News: Performance Management
Leadership skills training 'would fill sudden management gap'
26 September 2008
Too few firms implement leadership skills training that would prepare them for the sudden loss of a senior manager, research suggests.
According to the Institute for Corporate Productivity (i4cp), formerly known as the Human Resource Institute, small and medium-sized enterprises in particular tend to neglect effective succession planning.
Two-thirds of companies polled for the 'Taking the Pulse: Succession Planning' survey admitted being unprepared to fill a suddenly vacated leadership position, while a third said they had identified an interim successor should their chief executive suddenly depart.
Just under half revealed that they conduct regular appraisals and "talent reviews" to gauge the leadership potential of employees who may be considered for a management position at short notice.
"Having the right people prepared to fill key positions is an essential business strategy in this time of fierce competition for talent," remarked i4cp executive-in-residence Jim Thomas.
Out of the organisations polled which have more than 10,000 employees, 66 per cent proved either prepared or "very prepared" to immediately fill a vacant leadership role.
