Talent Availability Emerges as the Top Threat facing India's Executives

Russell Reynolds Associates a leading global leadership advisory and executive search firm, launches Global Leadership Monitor India 2022, a report that tracks top business issues and analyses the leadership preparedness to face them. The survey found that Indian leaders would be put to the test for the next 12 to 18 months owing to lack of availability of key skills and rapid technology change.

The global firm surveyed 1,590 global executives including 24 leaders from India. A total of 79% of leaders in India cited the availability of talent/skills as the most pressing threat to organizational health over the next 12 to 18 months (from a list of 20 threats), while a further 58% cited technological change.

While 86% of the leaders in India have a high level of confidence in their efforts to prepare for technological changes ahead, only 53% believe they are prepared for the threat of talent availability.

Sachin Rajan, a leadership advisor at Russell Reynolds Associates, said, “Leaders in India are broadly armed to deal with the rapid technological advancements confronting them – the devil tends to be in the pace of execution of change. On the other hand, retaining top talent including next-gen leaders remains problematic - the leadership team’s ability to engage with their leadership and develop clear succession plans is emerging as a key differentiator.”

According to the report, a clear two-third of India Next-Gen and C-suite leaders would move to another employer for the right opportunity. While career advancement was flagged as the top reason, a further un-packing of this reveals more nuance - seeking more connection to a personal sense of purpose and passion, alongside an ongoing quest for expanded responsibility appear to drive this.

Equally, 60% of this cohort would be willing to glad to consider taking on a new role in their current organization, highlighting that the push is not to exit, more to grow and play to purpose.

To help organizations build teams of transformational leaders who can meet today’s challenges and anticipate the digital, economic an political trends that are reshaping the global business environment, Russell Reynolds Associates recommends three top actions to enable leadership retention:

• Developing and Communicating succession strategies early and often
• Adopting robust and Engaging Development plans for employees at every level
• Understanding what’s important to your workforce in order to effectively retain it

Building trust and practicing structured engagement can help organizations provide assured growth to next-generation leadership thus facilitating commitment towards increasingly purpose-driven employee base.

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