Here is a tough one to reconcile: if you aren't developing others, are you a leader?

Leaders, like coaches, have the task of building their team and developing talent. That means an IT Leader can lead people in a finance function - or an HR leader can lead the business development team. Too many people still believe in the antiquated idea that you must be an SME in the same area you lead. Sure, it may help with credibility, but let's be honest - after that we are still trying to do the same thing and that is developing a strong talent pool and empowering others to execute the plan. 

I also see that many organizations maintain that HR is responsible for development and retention efforts.
This is simply an old schema and doesn't hold true anymore. Development and retention efforts are part of the relationship between leader and staff. Leaders are responsible for the following (feel free to cut and paste this into your mangement job descriptions):

• Source talent
• Attract and hire the right people for your team
• Develop performance expectations and coach others
• Develop and put into place retention strategies for your team
• Work cross-functionally with other teams and employees to maximize performance 

If leaders are not doing the above, your organization loses. It's that simple, yet very hard to accomplish because businesses are too busy rewarding the wrong things in the workplace. One of the main issues people report when leaving is the negative relationship with their leader – developing others needs to be leadership's responsibility as a retention strategy for great talent. Great talent is attracted, like a magent, to great leaders. 

At ThinkWise, our goal is to provide you with the necessary resources to make smart Employee Development decisions. Below is a link to the comprehensive guide: Succession Planning Process Overview. The report has several links to additional planning resources and is a great resource, whether you are considering a new Succession Planning system or want to improve your existing processes.