In the month since my post about Basic Steps for Effective Succession Planning, global economic issues have continued to ripple onto our shores, as we wrestle with our own economic concerns. Now more than ever, companies need great talent to lead them effectively, and smart leaders are doing all they can (as they did during better times) to ensure that they have a continuous supply of great talent.

In this month’s 60-Second Emailâ„¢, we conclude an earlier post with some remaining steps you need to take for effective succession planning.

When you’re done reading, let us know your thoughts. What makes succession planning work in your organization? What’s done to ensure people have the right skills to succeed, not just now, but in the future too?

Click here, to get started.

Even with the crummy economy and high unemployment, smart leaders are still concerned about the potential loss of great talent from their companies. Whether you’re running a company, division, department, or a team, you need to plan for your future talent needs. And the sooner, the better.

In this month’s 60-Second Email (TM) , we outline the first steps you need to take for effective succession planning.

And when you’re done reading, let us know your thoughts. What else needs to be considered when doing succession planning? Any examples of succession planning done well? Done poorly? We’d like to know, and so would other readers (would we lie to you?!)

Click here, to get started.

A recent survey from OI Partners suggests that many companies are not adequately prepared when it comes to succession planning. And we’re not talking just at the C-level. This includes leaders and managers at other levels as well.

One issue that many companies face is the fact that no one’s in charge or responsible for ensuring the company has enough successors for key positions. For more on this issue, please see this month’s 60-Second Email (TM) .

And when you’re done reading, let us know your thoughts on the matter. Who’s passionate about developing people in your organization? And how do they demonstrate that? What are they doing to ensure your company has enough future leaders and managers?

Click here, and share your examples with other readers.

“If an educated work force is the nation’s human capital, business is seeing a lot of subprime these days.”
- from An Educated Workforce, Wall Street Journal, November 23, 2009

Recently the Wall Street Journal invited top CEOs and policy makers to Washington to discuss critical issues facing the United States. According to John Chambers, Chairman and CEO of Cisco Systems, and a Co-Chair of the assembled task force on Education:

“As we [the CEOs] went through the discussion today, it was a unanimous vote that [education] needs to be the top national priority - way above the economy, health care, energy or the environment.”

Given where the economy is these days, and in light of the recent vociferous debates on health care, energy, and the environment, that’s quite a statement.

But unfortunately, it’s not surprising. In the last couple of years, I for one have heard increasing frustration from employers regarding the quality of talent in the labor pool. In a nutshell, many candidates just aren’t prepared for the demands of work these days.

Now, full stop - the recent recession certainly has provided a sudden and unusual increase in the quantity of qualified talent in the labor pool. But this is a one-time blip up. This won’t last forever. (Let’s hope not. If it does, we’ll have more extensive, systemic problems to deal with).

If we take a long-term nation-wide view of succession planning, what are we doing to ensure that the younger, less experienced talent in the labor pool will ultimately be capable and able to replace the more experienced talent that eventually will retire and leave the workforce?

Can we honestly say that a country can remain, in the long run, an economic superpower if it does not lead in the education of its citizens?

Successful global companies will always invest where the best talent is. To do otherwise, is a losing proposition. This is particularly so today when companies are depending on the capability, drive, and versatility of its leaders, managers, and employees.

Consider your own organization as a microcosm of a nation. How long could it remain viable with second-rate talent? How long would customers tolerate it? And where is it currently getting its next generation of great leaders and managers? From inside? From outside? How successful is it in each? And why?

Human beings have this chronic tendency to deal with the urgent at the expense of what may be less urgent but equally, if not more, important. My major concern is that by the time education becomes an urgent national issue (aren’t we there already?), it will be too late to stem the impact. Change will take generations, and our global economy moves at a much faster pace.

Businesses will continue to vote with their feet, and set up operations in regions with work-ready talent. Those people who are skilled and educated will be the most mobile and sought after. They will go where the jobs are. Those who are under-educated and under-skilled will not be mobile and will be left behind. It will be a knowledge-based meritocracy that will yield serious and dire socio-economic consequences.

I welcome your thoughts on what a forward-thinking nation and its business leaders should do to accelerate the education and capability of its citizens. Join the conversation, and post your comments below.