China is experiencing a serious leadership and managerial shortage, according to the latest Future of Talent Management China Survey.
Conducted by the global consulting firm Mercer, the survey found leadership succession (46 per cent), succession planning (43 per cent), retention (37 per cent), and leadership training and development (27 per cent), the primary talent-related challenges currently facing China's business leaders. Only 13 per cent of organisations polled were 'very confident' of their ability to ensure an adequate pipeline of future leaders.
Miranda Shu, Mercer's Greater China Human Capital business leader, says the lack of confidence stems largely from the scarcity of those with managerial skills, coupled with the ever-increasing demand for those skills.
'As companies have been aggressively investing in China, there has been an unprecedented demand for executives with the right kind of leadership and managerial skills,' explains Shu. 'However, supply of such executives is limited, partly due to the fact that the traditional education system is not set up to train this type of talent, and the required skills need to be accumulated over time,' she adds.
Shu says the drought in leadership and managerial talent is having - and will continue to have - an impact on productivity for at least 20 to 30 years.
'The lack of managerial skills will make it difficult for companies to identify business opportunities as they will not be adept enough to take initiatives and make sound business-decisions based on limited information,' Shu adds.