High-performing companies are integrating succession into business strategy and extending talent pipelines well beyond the C-suite, according to new research.
By Gillian Manning
Infrastructure alone isn’t enough for successful succession outcomes, according to The New Rules of Succession Management: A Blueprint for Future-Ready Organizations—a new study from the HR research firm i4cp.
While succession planning remains a priority for organizations worldwide, a new global survey of nearly 800 business and HR leaders reveals a widespread gap in leadership depth. Of the surveyed 759 business and HR leaders, just 40% report that their organizations are effective at building sufficient bench strength for critical roles.
The study emphasizes that simply running talent reviews, holding readiness discussions, or establishing leadership programs does not guarantee succession readiness. When organizations lack sufficient bench strength, critical roles become vulnerable points of failure that put strategic execution and long-term growth at risk.
Conversely, companies effective at building bench strength are 2.5 times more likely to be high-performance organizations and nearly seven times as likely to report successful succession outcomes.
“One of the study’s most striking findings is that effort and infrastructure alone do not create bench strength,” says Tom Stone, senior research analyst at i4cp. “Organizations may have talent reviews, leadership programs, and succession templates in place, but the stronger systems connect that work to strategy, build leadership depth across critical roles, and keep readiness current as business needs change.”
i4cp also found that:
- 18% of respondents say succession planning is highly integrated with enterprise business planning;
- 14% report strong integration with strategic workforce planning;
- high-performing companies are 2.5 times more likely to involve mid-level managers, eight times as likely to cover entry-level and frontline supervisors, and twice as likely to include critical non-managerial roles in succession planning; and
- despite rapid adoption, just 16% of respondents say their organizations place a high emphasis on assessing leadership candidates’ willingness to experiment with and use AI capabilities.
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