A recent finding showed that 60% of the respondents of a poll of 1,380 HR Directors of large U.S. companies said that their firms do not have a CEO succession plan in place! This goes to show that too many organizations are not focusing on building their future leaders. Instead, they are primarily concerned with meeting or exceeding their goals and not looking into the future. When the time comes for a new CEO, many of these companies are seeking applicants outside of their firm. With careful planning and a good mentoring program in place, your company does not need to seek future leaders outside of your firm. Company performance is sure to exceed when opportunities are given to your employees. These are the types of benefits that employees want to see. It gives individuals the ambition to work harder knowing that if they do, they can have an opportunity to become a future leader. Instead of reaching out of the box, prepare the package at hand and reach inside of the box.
Does your company have a succession plan in place? If yes, is mentoring a component and if yes, how is your program doing? We welcome comments from readers.