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Computerworld - Training dollars remain tight, and building a pipeline of future IT managers may often appear to be an impossible challenge. But impossible as it may seem, companies need to take action now if they are to effectively face the challenge of forces at work in today's business environment that promise to greatly increase their need for new managers in the near and long term. For example:

• The ranks of available qualified managers are shrinking. Private and public forecasts tell us that about 45% of the baby boomer population will retire in the next 10 to 15 years. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, as early as 2010, 10 million current workers will have left the workforce. Meanwhile, managerial positions are expected to increase by 25% over the next 13 years. Translation: Management demand is increasing while the available supply is dwindling.


• The management role is becoming more demanding, and as a result it requires more talent and a broader set of competencies for managers to succeed in today's fast-paced, stressful, diverse, global workplace. "It's easy to grow a healthy plant in perfect soil," states Brad Cooper of Brad Cooper & Associates Inc., referring to the slower pace that existed a few years ago. "But take an unhealthy plant and try to grow it in the desert -- now that's a challenge." In an effort to do just that, he heads up the biannual Champions' Roundtable Leadership Retreat, which is designed to get leaders back on track, helping them recapture the passion needed to succeed. Cooper explains how this increase in demand diminishes the available management pool with the following simple but powerful comparison: "There aren't as many people competing in the ironman triathlon as there are in the local 5-kilometer run/walk."


• According to Curt Tueffert of TeamCER, a professional training firm in Houston, many employees are simply not striving for leadership roles, even when they possess a generous portion of the desired talents, because they see these high demands unmatched by appropriate training. Who wants to be thrown off a cliff and told to learn how to fly while dropping, even if they do have the promise of "flying potential" as evidenced by a pair of tiny wings?


• Finally, although IT jobs decreased, the demand for managers increased by 60% between 2000 and 2004, according to studies based on Bureau of Labor Statistics figures.

Given the importance of IT to the success of a company, maintaining an appropriate structure of management and leadership is clearly vital. The question then is, What, if anything,