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Organizations of all sizes and industries are currently facing a range of leadership development challenges, including decimated mid-management levels that often rob high-potential managers of critical on-the-job experiences, depleted resources for employee development, and a rapidly aging workforce that may create shortfalls of experienced managerial talent for senior leadership positions ([53] Rothwell, 2002). The widespread flattening of organizational structures and significant changes in work arrangements force executives and management development professionals to rethink how high potential managers attain the requisite developmental experiences for senior leadership. Furthermore, US workforce statistics suggest that succession planning poses an incredible challenge as the baby boomer generation retires and far fewer college-educated workers are prepared to replace them. In addition, a recent Journal of Management Development article ([35] Kilian et al. , 2005) articulated the specific career advancement challenges that women and people of color often face in corporate environments, including a lack of mentors and personal networks, stereotyping, and a lack of visible and/or challenging assignments.
However, research evidence suggests that many highly successful companies overcome these and other challenges by marrying the leadership development and succession planning processes for optimal identification, development, and placement of leadership talent ([14] Conger and Fulmer, 2003). Eli Lilly, Dow Chemical, Bank of America, and Sonoco Products are examples of firms that avoid the near-sighted replacement approach to succession planning and adopt a long-term perspective for developing and managing talent throughout their organizations. Indeed, [39] Kur and Bunning's (2002) recent review of succession planning and leadership development practices argued that "corporate leadership development can no longer simply rely on planning the replacement of existing leaders" (p. 761) and that organizations must focus on developing the leadership function rather than individual leaders. Unfortunately, many organizations confuse effective talent management with replacement planning, which is focused narrowly on identifying specific back-up candidates for given senior management positions and essentially functions as a forecast ([33] Kesler, 2002). Conversely, highly successful organizations focus on creating a comprehensive set of assessment and development practices that support the entire pipeline of talent across the organization ([11] Charan et al. , 2001).
There is also growing evidence that organizations are increasingly engaging managerial personnel in the leadership development process, and that managers add unique value to building the leadership pipeline...