Member Article

Develop your senior talent before it's too late

Mark Hodgson, Talent Management practice leader at Right Management, explains why businesses must develop senior talent in order to build a strong leadership pipeline.

The issue of talent shortages has blighted businesses for many years but the war for talent at the top is becoming increasingly problematic.

According to Right Management research, only 15% of HR professionals in the UK think that their organisation has an adequate senior leadership pipeline. Businesses may be feeling more confident about their prospects for growth and yet it’s unclear exactly who is going to take them on that journey.

In fact, a recent study from Right Management has found that business leaders are only receiving development and training after they have been put into leadership roles; and by doing this, companies are starting behind the eight ball. Organisations need to put in place training and development the minute their potential leaders walk in the door. The first step is to identify who your key talent are and how they can support your organisation’s strategic objectives:

Who are the high potentials?

High potential leaders are employees who could perform successfully in leadership roles that are one to two levels above their current positions, ideally over the next two to five years. Identifying them is not a simple task however; our research found that a fifth of HR Directors in the UK felt that a lack of high potential leaders in the organisation was their greatest challenge in 2013.

Less than 20% of your high performing managers are likely to be high potential leaders so ensuring that organisations select the right people for the development programmes is critical. This involves considering various factors beyond their day to day work including career drive, mindset, intelligence and their ability to be flexible when it comes to work.

Where is your business going?

You also need to consider your business agenda. You can’t begin to build an effective talent pipeline without first taking time out to establish the roles that are most important to your business now, and which ones will prove vital in the coming years. Don’t focus all your energy on the CEO; other senior roles should be given equal attention in terms of nurturing key talent and building a talent pipeline as their roles will also prove vital to achieving your organisation’s long-term goal.

It’s worrying to see how few organisations are selecting and developing high potential leaders early on, especially when leadership development is not an easy task and hiring ‘ready’ leaders can take months, even years. It’s crucial that professional development starts taking place early on in people’s careers in order to have confident and capable leaders. Without this, progress for both your employees and your organisation is likely to stall.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Right Management .