How to Identify a Talent Retention Problem After a Leadership Departure

According to Brandon Hall Group, 92% of organizations agree that top talent could leave at any minute. Yet, 73% of leaders are not prepared to deal with these changes, Gartner found in a survey.

Stabilizing teams becomes a significant challenge when leaders depart after receiving their annual performance development review cash-outs.

In 2022, I received the dreaded phone call that my supervisor was leaving.

I understood that they did what they felt was best for themselves, their career and their family. At the same time, it made me wonder the same for myself. And that shook me.

What would be my next right step after my leader left?

A year prior, I received a job offer that I turned down because of my relationship with them.

Now that they were leaving, I questioned whether I should leave as well, even though I didn't have a job lined up.

Without a backfill plan in place, we faced a risk of premature internal promotions. With no leader prepared to step in, the interim supervisor would feel pressured to promote someone prematurely, as recent talent reviews revealed a lack of readiness among potential candidates to assume responsibilities of my market.

I also began questioning whether my time would reset with the arrival of this new leader. They would be unfamiliar with my contributions to this market over the past five years. I wondered if their responsibilities would be added to mine, as they transition – which made me wonder if I could handle the increased workload effectively.

This was the topic of discussion at our February virtual leadership forum about how to retain and stabilize teams that are affected by a leader’s departure.

Senior Leaders & HR Partners — including representatives from various industries such as a senior leader from a top consulting firm and a COO from the healthcare space — joined me to discuss this topic and learn solutions that can make their organizations stronger.

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This a threat not only to the work you put in to develop this talent, but to your bottom line, with anticipated costs for recruiting, training and more.

In fact, senior or executive level employees have a disproportionately high turnover cost for companies, of up to 213% of their annual salary, according to the Center for American Progress.

That’s a major chunk of change – and that’s just for the leader, not the people who report to them.

At Element of Change, we believe recognizing these challenges, you and your team can identify areas for improvement in your approach to leadership continuity.

To effectively identify these challenges, follow these steps:

1. Look for signs of a high turnover rate among leaders, such as abrupt departures without another job lined up or leaving within 90 days of a new supervisor taking charge.
2. Assess the difficulty in succession planning, especially if there are concerns about promoting leaders who may be deemed unfit in recent talent reviews.
3. Pay attention to indicators of decreased employee morale and engagement, such as common phrases like “now my clock has to restart” or “now they will expect us to do more with less.”

By recognizing these signs, you and your team can identify areas for improvement in your approach to leadership continuity. You can also implement strategies to foster stability, consistency, and effective leadership transition within your organization.

If you're interested in continuing discussions on topics like this, we invite you to join our next forum on Wednesday, March 27th at 10 a.m. PT / 1 p.m. ET. If you can’t be there live, register to receive the recap following each session.

Brandon Hall Group. (2023, August). Cultural Attributes That Impact Retention In High-Performing Organizations. Retrieved from URL

Gartner. (2023, October). Where HR Will Focus in 2024. Retrieved from URL

Center for American Progress. (2012, November). There Are Significant Business Costs to Replacing Employees. Retrieved from URL