Top Leadership Succession Strategies to Prepare Your Plant's Next-Gen Talent

Baby boomers have left a footprint on every industry since they joined the workforce five decades ago. In leadership roles, they have set the organization’s vision, established the company’s culture and built the business’s reputation. Each day, more than 10,000 baby boomers turn 65 years old, and this trend will continue until 2029, according to Pew Research. As boomers reach retirement age, younger leaders who step into their positions will be challenged to maintain the quality of the brand, products or services. 

Retirement isn’t the only reason why companies lose leaders. Although many CEOs plan to leave, there are those who exit the company due to an emergency or illness, a merger or acquisition, board dismissal or resignation. Between 10 to 15 per cent of corporations across all industries appoint a new CEO each year. In the industrial manufacturing environment in the United States and Canada, that number is even higher at 15.5 per cent, according to PWC’s Strategy& group and its Strategy+Business magazine. In the 2016 version of its annual study on CEOs, governance and success, Strategy+Business reported that 2.1 per cent of CEOs in the United States and Canada were forced out of their positions (one per cent of CEOs in industrial manufacturing), and 3.4 per cent left due to a merger/acquisition (3.1 per cent of CEOs in industrial manufacturing).

With a strong succession plan and a talent pipeline in place, the organization can avoid gaps in leadership, reduce costs associated with finding a replacement and nullify any lost confidence in the company by employees, shareholders and the market.