i4cp

Boston – September 15, 2026 -- Just 40% of organizations say they are effective at building sufficient bench strength for critical roles, according to a global survey of nearly 800 business and HR leaders by the Institute for Corporate Productivity (i4cp).

Bench strength drives nearly 7x higher succession success

Organizations that excel at building bench strength are more than 2.5 times as likely to be high-performance organizations and nearly 7 times as likely to report successful succession outcomes, the study found. Yet the report, titled "The New Rules of Succession Management: A Blueprint for Future-Ready Organizations," concludes that many companies confuse succession activity—talent reviews, leadership programs, readiness plans—with actual leadership depth.