The Talent Conundrum Part 3
In composites and advanced engineering, skills are scarce, learning curves are long, and critical knowledge is often held by a small number of highly experienced individuals. Despite this, succession planning remains underdeveloped across much of the sector – particularly in SMEs and high-growth businesses.
This paper argues that succession planning is no longer a discretionary leadership activity or a “nice to have” reserved for large corporations. In talent-scarce, specialist industries, succession planning is a core risk-management and growth strategy.
The cost of losing key technical or leadership talent in composites is disproportionately high. Time-to-competence for many specialist roles can range from 12 to 36 months. In the absence of structured succession planning, organisations face increased operational risk, delayed programmes, loss of tacit knowledge, weakened customer confidence, and reduced attractiveness to investors and future talent.
At the same time, succession planning delivers significant upside. It strengthens retention, accelerates internal mobility, preserves institutional knowledge, builds leadership depth, and signals long-term intent to employees, customers, and stakeholders.
Fluency provides:
