New Research on Creating a Sustainable Leadership Pipeline

BOSTON, MA--(Marketwire - August 10, 2010) -   Aberdeen Group, a Harte-Hanks Company (NYSE: HHS) has just published a new study looking at how organizations are preparing themselves to meet future leadership challenges. The study for the Succession Management: Sustainable Leadership for the Future report found that top performing companies are retaining 18% more of their high potential employees, and were actually improving engagement among this critical population by 9% year-over-year. The study also found that succession planning is increasing in importance in organizations today. Aberdeen research from 2008 found that 53% of companies had some sort of succession strategy in place, whether formal or informal. In 2010 that number has increased to 75%.

Companies that achieved top performance in succession planning also did better from a pure business standpoint. These top-performers were able to achieve a 9% year-over-year reduction in cost to fill key leadership positions as well as a 9% annual improvement in revenue per full time equivalent. Meanwhile, the average company experienced no change in revenue per employee, and actually increased the cost to fill key leadership positions by 2%. "Organizations today understand that succession and leadership development isn't just about having a high potential learning program in place," said Mollie Lombardi, Senior Research Analyst for Human Capital Management and co-author of the study. "It's about sustaining performance and setting the stage for future growth."

Succession management success is also about having the right mindset, and providing leaders with the tools and the responsibility for developing a sustainable pool of future leaders. "Sustainability refers to the capacity to endure," said Justin Bourke, Research Associate for Human Capital Management and the study's co-author. "In a business environment, achieving this is done through careful and responsible management of talent resources, as well an organizational mindset that doesn't sacrifice long-term vision for short-term gains."

Aberdeen's report provides more detail about how organizations are going about identifying and developing future talent, and building a sustainable leadership pipeline. Complimentary access to this report is available for a limited time due in part by the following underwriters: SAP and Taleo. To obtain a complimentary copy of the report, visit http://www.aberdeen.com/link/sponsor.asp?spid=30410182&cid=6514&camp=2, or compare your organization against the top performers with Aberdeen's free online assessment tool at assessment.aberdeen.com/XgGMeZupun/index.aspx.

Visit Research.Aberdeen.com for additional access to complimentary Human Capital Management Research.

About Aberdeen Group, a Harte-Hanks Company

Aberdeen provides fact-based research and market intelligence that delivers demonstrable results. Having queried more than 30,000 companies in the past two years, Aberdeen is positioned to educate users to action: driving market awareness, creating demand, enabling sales, and delivering meaningful return-on-investment analysis. As the trusted advisor to the global technology markets, corporations turn to Aberdeen for insights that drive decisions.

As a Harte-Hanks Company, Aberdeen plays a key role of putting content in context for the global direct and targeted marketing company. Aberdeen's analytical and independent view of the "customer optimization" process of Harte-Hanks (Information - Opportunity - Insight - Engagement - Interaction) extends the client value and accentuates the strategic role Harte-Hanks brings to the market. For additional information, visit Aberdeen or call (617) 854-5200, or to learn more about Harte-Hanks, call (800) 456-9748.

© 2010 Aberdeen Group, Inc., a Harte-Hanks Company
 451 D Street, Suite 710
 Boston, Massachusetts 02210-1928
 Telephone: (617) 854-5200
 Fax: (617) 723-7897
 www.aberdeen.com