When Tamla Oates-Forney looked around the executive table at one of her former companies, she noticed something troubling: The people in the seats didn’t reflect the communities the company served. “We were surrounded by talent, but we weren’t unlocking the full potential of everyone in the workforce,” she said.
It seemed as though leadership development opportunities were being presented to talent from certain backgrounds more than others — limiting who was seen as ready to lead. As of April 2025, over 1.7 million people have left the workforce, compared to pre-pandemic levels in February 2020. Oates-Forney, CEO of SHRM Linkage, suggested this is partly due to early retirements and an aging workforce, leaving many leadership positions vacant.
But the leadership gap isn’t just about who’s leaving — it’s also about how skills and expectations are evolving. “The onset and infusion of AI is changing how we work. The skills that we had yesterday are not the skills you're going to need for today and tomorrow,” Oates-Forney said.
Indeed, the World Economic Forum reported that workers should expect nearly two-fifths (39%) of their skill sets to become transformed or outdated by 2030. In this environment, one-off trainings won’t cut it.
Companies that want to stay competitive must treat inclusive and ongoing leadership development as strategic priorities — investments that build a future-proof pipeline aligned with long-term growth.
The Business Case for Inclusive, Continuous Leadership Development
Practicing continuous leadership development is important for keeping talent engaged and productive. According to Gallup, organizations that invest in employee development are twice as likely to retain employees.
Inclusive, continuous leadership development also helps businesses save crucial resources by optimizing current talent.
Companies have to maximize the output of every single person they have available if they want to survive and thrive. And if you look at most workforce demographics, you see that there are groups still underrepresented in leadership roles, which means they’re not being fully optimized.
SHRM Linkage
Women, for example, currently make up about 47% of the workforce and outnumber male college-educated workers. Yet, they’re still underrepresented in senior leadership positions, representing just 11% of CEOs of Fortune 500 companies.
“Training and development that address unique needs are not at the exclusion of other groups,” Oates-Forney said. “Rather, organizations are ensuring that they are unlocking the full potential of all of their talent.”
Laying the Groundwork for Inclusive Leadership
Building a sustainable and inclusive leadership pipeline doesn’t happen overnight. It must be built intentionally on a strong foundation: an inclusive work environment with organizational buy-in.
Inclusive work environments create fair workplaces for all, focusing on supporting each individual and welcoming different thoughts and perspectives, which helps nurture future leaders.
“Your processes, your systems, your way of being have to be reflective of the communities that you live, work, and serve in,” Oates-Forney said.
Tie Leadership Development to Business Strategy
Equally important is building leadership development into the broader strategy of the organization. Without clear alignment to business goals, even the best leadership programs can fail to gain traction or deliver results.
At SHRM Linkage, Oates-Forney follows a four-pronged approach to talent optimization:
- Research: Use data to determine where the organization needs to be based on internal and external drivers and what type(s) of leaders will help achieve that.
- Assess: Analyze how the organization performs against those requirements and determine major gaps.
- Plan: Define organizational goals and objectives and implement programs that address any discrepancies between the current state and desired performance.
- Monitor: Track and measure progress and impact.
This approach puts inclusive leadership development front and center of business transformation.
“I would encourage companies to seek professional support to do it in a way that can be effective in moving the company forward,” Oates-Forney said. “Working with an expert like SHRM Linkage is a best practice because it enables you to assess your leaders in an unbiased, unfiltered way and develop objective action plans.”
By starting with the macro perspective and tying leadership growth to measurable outcomes, organizations gain the buy-in and clarity needed to sustain a strong leadership pipeline.
Embedding Inclusive, Continuous Leadership Development in Your Organization’s DNA
With a firm foundation in place, businesses can move on to creating a “backpack to boardroom” leadership development approach. This process, according to Oates-Forney, requires several crucial steps:
- Establish ideal leadership core competencies and success factors as a road map against which to measure and develop future leaders.
- Create flexible, immersive learning pathways that personalize the learning journey and encourage employees to practice leadership skills through immersion.
- Develop data-driven, scalable solutions that track results end to end and leverage feedback from participants throughout and after each learning opportunity.
In today’s labor market, a scalable, inclusive leadership development culture is invaluable. Through integrated strategies, immersive learning, and organizational alignment — grounded in data and led by HR — organizations can optimize their workforces and future-proof their businesses.
“The type of leaders that you have can be the difference between a successful business and an unsuccessful one,” Oates-Forney said.
No matter where you are in your career, our membership is designed to help you excel as a leader so you can make a lasting impact on both your organization and the future of HR. SHRM will help you keep up with the changing demands of HR.
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