Fearing a dearth of qualified managers as business gains momentum, some employers are increasing investment in leadership development initiatives. Already, some companies say they are realizing they have a shortage of managers to lead new projects or fill in for outgoing executives, a problem as companies move to shift into a growth phase. Employers reduced their training budgets by 11 percent in both 2009 and 2008, according to Bersin & Associates LLC, a human-resources consultancy. Now about 50 percent of companies intend to spend more on leadership-development strategies in 2010, according to a Bersin poll of 750 corporations carried out in May. Nearly 25 percent plan to spend at least 10 percent more this year. Additionally, 88 percent of roughly 400 human-resources executives said they have recently restructured, or plan to restructure, their leadership-oriented training and development programs, according to a survey conducted this spring by Mercer. Defense contractor Rockwell Collins Inc. is bolstering its leadership-development programs this year, after putting such efforts on hold during the recession. Rockwell started a company university this year, partly to help engineers becoming managers gain leadership skills. By the end of 2010, would-be managers will have to complete certain courses before being promoted. When they begin their new jobs, they will often get paired up with a more senior manager to help them through the transition. Rockwell also now makes managers identify staffers who could succeed them, and let those people participate in training programs. “We don’t have a lot of time,” says Rod Dooley, vice president of talent management and diversity. “We need to have a leadership pipeline in place now.”