secure a breadth of perception concerning leadership talent retention. The article identifies
approaehes and difficulties of potential relevanee to many ineumbent school leaders and
assoeiated agencies nationally and internationally responsible for ensuring a continued supply
of leadership talent in their organisations...................
The Retention of Leadership Talent and Succession Management................
In England, a number of possible solutions have been proposed to counteract such leadership
shortages. These have ineluded the trialling of 'fast-tracking' programmes to shorten the time
taken for aspirants to aehieve tiansition to headship, and revisions to the National Professional
Qualifieation for Headship (NPQH) to allow greater focus on personal development needs
leading to an earlier eonfirmation of readiness for headship (see Rhodes, Brundrett & Nevill
2009). In addition, the Departinent for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) and the National
College for School Leadership (NCSL) (which, somewhat eonfusingly has also functioned under
the guise of the National College for the Leadership of Sehool and Children's Services or
NCLSCS) intiodueed a National Succession Planning Programme, with a pilot phase in 2006-
07 and a roll out to all local authorities in 2007 (see Bush, Allen, Glover, Middlewood, Parker and
Smith 2009). A central component of this programme ineludes the encouragement of LAs and
ineumbent sehool leaders to work together to seek loeal solutions aimed at growing the available
leadership talent pool and securing more applications from good-quality candidates (NCSL
2006b). The NCLSCS has identified seven local actions required to ensure effeetive suecession
planning. These are retaining talented leaders, attracting talented leaders, identifying talented
leaders, recruiting and indueting leaders, developing leaders, aeeelerating career progression for
those with good leadership potential, and actions to manage and support the careers of leaders.
In speeifying these actions as 'sueeession planning', there seems to be some overlap in usage
with the term 'talent management', which similarly implies efforts to effectively manage
employee talent (see Lewis and Heekman 2006). The NCLSCS reports its eontinued engagement
with key local authorities so that these authorities may identify and develop new heads for
schools in their area as part of the ongoing eampaign to find, develop and retain high-quality
school leaders (NCLSCS 2009a). Increased awareness of sueeession planning in sehools and
loeal authorities is elaimed as an outcome of the programme (NCLSCS 2009b). Example
collaborations are highlighted on the College website: for example, a case study of five LAs
working together in the north eest of England to help support NPQH graduates to secure
headships, together with a positive report on steps taken to further consolidate relationships
with serving heads in this endeavour (NCLSCS 2010a). Although the details and urgency of
sueeession planning and managing and retaining leadership talent will vary internationally,
the importance of these functions will have resonance in all schools. Understanding how the
retention of leadership talent is effeeted represents an important step in establishing this
presentiy underdeveloped principle in sehool succession planning and talent management................
Sueeession planning is a weU-doeumented approaeh to establishing and retaining a supply of
high-quality leaders for the future known to be prevalent in many eommereial organisations
(Wolfe 1996; MeCall 1998; Hirseh 2000; Byham, Smith & Paese 2003; Rothwell 2005). It involves
the growth of the available leadership talent pool utilising meehanisms to identify leadership
talent, develop future leaders, plan for suecession and retain talented leaders. Berger and Berger
(2004) report measures taken by eompanies to help retain leadership talent that broadly take the
form of 'reward' in terms of financial ineentives, organisational ineentives where staff are given
more opportunity to exereise their leadership skills, and psychological ineentives where there....