Webinar Recap: Building Your Leadership Pipeline—Future-Proofing Your Organization

Key Challenges in Succession Planning

RHR addressed widespread pain points in succession planning, including overreliance on outdated tools like the 9-box model, a focus on underperformers, and bias-driven decisions. Panelists emphasized that past performance is not a strong predictor of future potential and advocated for data-driven assessments to reduce subjectivity.

RHR’s Five-Step Framework

RHR employs a five-step framework for building a leadership pipeline:

1. Set the Foundation—define leadership success
2. Identify the Population—cast a wide, inclusive net
3. Assess Objectively—use reliable, fair psychometrics
4. Grow Leadership Capability—focus on leadership scalability over ambiguous “high-potential” labels
5. Evaluate Impact—measure return on investment beyond participation

Leadership Scalability as the New Standard

Instead of traditional high-performance programs that focus on identifying and developing employees who demonstrate a set of tactical abilities and skills presumed to achieve success in senior roles, RHR believes in evaluating leaders’ readiness to scale—meaning their ability to transition from tactical roles to those with enterprise-level impact. This includes navigating complexity, leading without a playbook, shaping culture, and enabling others to perform.

FactSet Case Study

Providing a case study from her own organization, Kate Gawryluk shared FactSet’s journey to modernize succession planning. Historically focused on the executive level, FactSet expanded its lens to build a broader, deeper leadership bench. Their Leadership Advantage Academy (formerly “FactSet 100”) supports 1% of employees annually through a year-long, high-impact development experience. It includes assessments, coaching, peer cohorts, and a capstone summit. Their nomination process ties directly to talent reviews and succession slates.

Measurable Outcomes

What are the outcomes so far? FactSet is already seeing improved enterprise thinking, cross-functional collaboration, and internal mobility. They use multiple data points—including assessments, engagement surveys, and stakeholder feedback—to guide development and inform talent decisions.

Final Thought

The webinar participants summed up by agreeing that strong leadership pipelines don’t just emerge—they must be built with intention, inclusivity, and investment. This session offered a roadmap for organizations to future-proof their talent and unlock long-term competitive advantage.

Let’s Talk

If you missed (or want to replay) our March 25 succession-planning webinar, “Building the Foundation—Developing Your Emerging Leader Pipeline“, you can watch a recording here. 

Register for the next webinar in this series, “Succession Planning for Leaders in Critical Roles,” happening on May 12, 2025, and we’ll respond with a calendar invite and Zoom link details.