Why there is absolutely no one in your company to replace the current leaders

Sustainable companies invest a lot of money and effort in leadership development programs. So much so that HR and L&D leaders don't see the topic as relevant. According to the study “How did the learning and development function survive the covid-19 'Era'? A look from the inside ”*, the relevance of the topic in the eyes of HR directors and L&D managers (determines and develops the potential of employees) decreased by 9.9% and 6.8%. According to top managers, the relevance of the development of leaders, on the contrary, increased by 21.8%.

On the one hand, managers want employees to take on the role of leaders. On the other hand, growing and promoting strong subordinates is not always a priority for them. Managers often do not devote enough time to it, but sometimes they simply “merge”. The most frequent explanations on their part are “there is no time, the turnover is getting stuck”, “there are no intelligent people, there is no one to count on”. Or a more cunning version of “yes, I have a couple of smart, potential employees, but they still have to grow and grow.”

The main reason is the high level of anxiety. There are a lot of reasons for her lately. Managers often fear for themselves and their position in the company: they do not want to make a competitor out of an intelligent but necessary assistant. In actively growing companies, this behavior may not be very noticeable (for example, in IT development, e-commerce, online services, banking or pharma), but in stable businesses or those experiencing difficulties and increasing efficiency, the problem is more acute.

Unfortunately, this attitude of leaders towards the development of successors has been observed everywhere and for a long time. We often faced and still face requests from top management - we need to conduct a staff assessment, identify potential employees, but the assessment should be independent of the opinion of their immediate supervisor.