(From CBSNews.com) -- One lament that commonly echoes through the corridors of senior management is not having the right people in the right places to do the job.

Results of the PricewaterhouseCoopers' annual Global CEO survey confirm that this concern is more than anecdotal.

Of the chief executives who cited "talent constraint" issues:

• 31 percent "weren't able to innovate effectively"

• 29 percent "were unable to pursue a market opportunity"

• 24 percent "cancelled or delayed a key strategic initiative"

24 percent "couldn't achieve growth forecasts in overseas markets."

Worse, 50 percent of CEOs said "recruiting and retaining high potential middle managers" was their chief "talent" challenge. While this is worrying news for those at the top of their organizations, it should come as good news to those with jobs, as well as those looking to make a career move.

The war for talent has moved from the back-burner to the front. As a result, those who recruit must up their game if they expect to hang on to their good people. The PwC survey highlights a 2010 finding by a consulting firm, the Corporate Executive Board, that "employees who were most committed to their organizations gave 57 percent more effort and were 87 percent less likely to resign than employees who consider themselves disengaged."

So if you are a senior leader, how do you hang onto your people? The easy answer is that you commit to it. More than half of the CEOs surveyed by PwC said their top HR person was a direct report. That's a good first step, but it's not enough. Former General Electric (GE) CEO Jack Welch famously told Fortune magazine that his second-most important priority as chief executive was "evaluating people, second only to "allocating capital."

Commitment is required to retaining good people, and while oceans of research has been conducted in the area of talent management, I would like to offer a few suggestions that I have seen work well.

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