Succession Planning and the Challenges of Retaining and Attracting Talent

Succession has always been important for organisations and appointing the right leader, with the right skills, at the right time, is fraught with challenges.

We surveyed a cross-section of leaders in South Africa to find out how they were managing leadership succession, and their responses make it clear that novel social and economic developments are impacting succession.

The leaders we surveyed are meeting these challenges head on. Redefining their succession process, creating new structures and pipeline growth, embedding leadership development in their cultures, using empirical data to identify highflyers, and adapting to the changing mindsets of younger leaders.

Alignment

Link to future skills needs

Linking to future leadership skills needs was a consistent approach for aligning succession with an organisation’s strategy.

Identify strategic roles

Once you understand the skills you have and the skills required in the future, then you can start assessing which roles will be required to execute the strategy. 

Use data to assess potential leaders

Internal heads of talent build a “talent profile” by combining leadership assessment data with qualifications, experience, and importantly, personal aspirations. 

Challenges

Willingness to 'stick it out'

Internal candidates with the patience to wait for leadership posts are increasingly in short supply. An increasing challenge with younger generations who are likely to move on if they don’t attain leadership opportunities quickly. 

Pace of transformation

Sector and market transformation is relentless, demanding agility and adaptability. Constant updates and changes to the leadership skills mix.

Lack of trust in the process

Protecting DEI progress

A critical challenge for many organisations when thinking about succession is maintaining leadership team diversity.

Highly politicised roles

In certain sectors, leadership increasingly comes under public scrutiny, deterring some candidates.

Opportunity

To generate employee buy-in and foster a culture of development to provide growth opportunities. A tried and tested method is providing exposure to different business units, sectors, or markets.

• Have honest conversations
• Embed development in the culture
• Identifying leaders, not successors
• Adapting to a competitive market

Future Leadership Requirements

Leaders need to navigate cross-cultural domains, including intergenerational issues. It’s the ability to navigate these spaces and understand different backgrounds.

• Diversified experiences
• Collaboration
• Managing complexity
• Emotional intelligence 

The Business Case for External Talent

• Meeting sector growth
• Diversification of thought
• Benchmarking against the market

Mindset of Younger Leaders and High Potential Talent

• Rapid growth and demand for opportunities
• The opportunity for reverse mentoring
• Purpose driven
• Remote work and leadership development

Advice to Early Career Talent

• Gain broad experience
• Invest in yourself
• Find a mentor

To discover how effective succession planning can benefit your organisation, read the full whitepaper here.

Get in touch. Follow the links below to discover more, or contact our dedicated leadership experts from your local Odgers Berndtson office to discuss your requirements.