This paper demonstrates the need for leadership development and succession planning within today’s corporations. It argues what method is best for leadership training, and cites examples of several corporations that embrace both leadership development and succession planning.
Leadership Development and Succession Planning:
Essential Elements for Filling Future Management Voids
Leadership development and succession planning are both key elements to filling future management voids. These voids over the next decade are due to the era of baby boomer retirements. As the baby boomers begin to retire, it is estimated that 9.6 million jobs will go unfilled due to a personnel shortfall. Personnel shortages are similar worldwide by most countries involved in the Second World War (Reester, 2008). Companies that have plans in place for leadership development and succession planning will be ahead of the curve in terms of talent, but still not in terms of the amount of positions needing filled. Research shows that few organizations invest in leadership development for the youth of the company, often times resorting to stealing talent from other companies rather than develop from within (Reester, 2008).
Future Outlook
In recent years, a number of articles published warn of the impact brought about by the baby boomer retirement crisis. Millions are expected to retire within years of each other leaving jobs unfilled. This affects both the public sector as well as government agencies. According to Crumpacker and Crumpacker, more than 60 years separate the oldest active workers and those just entering the workforce (2007). Today’s workforce spans four generations: Veteran/Traditionalist, Baby Boomer, Generation X and Generation Y. The generation demographics are shown in table 1.
Table 1: Generation in the Workforce
Generation Birth Period Age Range Size
Veteran/Traditionalist 1929-1945 65-81 63 million
Baby Boomer 1946-1964 46-64 78 million
Generation X 1965-1979...