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e expected to take on the position, for instance, in case of a family business. Due to lack of skills and experience to perform leadership tasks, these individuals normally perform managerial functions and not really leading the organisation. Those who do well just turn out to be excellent managers, not leaders. Some people do not even understand the difference of managing and leading that they are easily satisfied with the outcome.

To ensure that a continuous flow of talented potential leaders is always available, organisations have act fast and start building theur own pool of potential successors. Leadership development should be given priority when planning their human capital. Since developing and nurturing leadrrship skills and capabilities required long-term investment and planning, organisations must start early and be willing to set aside their training budget for the purpose. Leadership development takes time, and organisations are sometimes not willing to invest in initiatives which do not immediately affect their bottom line. This issue set basically sets apart normal companies and best practice companies. Best practice companies such as GE and McDonald's recognise the importance of leadership growth and treat it as their top most priority. At MsDonald's, the CEO of the company personally selects potential candidates to be groomed as their future leadership team. Such companies lay out their well thought-out plans in strategically so that they will not face any leadership crisis in the near future, and if they still do, the impact on the company's operations will be minimised.

Some organisations implement succession planning to tackle leadership replacement issue. Succession planning can yield positive results if implemented correctly. Organisations have to ensure that the identified potential successor is capable of taking over the responsibilities once he/she assumes the position. In addition, the organisations must be certain that during apprenticeship, the current superior is willing to educate and nurture the skills and capabilities of the potential successor accordingly. Succession planning is bound to fail if the current superior does not wholeheartedly share and impart his/her skills and experience to the potential successor.

Undoubtedly, it is the responsibility of the Human Resource Department (HRD) in any organisation to ascertain that the impact of leadership crisis will not hamper their day-to-day operations. Being the department which has access to organisational and employee structure, the HRD should alert the senior management of the company should the need arises for development of future talent pool. They should be proactive in identifying candidates to be groomed as potential leaders and successors, and come up with retention programmes to make sure that this group of high-potentials will not leave the company at critical points. Besides that, HRD can clearly identify the severity of any leadership crisis based on available records. They should be prepared to minimise the impact of leadership shortage on the workforce. Careful planning of human resources is vital to ensure that the growth of the company is not impeded in any way and that the company is prepared to take on challenges at all times.