Global Leadership Development with 90% Adoption

Many companies run leadership programmes. Few connect them to succession planning. In this organisation, leadership development programmes were fragmented: regional programmes with no connection to succession maps, no consistent framework, and no measurable outcomes.

The private equity owner had identified leadership bench strength as a key risk ahead of a planned exit. The business was heavily dependent on a small number of senior leaders. If any of them left, there was no clear successor in place. An interim CHRO was engaged to design and implement a global leadership development programme connected directly to succession planning.

The Diagnosis

The interim CHRO reviewed all existing leadership development activity and conducted structured interviews with senior leaders and HR business partners across the organisation. The diagnosis identified four core gaps:

No global framework	Leadership development was managed regionally with no global standards, no common competency framework, and no shared definition of what good leadership looked like in this organisation.
No succession maps	Formal succession planning existed only at the most senior level. Below the executive team, there were no documented successors for critical roles. Key person dependency was high and unmanaged.
No development pathways	High-potential employees were identified informally and inconsistently. There was no structured pathway from high-potential identification to leadership readiness. Development activity was ad hoc and unfunded in most markets.
No measurement	Existing programmes had no defined outcomes and no measurement framework. There was no data on whether leadership development activity was producing better leaders or improving retention of high-potential employees.

The Intervention

The interim CHRO designed a global leadership development framework in consultation with the executive team and board. The framework was built around four interconnected elements.

Leadership competency framework: A global leadership competency framework was developed, defining the behaviours and capabilities expected at each leadership level. The framework was validated with senior leaders across all major markets and translated into the languages of the five largest markets.

Succession mapping: A formal succession planning process was introduced for all roles at manager level and above. Each business unit completed a succession map identifying ready-now and ready-in-12-months successors for every critical role. Gaps were identified and fed directly into development planning.

Leadership development pathway: A structured three-tier development pathway was introduced for emerging leaders, mid-level leaders, and senior leaders. Each tier had a defined curriculum combining formal learning, peer learning, mentoring, and stretch assignments. A central budget was allocated globally, with local delivery managed by HR business partners.

Measurement framework: Clear outcomes were defined for each tier of the programme, including promotion rates, retention rates for programme participants, and 360-degree feedback improvement scores. Progress was reported to the board quarterly.

The Results

Within 12 months, 90% of eligible leaders globally had participated in at least one element of the new programme. Succession coverage – the percentage of critical roles with at least one identified successor – improved from 34% to 78%.

Retention of programme participants was 91% over the 12-month period, compared to a company-wide retention rate of 83%. Internal promotion rates for programme participants were three times higher than the company average.

The private equity owner presented the succession planning data and leadership development metrics to prospective buyers as evidence of organisational resilience and reduced key person dependency. The programme was cited specifically in the information memorandum prepared for the exit process.

By Ingmar Booij | 25.03.26