"77% of respondents feel that people in their organization are not growing fast enough to keep up with the business" I have a couple of theories on this issue myself. First, what CLO's are saying is "people in our organization are not growing in the areas WE have identified as being important and therefore WE are not making the goals management has set out for us." Therefore, we need to get rid of the more expensive older workers "not growing fast enough" and bring in cheaper younger workers who can grow.

I find it interesting that during this recession there has been little discussion of WHO is loosing their job...male, professional, middle age. In the US they are calling it a Shession because women are retaining their jobs. One reason might be that the male workers have higher salaries so this is a chance to cut costs without reprecussions. It is also an opportunity to change an organization's culture.

My other theory is that people ARE growing, but there are no accurate assessments (except for the bottom line) to measure where they are growing and matching it with company goals. My own research is showing that the group work and coordination requires new processes and tools that are time consuming and hard to measure. There are also interdepartmental turf wars which means departments don't want the system to change. In the end, old systems and assessment tools are used because it is "more efficient" (read: not as threatening).