The Talent Wave: Why Succession Planning Fails and What to do About it

  • 5h 29m
  • David Clutterbuck
  • Kogan Page
  • 2012

Managing the succession of talent is a vital strategic process that minimizes leadership gaps. However, research now shows that 70% of succession plans fail within two years. Traditional succession planning is no longer a viable strategy. In this climate of lack of confidence in leadership potential, David Clutterbuck presents a new a process of dialogue between an organization and its employees. He introduces the idea of "the talent wave," noting that "talent" is dynamic, complex and energetic – and therefore it needs to be harnessed, not controlled. The process of developing talent is, then, a "wave" as opposed to a pool (static) or pipeline (linear).

Clutterbuck covers:

  • Why and how so many of the HR tools and processes, such as nine-box grids and competency frameworks, don't deliver value
  • How to make talent management and succession planning genuinely supportive of diversity objectives
  • The critical conversations organizations and their talented employees need to have - and how to make them happen
  • How to achieve more by controlling less

In The Talent Wave, Clutterbuck offers a dynamic, flexible approach to succession planning. With a foreword by the Harvard Business Review's Thinkers50 most influential leadership thinker, Marshall Goldsmith, Clutterbuck challenges established tenets and encourages solutions which align employee ambitions and business priorities to ensure an organization has the right leadership in place for ongoing success.

About the Author

Dr. David Clutterbuck is one of Europe's most prolific and well known management writers and thinkers. He has written 53 books and hundreds of articles on cutting edge management themes. Co founder of The European Mentoring and Coaching Council, Clutterbuck is a former Practice Lead of and international consulting firm that specializes in helping people in organizations develop the skills to help others. HR Magazine listed him as one of the top 25 most influential thinkers in the field of Human Resources. Dr Clutterbuck is also visiting professor at both Sheffield Hallam University and Oxford Brookes University.

In this Book

  • What's Wrong with Succession Planning?
  • A Systemic Perspective on Succession and Talent
  • What do We Mean by Leadership?
  • The Critical Challenges: What is Talent?
  • Aligning Careers and Business Needs
  • The Critical Challenges: The Maturity Question
  • Pools, Pipelines or Waves?
  • Critical Conversations
  • Conversation 1: The Inner Dialogue
  • Conversation 2: Stakeholder Dialogue
  • Conversation 3: Between the Organization and Employees
  • Conversation 4: Between Social Networks
  • Succession Planning for a Dynamic World
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