Improving the talent pipeline for leaders in Plan – an international children’s charity

Newsletter articles

1 Jul 2011

HR Insight Issue 13

Wendy Hirsh, IES Principal Associate

Wendy HirshPlan is one of the oldest and largest children’s development organisations in the world, working with nearly forty thousand communities in 48 developing countries across Africa, Asia and the Americas to promote child rights and lift millions of children out of poverty. It has its international headquarters in Woking and has fundraising organisations in many developed nations.

IES is helping Plan to address its succession and talent management challenges worldwide. Each of the countries in which Plan operates requires a Country Director to lead its programme of work, with the Country Management Team. These are very demanding general management roles and difficult to to fill when they fall vacant. Strong talent pipelines are also required for Regional Directors and a range of corporate leadership roles, functional management positions and development specialists. In the first stage of this work Wendy Hirsh and Peter Reilly have interviewed a sample of leaders in Plan to gain a clear understanding of:

  • where they need to focus their succession and talent management efforts;
  • how the strategy of the organisation and the changing economic and political context are affecting the skill needs of their leaders;
  • and how staff with leadership or specialist potential should be developed.

IES will shortly be facilitating a workshop at which more detailed proposals for implementing talent management will be produced with some of the key players in the organisation.

Contact wendy.hirsh@employment-studies.co.uk for more information on succession and talent management.