Executives Concerned About Leadership Shortage

How will your company find the leadership talent it needs to retain its competitive edge?

Unfortunately, the search may be more difficult than you realize.

Results from a new study by Deloitte indicate there's both a growing shortage of executive leadership and evolving regional differences in talent needs around the globe. Consequently, organizations are going to have to invest more in talent priorities and initiatives in order to find the appropriate executive leadership required for continued success.

Here are a few key finding from Deloitte's new report, Talent Edge 2020: Redrafting Talent Strategies for the Uneven Recovery:


Leadership development pipelines and programs must be strengthened. About one-third (30 percent) of the executives surveyed ranked developing leaders and succession planning as today's top talent prioritythe highest of any response in the survey. Additionally, 29 percent predicted this specific issue will likely remain the top talent concern over the next three years.


As talent demands expand, expect a growing focus on regional markets. Asia Pacific (APAC) executives said they face urgent needs with significant shortages anticipated in research & development (68 percent), operations (64 percent) and strategy and planning (62 percent). Survey participants in the Americas also reported executive leadership and operations as the main talent gaps (both 56 percent). But, Deloitte found business leaders in the Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA) region are far less concerned about shortfalls in talent.


Corporate talent programs need improvement. Only 17 percent of those polled believe their talent programs are "world-class across the board," and a full 83 percent acknowledge that significant improvements need to be made in their organizations. Not surprisingly, executives that regard their talent efforts as "world-class" are more likely to report by margins of 20 percentage points or morethat their companies are investing in these programs at a "high" level.


Talent priorities continue to evolve. A majority of executives surveyed say performance management (73 percent), talent assessment (72 percent) and high-potential employee development (71 percent) are core talent priorities that will increase over the next 12 months.

"The standout findings from our research are two-fold: the near universal agreement about the existing and potentially growing shortage of executive leadership and the significant regional differences in talent needs around the globe," said Alice Kwan, principal, Deloitte Consulting LLP and talent services leader. "Talent leaders in today's business environment are taking responsibility for their futures by focusing investments and capabilities on rebuilding and developing new talent programs for leaders and critical employees within their organizations."