doing so, chart their own course towards becoming top-ranked employers of choice.”