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British businesses failing to plan for leadership succession

Written by Elizabeth Smythe | 18/06/13 09:35

A new report has revealed that almost half of British businesses are not taking sufficient measures to develop a leadership pipeline, hrmagazine.co.uk reports.

Forty-eight per cent of managers believe that their organisation is not doing enough to create the next generation of leaders, according to a study carried out by Ashridge Business School.

The responses of the 1,100 managers polled highlights the importance of leadership development, in order that a company can continue to operate and grow in the future, maintaining competitive edge.

Study co-author, Vicki Holton "Talent management programmes and succession planning are essential. Without investment in developing the skills and experience of younger managers it is hard to see how such organisations will continue to be successful.

"Businesses are at risk of holding back economic recovery by failing to do enough to develop the next generation of leaders."

Other 'shortfalls' identified include a lack of communication between leadership and the workforce, with just 49 per cent claiming that their leaders 'spent enough time communicating with staff'. Only 52 per cent said that their leaders communicated clearly, suggesting that this is another issue that should be broached in training programmes.

That said, 84 per cent of the managers did say that their organisation was well placed to 'survive and thrive' in the post-recession period, freshbusinessthinking.com writes.