A guide to the issues companies need to address if succession and talent management initiatives are to deliver results
Succession planning as a critical business function has really come into its own since McKinsey published it’s much quoted paper on the ‘War for Talent’.
Yet, despite its acknowledged importance, succession planning initiatives often fail to deliver results. Why?
Julie Windsor Director of Operations for Cezanne UK & Benelux, comments, “We’ve been working with international companies for over 20 years to implement succession planning software to support talent management processes. We felt it was time to share some of the lessons we’d learnt about what it takes to make succession planning effective.”
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The new report provides an overview of the common ‘missing links’ and gives guidance for those organizations who want to meet the challenges face on and take their talent management and succession planning activities from good to great. It also provides a timely reminder that talent retention is important, even in an economic down turn.
Julie Windsor comments: “It is encouraging that recent research from the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) shows that many businesses strongly believe effective talent management could help them out of recession – and they are in fact spending more time on engaging, motivating, retaining and fully using the skills of their existing workforce. History has shown that talent is always in demand. If companies aren’t demonstrating a real interest in their people, even when jobs are hard to find, the good ones will leave. Effective, clearly communicated career and succession planning is a great way to demonstrate to key employees that you want to help them succeed – and at the same time safeguard the future of your company.”
