A pattern common to declining organizations is that experienced and senior people who serve as good mentors to the up-and-coming talent exit the organization. Sometimes it’s because of downsizing and restructuring, sometimes these critical people simply have had enough and choose to work elsewhere, or retire earlier than they might otherwise have. Whatever the reason, you look around and “suddenly” there is a dearth of experienced mentors actively working in the organization.
This has a natural tendency to create a weaker set of leaders in the coming years. Leaders are brought in from the ‘outside’ because there are fewer qualified leaders in the internal pipeline.
Yes, I’m oversimplifying. There are many factors involved here. It’s necessary and right for organizations to bring in different leaders when a big change is needed.
Yet I’m confident that a leading indicator of organizational health for the next decade is the size and quality of your experienced mentoring class.
