Welcome to the January 9, 2008 issue of The Total View
Published by Success Performance Solutions, Written by Ira S. Wolfe
Visit our Human Resources Blog and Perfect Labor Storm Blog where we can post daily (and more often) human resource updates, news, and Perfect Labor Storm facts.
What's Inside this issue of The TotalView:
1. The Pump is Primed for Succession Planning in 2008
2. Perfect Labor Storm Warnings
3. Assess Expert System for Management and Leadership
4. NEW! Clues Team Report Added at no additional charge
5. Speaking Schedule
6. Quotes from the Hire Authorities
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1. The Pump is Primed for Succession Planning in 2008
By Marilyn Walker
With the first of the Baby Boomers entering retirement this year, succession planning is top-of-mind for executives and small business owners. While replacement worries involve every position from hourly workers to salaried executives, three different organizations - a financial institution, a public utility and a non-profit - recently approached us with one common theme: replacing a long-term CEO that held that position for decades. In each instance these organizations were replacing the only leader the organization ever knew. Anxiety levels were high - and rightfully so.
Assuring a smooth transition to the next generation of leadership is a daunting task. Selecting a successor who can continue to grow and move the organization to the next level is even tougher.
How did these three organizations approach succession?
- § Plan ahead. Effective succession doesn't just happen. The best transitions happen when the next-in-line is identified early enough to be mentored by the retiring leader. In this scenario the successor has the opportunity to learn from the outgoing individual and begin to take on some of the new responsibilities within the safety net of the current executive. This enables the successor to gain credibility with the management team and employees while at the same time they can observe the outgoing executive endorse him or her through the transfer of duties. Knowing there is a plan in place reassures the entire organization that despite change, the future will be better and brighter.
By planning ahead, one of the most common pitfalls in succession is avoided: when the retiring executive fails to relinquish responsibilities. This letting-go phase is not necessarily an easy part of the plan, but necessary for the organization and the successor, as well as the individual who is leaving.
- § Define the position. Cloning the current leader is not always the best strategy. For most businesses, the new leader will take over the reigns in a different time, with different and often more complex challenges than his or her predecessor had to deal with. As one CEO said, "I brought this organization to where it is today. But with the expansion needed in the next five years it's time for them to bring in someone with the technical skills that I lack to accomplish the next phase of growth."
- § Right Peg, Right Hole. Armed with the clear knowledge about what skills, abilities and experience are required to take their organizations where they intended to go, these three associations screened applicants based on the top performer criteria. After narrowing down the candidate list, final candidates were invited to complete a series of predictive assessments to confirm that they could do the job, collaborate with the team, and lead and nurture the culture.
Our clients shared their strategic plans with us including the types of opportunities and challenges they expected this new executive to face. Based on this information, we them offered them this three step process:
- Identify the primary responsibilities and initiatives of the future executive.
- Identify the core competencies this up-and-coming executive must have exhibited in past performance or a clear demonstration that he or she has the potential to develop. We recommend limiting the essential competency list to no more than 10.
- Finally, prioritize these 10 (or less) competencies. If, for example, "Visioning" and "Driving for Results" are both important for the position but you could have only one, which one is crucial for success - the strategist or the executer? By prioritizing the core competencies, the search, interview, training and development can be focused on the skills most likely to drive execution and deliver results.
Not surprisingly, these groups were not initially confident how assessments could help the process. In fact, a few board members serving the non-profit organization were downright skeptical. That all abruptly changed after one candidate's interview.
Prior to the interview they read "John's" report. It said that he "tends to take disagreements personally and he lacks attention to detail." The skeptics doubted that any "test" could predict any behaviors like that, especially when John's resume and experience pointed to the contrary.
During the interview one board member asked John "what challenges he would need help with should he get the job." (This may well have been to prove the test wrong more than assessing the candidate!) John responded, "Well, I tend to take things personally and I need to work on that. And I am also a big-picture thinker so I need help with the details." After John left the room. the board chair said, "Holy sxxx! There is really something to this stuff!"
Although each of these organizations used different tools, they all realized the relevance and importance of using assessments during succession planning to predict job fit, team fit and culture fit.
For the purposes of this article the succession planning discussion has centered on replacing a long-term outgoing executive. In reality succession planning is not limited to the executive office but needs to take place across the employment spectrum for every position. With changing demographics and global marketplaces, managing talent is an ongoing process, not an isolated just-in-time event.
For more information about managing your talent and succession planning call us at 800.803.4303 or 717.291.4640.
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2. Perfect Labor Storm Warnings 
Every day I receive dozens of stories highlighting
another shortage of workers. Each week I'll post
one or two of the more interesting ones. This week's
post is:
American businesses are largely unprepared for a seismic workforce change that will get underway in the coming decade, as tens of millions of baby boomers retire and far fewer new employees arrive to take their place.
That's the conclusion of a study released in March 2007 by Boston College's Center on Aging & Work. The report, which surveyed 578 companies and other organizations, found that only 12 percent have planned in-depth and more than a quarter have failed to plan at all for the changing demographics projected to create a worker shortage.
Read more about other causes of skilled worker shortages in the NEW Perfect Labor Storm 2.0 (soft and hard cover versions)
Now on Sale! Perfect Labor Storm 2.0 (soft and hard cover versions)
Order today and save 25%.
NEW Chapters! Generational Conflicts in the Workplace, Managing the Future Workforce, Attracting Young Employees in a Seller's Job Market plus hundreds of new facts, trends and stats.
View Table of Contents
Save 25% off retail by ordering now.
Hard Cover: $29.99 Soft Cover: $19.99
Your Price: $22.49 Your Price: $14.99
To order Perfect Labor Storm 2.0, call 800.803.4303. Discounts for orders of 10 or more. Specify hard or soft cover.
3.
Assess Expert System for Management and Leadership
Assess Expert System is a premier psychometic employee evaluation tool that will take the guesswork out of hiring and promoting key employees. A state of the art web-based system, ASSESS produces job specific reports linking key personality traits to managerial and executives competencies. Every selection report comes with a customized behavioral interview guide and every development report
includes performance improvements tools and tips customized to the employee, based on his/her responses.
ASSESS Expert System assists management in the selection of outside candidates and in the promotion, placement or development of internal managers, supervisors and professionals. The assessments provided are industry-standard, and each item has been carefully validated and documented.
Click here for more information about ASSESS.
4. NEW! Clues Team Report Added at no additional charge
Unlimited 12-Month Use for as little as $1250!
Try JobClues ... a state-of-the-art, fast, affordable assessment tool guaranteed to help you make smarter, more informed hiring decisions.
Take the test yourself ... you'll be amazed at the accuracy of the assessment results ... and you'll immediately see how this tool will give you keen insights into a candidate's abilities and "fit" for the job you want to fill.
New Report added - the Clues Team Report at no additional charge!
For a FREE JobClues report, click here or call toll-free at 800-803-4303 about our special unlimited use pricing.
5. Speaking Schedule: Ira S Wolfe
2008:
January 21 - Institute of Management Consultants (Dallas, TX) - Workforce
Trends That Change The Way You Will Do Business
January 22 - Optimance (Dallas, TX) - Workforce Trends That Change The Way
You Will Do Business
March 4 - Hiring Right is Not Kid's Play: Fitting the Right Pegs in the Right Holes
Business Solutions "On the Road" Harrisburg Regional Chamber.
Location TBA
October 2008 - American Staffing Association Annual Meeting - Workforce
Trends That Change The Way You Will Do Business
Call 717.291.4640 to schedule Ira for your next meeting or conference.
6. Quotes from Hire Authorities
"In the old world, managers make products. In the new world, managers make sense of things."
John Seely Brown, Chief Scientist of Xerox Corporation and the Director of its Palo Alto Research Center (PARC)
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Ira S. Wolfe Copyright 2007 - All Rights Reserved. Reprints and other distribution by permission |
