Leader in the pack?
The increasing rate of change within companies means that the jobs within them are evolving at a similar rate. There's no such thing as a plateau manager these days, says Persona md Lis Young. As a result, it is and will continue to be more cost effective to develop existing management than to recruit at an accelerating pace to keep up, she contends.
Blue chip companies recognise the need for effective succession planning processes, but Young believes that few are happy with the results of their current procedures. Young argues that while many companies are trying to work backwards from a notion of what they will be like in the future, this is not going to be a reliable way of forecasting management needs.
With advances in technology rapidly accelerating change of all kinds, it is important that potential leaders not only have a strong track record in management, but also possess certain core skills including the ability to learn and change. It is these core skills which are assessed and scored with external guidance to provide as clear a measure as possible of a firm's future management assets.
The first area under scrutiny is what Young terms the Solomon factor. This is the ability to stand back and see issues in their context, to evaluate data, as well as being able to make decisions which take into a account a wider range of factors than just those immediately surrounding the case. This wider vision, Young argues, is an essential prerequisite to learning and keeping abreast of developments.
"After this we are looking at how effectively candidates can influence those around them," she says. "They could be Solomon himself, but unless they can persuade people to buy into the company line, this brain power is wasted. This skill can be taught or developed if necessary, too. So we just need to measure it."
The desire to succeed is also measured in a small cluster of personal qualities such as the urge to work to attain a particular objective, says Young. "But we are also looking for the ability to remain effective under a range of circumstances. There are four rough groupings: at the top are those with a lot of spare potential, coping easily.
"The next category is coping well and has some reserves to develop. For practical purposes, the third category, those who can still learn and develop, is the largest. If they are keeping up with the changes around the company around them, then they are already doing well," Young continues. "Track record is not always a good pointer to future achievement or potential. We were assessing a group of financial planning consultants. One member of the group was not particularly good at the sales role, which meant he was not highly rated by those around him. But when we came to analyse the results, his Solomon factor was very strong, particularly in the breadth of his thinking, which had not been noticed previously. He was given the opportunity to move to a strategic planning role, where he was immediately successful, happier and able to make a much greater contribution."
Once the management team has graded and scored all its potential future management, a further meeting is held to discuss development planning. Again, with external facilitators in the initial stages, managers are encouraged to think outside the box. "We want them to think freely without being constrained by detail or practical considerations," says Young. "Once those at the meeting have stretched the possibilities, we can start to talk about real options and action. We insist on deadlines being set for this part. Depending on the company and the level of staff being assessed, the frequency of the process can be adjusted. Graduate trainees, for instance, will be changing rapidly and would gain from annual reviews. Established areas of the business may get through two or three years before needing a review."
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