Deloitte is out with the January 2012 edition of the Talent Edge 2020 project. Here’s the firm’s short summary of their findings. You can download the full report in PDF format here.
“Despite a new wave of uncertainty, many leading companies are pressing forward and reshaping their talent strategies. Many executives foresee leadership shortages in the year ahead and are looking at programs to accelerate leadership development within their companies. At the same time, given the stalled economy, many companies are seeking new sources of growth and are tailoring talent plans to address differing regional needs to support effective talent strategies and business operations.”
The italics are mine. “What,” I wondered, “is ‘accelerated leadership development’?” The report provided this answer.
“… the goal of accelerated leadership development is to create a deep pipeline of potential leaders with capabilities that match each organization’s particular business needs.”
Creating a deep leadership pipeline doesn’t strike me as something you can do quickly. When you do, you court serious dangers, no matter which way you try to accelerate the process.
You can bring in more leaders from outside. The upside could be fresh ideas. The downside is that there’s a longer adjustment period for a leader from outside than if you fill the position from inside. The dangers are higher failure rates and cultural damage.
You can identify more people inside your company that should be considered for promotion to high levels. That won’t happen without more developmental assignments, more coaches and mentors and a greater time investment by those who review potential leaders. You can’t do that without putting strain on the organization.
You can accelerate the development rate of those you’ve already identified as high potentials. Then you risk moving people into positions before they are prepared to handle both the transition and the position.
The development of both individuals and teams takes time. If you push that process too hard, what you wind up with is failure that’s hard to recover from.
