Tomorrow's leaders need help today

But a report from the National College of School Leadership (NCSL) and the Children's Workforce Development Council suggests senior managers are hardly chomping at the bit to step up and become a DCS. Respondents cite exposure to risk - given the heightened media scrutiny of children's services - and a lack of training and general preparedness as key reasons why they wouldn't want the job.

The annual turnover rate of DCSs at 19 per cent is high, but not alarmingly so. What's clear from the findings is the urgent need to prepare tomorrow's leaders today. Ninety-one per cent of respondents said their council had no formal succession planning in place. The government did in March promise a succession planning strategy for DCSs, to be implemented from 2010/11, as part of a broader programme of training and mentoring for existing DCSs, starting in September. This strategy is clearly needed and the shape it takes will be crucial for aspiring leaders.

Directors of children's services need to have a robust knowledge of the full range of children's and youth services; they need formidable communication and relationship building skills; and, as the Sharon Shoesmith saga illustrated, they need to be adept in dealing with the media and political pressures. In short, it's pretty demanding stuff.

As well as highlighting the challenges of preparing future leaders, the NCSL is calling on Children's Secretary Ed Balls to sanction a talent management programme that widens the pool of DCS applicants outside council social care and education departments to dip into the voluntary sector. This, as well as more DCSs coming through from early years and youth services - provided they possess the necessary talent and strength of will - can only be a good thing. It would mean a DCS workforce that is more representative of the wider workforce and boost confidence in the role from those who have hitherto felt alienated from those leading integrated services.

But action is required now to identify and prepare tomorrow's leaders. Early intervention is at the heart of Every Child Matters - we need to apply the same principle to nurture the talents of those who will in the future lead efforts to make it a reality.