Why the Leadership Pipeline is Dry

Replacement planning is still the norm in organizations, but it doesn’t address the future leadership issues these companies face.

To keep the leadership pipeline flowing, people need to work at the right level.  However, this cannot be determined until skills, time applications and work values for each level are clearly communicated and assessed.

Yet, some 77.5 million Baby Boomers will begin exiting the workforce at an accelerating pace over the next five years.  Over 15 years, workplaces will shift to a new generation of leaders.  This poses a profound management problem....as Generation X succeeds the Boomer Generation.

Gen X managers have been poorly mentored by their organizations to assume the responsibilities they will inherit.  The boomers have not been good about sharing their knowledge and experience; Gen X has not been good about tapping into it. 

The starting point to fill the leadership pipeline is understanding the natural hierarchy of work that exists in most organizations.  At many companies today, personal success doesn't have to mean moving up the management ladder.

There was a time when anyone who wanted a better job title and the money that came with it had to go the management route.  These days, though, many large companies have formal--or informal--career paths for so-called individual contributors who want to advance by continuing to improve their skills rather than by managing others.  It's a way for companies to reward and retain star performers.

"Individual-contributor roles are just more and more prevalent and more and more valued by companies," says Laura Sejen, global director for strategic rewards consulting based in New York for consulting firm Watson Wyatt Worldwide Inc.  "You're not going to be fighting tooth and nail to get the recognition that's comparable" to managers.

That's why most star performers are not making the decision to be a leader! 

To survive and prosper, companies must change their corporate culture to grow future leaders through encouraging star performers to develop their skills in managing others.  There are three painful realities about moving from service and governance roles to a leadership role:

1.  No one will tell you to do it.

2.  There will always be people who tell you to stick to the role you are now playing. 

3.  You have to earn the right to play a leadership role, often by succeeding in your current role first--which in turn only increases the expectation that you will keep playing that role.

For those professionals who prefer to advance without having to go into management, here are some tactics to put into play:

Bolster your reputation by publishing articles.

Research your compensation relative to the market.

Find examples of praise in past performance reviews.

Make a list of your accomplishments.

Explain how your future contributions will help the bottom line in a 30-second 'elevator speech.'

Source: reporting in The Wall Street Journal