Succession Matters: Strengthen your leadership pipeline to shape future business strategy

Abraham Lincoln famously said, “The best way to predict your future is to create it.”

As our research shows, succession management is vitally important to an organization’s sustained success. But, to drive future strategy, you must develop a robust leadership pipeline. We asked tough questions to find out what executives really think about their succession initiatives. Given that only 1 in 3 respondents were satisfied with their talent management programs, it is safe to conclude that there is a lot of room for improvement.

If that doesn’t tell its own story, it is also clear that succession does not go deep or broad enough—only 38% of mid-level managers and 13% of skilled professionals are included in succession programs. Potential is also not being identified accurately or early enough, so leaders aren’t getting the breadth of experiences to help them make the transition.

In producing this report, we didn’t only seek to explore what global executives think about their talent initiatives, we wanted to delve much deeper and put our findings into a real world context. So we spoke to some of our clients, listened to their stories and challenges, to understand the changes they’ve implemented on their journeys.

What we learned from our clients was truly compelling and inspiring. I’d personally like to thank Willis Group Holdings plc, CHS Inc., Bayer AG, and Johnson Controls for offering their insight and playing such a pivotal role in the shaping of this report. I’m sure that you’ll be able to relate to some if not many of the discussion points raised.

Do share your experiences with us and, if we can be of assistance in any way, then please get in touch by emailing clientsupport@kornferry.com.