Most succession plans at major corporations are failures, at least according to the senior executives who closely examine such plans.
Korn Ferry surveyed senior managers and leaders at a wide range of organizations on the topic. The word from the field was pretty clear: 64 percent indicated varying degrees of unhappiness with the succession strategy in place where they work.
Meantime, 77 percent said their company did not have a "ready now" pipeline of talented professionals to move up the pipeline as needed.
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Could it be because the plans are so poorly designed that most up-and-comers don't see a way up for them? That gems are being buried in the trenches instead of being burnished to shine at the top?
Yes, Korn Ferry said.
"Succession management programs often fail because they're static," said RJ Heckman, president of Korn Ferry's Leadership and Talent Consulting business. "Programs must look beyond a snapshot in time of current talent and business needs to create an ongoing, systemic, yet agile succession management approach."
For example, 78 percent of the companies represented have formal succession plans only for positions of vice president and above.
"There's significant risk when succession management programs don't go deep enough into an organization," said Jim Peters, Korn Ferry lead for Global Succession Management. "I often say to CEOs: 'There are several potential CEOs within your organization: you and many others at different levels in the leadership pipeline, with one being an individual contributor in Mumbai. Do you know who she is? And if you know who she is, what would you do to ensure that she would have the skills and capabilities to lead the enterprise 15 or 20 years from now?'"
The result of such a program, Korn Ferry found, is a pool of unhappy workers who are fixated on jumping ship rather than rising to the helm. Yet less than half of those surveyed said their company is aware of this potential talent drain and is doing something to address it.
"The ideal mix of build vs. buy does depend on an organization's business strategy and its maturity," said Stu Crandell, Korn Ferry senior vice president of global offerings. "For example, a startup company may have to rely more on buying talent. But no matter the strategy, when companies are over-reliant on external hires, it probably indicates a lack of self confidence in the succession management process and the fact that the program doesn't go deep enough."
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Dan Cook
Dan Cook is a journalist and communications consultant based in Portland, OR. During his journalism career he has been a reporter and editor for a variety of media companies, including American Lawyer Media, BusinessWeek, Newhouse Newspapers, Knight-Ridder, Time Inc., and Reuters. He specializes in health care and insurance related coverage for BenefitsPRO.
