5 Warning signs your leadership pipeline is weaker than you think

I’ve heard this phrase too many times in the context of succession and it's the leadership succession equivalent of ignoring chest pain and hoping it's just indigestion. 

Organisations with sudden leadership crises rarely experience it suddenly. The warning signs are visible months, if not years, in advance but they are overlooked. 

Here are five early indicators of a weak leadership pipeline that I've observed consistently:

1. Promotion Hesitation

When leadership roles open and there are no clear internal candidates, or worse, internal candidates are considered to be not ready.

Pay attention to the language used: "Not strategic enough" often means you haven't created opportunities for them to demonstrate strategic thinking. "Lacks executive presence" quite often translates to "doesn't look or sound like our current executives."

2. Development Drought

High-potential employees receive strong performance reviews but minimal stretch assignments or cross-functional exposure.

High-performers are kept in their areas of expertise because they're too valuable to move. The most dangerous development droughts are disguised as successes.

3. Insular Leadership

Executive teams that rarely interact with middle management, creating knowledge and relationship gaps.

The real test: Can your middle managers articulate the reasoning behind executive decisions, not just the decisions themselves? 

4. Crisis Concentration

When problems come up, they funnel to usual suspects because others lack the capability or authority to resolve them.

Watch out for the "reverse delegation" pattern where decisions initially assigned down the line mysteriously find their way back to the leader. This often happens not because junior leaders are incapable, but because they've learnt that taking risks on decisions leads to criticism rather than coaching.

5. Institutional Memory Loss

Critical knowledge exists only in the heads of a few long-tenured leaders with no systematic transfer mechanisms.

Sometimes the most valuable knowledge isn't technical - it's contextual. Why certain strategies failed in the past, the historical reasons behind key client relationships, the unwritten rules of the organisation's culture. These insights are rarely documented but are critical for leadership effectiveness.

The organisations that are able to grow and thrive don't just fill today's leadership positions, they're already developing leaders for roles that don't exist yet. They recognise that leadership pipeline strength isn't just a HR metric, it's essential for business continuity and growth.

Which one of these warning signs could you relate to? And what are your go-to strategies to respond to them? Do share your views in the comments below.