Leaders are not confident that their company currently has the right talent and the right leaders in the right places to drive business success.

Findings from an independent survey of 840 senior HR leaders revealed that nearly three-quarters (74 percent) have identified leadership succession and speed of development as the primary internal challenges. The identification of future leaders is crucial to mitigate against the loss of critical talent in the future, something that 73 percent state is the biggest threat to their business over the next 12 months.

The survey commissioned by Lumesse, a global leader in talent solutions, and undertaken by research specialists, Loudhouse, revealed the time-sensitive nature of making changes in the arena of leadership with 90 percent of HR decision-makers reporting that the urgency to identify and develop future leaders is intensifying.

Yet, the fact that only two in five respondents (38 percent) were confident that their company currently has the right talent and the right leaders in the right places to drive business success is a strong indicator that current succession and development processes are unable to guarantee the development of future talent. If businesses are not able to identify future leaders and up-skill them accordingly, they will be unable to effectively deal with top talent attrition in the future.

Stephan Schmitt, CMO, Lumesse said, “Leadership and succession planning is another area in which HR professionals must look to develop an advantage ahead of competitors. Strong and skilled leadership of a business has never been more important. As the global economy recovers from a period of uncertainty, businesses require captains to steer companies to success.”

Schmitt continues, “Businesses need to build a long-term strategy for succession planning to ensure that the right people with the right skills are in the right place at the right time to service and develop the business. If they fail to do this now, they may quickly lose competitive advantage and be less able to adapt to future market changes.”