Recently, I had the honor of being
featured on CorpMagazine.com in their Executives & Entrepreneurs Expert
Advice section with a guest piece, “Why C-Suite Succession Planning is Crucial for Success.” The premise of the article and one of the key takeaways is
this:

Interestingly, as the economy improves, CEO
turnover increases. According to a Bloomberg report, U.S. companies hired new
chief executive officers in 2011 at the quickest pace since 2005 as directors
sought growth after putting off management changes while riding out the
recession. Many reports from the first quarter of 2012 are showing that turnover is continuing
to rise. But we aren’t just talking about the forced turnovers of the top
position. 

No indeed. Since writing the article, Booz & Company
released its 12th annual CEO Succession Study which analyses the world’s 2,500
largest companies. The study found that the world average turnover rate was
14.2%, a significant increase on 2010 when the average turnover was just 11.6%.
But here’s where the interesting shift is. The Financial Times reported this
from the study:

“… the figures still show that such forced departures –
55 of them – set a fresh low for the 11 years that Booz & Company has been
tracking CEO turnover. Planned change at the top accounted for more than
two-thirds of the moves and is at its highest level over the same period, the
consultancy says.

Gary Neilson, Booz senior partner and co-author of the
study, says the shift towards a greater degree of planning reflects improved
corporate governance practices, including the increasing tendency to separate
the roles of chairman and chief executive.

So
succession planning (at the executive level anyway) is getting some focus here.
But these statistics reflect the goings on at the world’s largest organizations, not the millions of other companies
that are in existence. We are still seeing a remarkable number of organizations
that are wholly unprepared for leadership turnover of any kind, including the critical positions held by the highly sought-after
human capital in the C-suite.

I have seen firsthand the headache and
heartache that comes from being unprepared for leadership turnover and I
encourage anyone with a stake in an organization and mindfulness for future
success to take a thoughtful look at that piece of the business. A succession
plan is the cornerstone of long-term viability and prosperity.

Is succession planning a human capital
strategy at your organization? Is the plan only to promote from within, because
that may be a mistake? Is there a secondary plan and one for at the manager
level? Succession strategy is a business function that is growing increasingly
important as turnover increases at all levels of the organization. 

Cindy Lubitz is Managing Director of inTalent Consulting
Group