Companies need to be prepared at all times to have a “ready-now” successor in place for emergencies. Insiders who ascend to the CEO position are more successful than outsiders according to Joseph Bower. However, most companies do not have people ready to move up into senior roles, especially CEO. Some surveys show as little as 35% of companies have adequate succession planning in place. In order to protect your company’s shareholder value, here are some best practices to ensure an effective succession plan is in place:

Business Alignment – Succession plans must support the business requirements.

• Linking the succession plan to the business imperatives is essential. It’s not enough to plan for the CEO role as it exists today. Companies need to outline the competencies required for the next 3-5 years to be sure the new CEO is able to handle the strategic opportunities.

• CEO presence and involvement is essential to success. CEOs should spend personal time coaching their direct reports and especially any high potential successors.

HR Functional Excellence – Great HR systems in place to drive effective succession planning.

• Broadcasting leadership competencies are very helpful for leaders to better understand the requirements and expectations for their success.

• Multi-faceted assessments using inside and outside experts helps identify where the leaders have strengths and where they fall short of expectations.

• Employee input is more popular now to the process. So many times leaders have rejected the chosen career path designated by the company due to personal and financial costs from moving all over the globe to get the necessary experiences.

• Rigorous management of performance and potential separates the great companies with leaders. The famous “nine box” approach when used properly really does identify the leaders with high potential and the ability to move up in the organization.

Implementation – It’s not enough to have alignment and excellence, effective implementation is required.

• Multiple methods of leadership development are best. The 70%/20%/10% formula for development is essential. We know from years of research that the best way to develop leaders is on the job and through experiences (70%).

• Measure leader results and track these to be sure that they are producing the outcomes required to succeed. A balanced scorecard including financial, people, customer, and operational metrics is essential to success and communicates to leaders what is most important.

• Accountability – Quarterly and semi-annual CEO reviews of progress helps show the organization what’s important. People do what the CEO spend time monitoring.

• Track key metrics for success of the succession planning process. Multiple metrics are used for outcomes (e.g., back-up in place for key roles) to process (e.g., development plans in place for high potentials).

Using these best practices will help create robust succession plans that can make the difference in increasing or decreasing shareholder value when the CEO changes, even unexpectedly.

Technorati Tags: best practices, ceo leadership, ceo succession, Leadership Development, Succession Planning

For leaders at the top of any organization, feedback is a rarity. Executives seldom get feedback about their leadership style, annoying behaviors, personality quirks, or other actions that make it challenging for their team members to be successful.  While debriefing a leader I had been coaching, he expressed that what he most liked about the coaching process was receiving unbiased and direct feedback. When he got the feedback, he was able to address the blind spots in his leadership and make successful improvements in just 3 months.

Current corporate news are full of stories about CEOs who are terminated or resign due in part to performance issues, errors in judgment and other potential blind spots. The costs of these high-profile departures to shareholders have been documented to be tens of millions of dollars. Mark Hurd, former HP CEO in 2011, and Brian Dunn, former Best Buy CEO in 2012, were terminated due to poor judgment about their personal behaviors.  Another example of an ex-CEO with a blind spot is Jeff Kindler, who was let go from Pfizer after a mutiny of senior leaders.  Jeff’s leadership issues (bullying, intimidation, etc.) seemed to go on for years without any required change. When I read these career epitaphs, I always wonder if they were getting unbiased and objective feedback about their leadership issues and blind spots. My guess is nobody had the courage to confront them and as a result, shareholders ended up suffering the most.

Technorati Tags: Business Effectiveness, Executive Coaching, Executive Leadership, executive performance, Leadership Development

There are four valuable lessons we have learned from working with hundreds of successful and some unsuccessful leaders over the years that I’d like to pass on to our readers for your benefit. By following these four easy steps you will be on your way to achieving higher levels of leadership development and leadership performance.

1. Great leaders seek to identify their blindspots or leadership qualities they are underperforming and may be unaware of this perception by their key stakeholders. Blindspots are very difficult to improve when the leader rates him/herself much higher than their stakeholders evaluations. Robert Hogan identified 11 potential derailers when leaders are particularly stressed often referred to as over-used strengths. For example, derailers we often encounter are leaders being highly Diligent. So, when these leaders have their results on the line, they take control and do things themselves. The problem is that over time their teams do not feel empowered and are not being developed toward their own goals. A leader can quickly be perceived as a “micromanager,” and have severe morale, productivity, and retention challenges. Our assessments identify a leader’s blindspots.
2. Great leaders recognize that perception is reality. How others see them is what really matters the most, so that they better understand their stakeholders’ expectations and how their leadership is effecting followers. Even though this reality is sometimes harsh, unkind, and difficult to accept, great leaders have learned to confront their own reality. How we help leaders understand their perceptions is with thorough leadership assessments, including personality assessments and 360 degree feedback. Using this approach the leader can better understand how they are perceived by their stakeholder groups (i.e., direct reports, peers, manager, etc.). We have had various degrees of reactions to the 360 degree feedback ranging from elation to shock. In most cases, “no news is not always good news!” Often times the leader’s boss, peers, or direct reports provide some very telling feedback that indicate blindspots for intensive leadership coaching and development.
3. Great leaders don’t wait for feedback since most people will help when asked. We advise our clients to create a network of supporters – that are representative of their stakeholder groups and that periodically provide direct feedback and suggestions for improvements. This is particularly helpful in CEO growth and development since very few people have the platform to provide unsolicited upward feedback!
4. Great leaders don’t wait to be trained to receive feedback, so anyone can do this immediately. Pick an area that you want to improve and be as specific as possible, and ask for feedback and suggestions for the future. Thank the feedback provider for giving you this gift.

Be sure to start your development network by seeking leadership feedback today. It’s a great and cost-effective method for improving leadership development skills and leadership effectiveness.

Technorati Tags: gen x leaders, gen x leadership, gen y leaders, gen y leadership

Technorati Tags: Executive Leadership, leadership shortage

According to the authors, “A lot of senior managers think the opposite: that the people around them don’t understand what’s needed or are incapable of seeing the big picture. But we say this often shows a signal lack of strategic courage and resolve. We say trust your own people.” The key to harnessing employee innovation is learning how to tap and foster it, using tools the authors refer to as “Innovation Communities.”

Innovation communities tap the potential of internal talent by bringing internal resources together to solve a problem or come up with the next big idea. They can be created at little cost and can hit the ground running as the employees are already well aware of the company’s goals, challenges and target audiences.

The authors give seven characteristics of a successful innovation community:

• CREATE THE SPACE TO INNOVATE
• GET A BROAD VARIETY OF VIEWPOINTS
• CREATE A CONVERSATION BETWEEN SENIOR MANAGEMENT AND PARTICIPANTS
• PARTICIPANTS SHOULD BE PULLED TO JOIN, NOT PUSHED
• TAPPING UNUSED TALENT AND ENERGY KEEPS PRODUCT-DEVELOPMENT COSTS LOW
• COLLATERAL BENEFITS CAN BE AS IMPORTANT AS THE INNOVATIONS THEMSELVES
• MEASUREMENT IS KEY

In this case, as with most of the management issues we have discussed, communication and trust are key. Allow your employees to work outside of the box and develop great solutions. Keep an open line of communication and be open to new ideas. As the authors point out, “As past downturns have shown, the current economic weakness offers new opportunities for those who seize them. Companies with imagination and courage can do more than tread water amid the slump.”

Read the full article here!

Technorati Tags: business innovation, employee innovation, fostering innovation

Technorati Tags: Executive Coaching

This presentation focuses on increasing selling effectiveness with multigenerational buyers and customers. I have included a great deal of my research on generational buyer trends and preferences and implications for organizations.

Check out all of my presentations here! Feel free to send feedback and let me know what other types of managerial or generational issues you want to hear more about. I am updating frequently, so check back often.

Technorati Tags: multigenerational buyers, selling effectiveness, Selling to Multiple Generations

His points are well made and relevant, especially in this challenging economy. His arguments are also very challenging to typical corporate cultures!

Every company’s got them: cynics, skeptics, naysayers, negatrons, pessimists, doubting Thomases, call them what you want, I’m sure you’ve got one in your group. To them, consensus is a four-letter word. Instead of going along with the pack, they just bring everyone else down by turning meetings into nightmares.

Who needs them, right?

Well, let’s see. Um, you do. Your company does. Don’t get it? Okay, let me explain by turning this around a bit and asking you a question:

What value do you assign folks who 1) are so politically correct that they have to make everything sound nice so as not to offend anyone, 2) dumb everything down to the least common denominator, 3) sugarcoat the cold, hard truth, 4) are yes-men or women, 5) tell you what they think you want to hear, 6) go along with the pack so meetings don’t go on forever, or 7) do things a certain way because that’s the way they’ve always been done?

If you want to be a successful manager or leader, your answer should either be “not much” or “that’s a trick question: fire their butts.” That’s right, because there’s no place for folks who fit that description in a company that expects to deliver the next great product, support highly demanding customers, take market share from tough competitors, and deliver increasing shareholder value.

Read the entire article here. In a related article, Tobak also highlighted the top twenty ways to screw up your management career, which points back to a lot of issues we have discussed here. He focuses quite a bit on communication, which is also incredibly important for managers of multiple generations.

20 Ways to Screw Up Your Management Career:

1. Stop asking questions.
2. Take it personally.
3. Micromanage.
4. Distance yourself from employees.
5. Distance yourself from customers.
6. Play it safe.
7.Test moral, ethical, or legal limits.
8. Hire yes-men (or women) you can control.
9. Overpromise and under-deliver.
10. Engage your mouth before your brain.
11. Stick to your guns.
12. Work beneath your capability.
13. Ignore what the market is telling you.
14. Ignore your gut instincts.
15. Fight too many battles on too many fronts.
16. Coast.
17. Focus solely on your own little world.
18. Become big and bloated.
19. Lose your sense of humor and humility.
20. Let your inner child reign.

Read the full article here. And, for more management tips, download my recent webinar “4 Sales Tactics Sales Managers Must Know to Successfully Coach: 3 Generations of B2B Buyers”.

More soon! Dave

Technorati Tags: business management skills, great leaders in business, strong business leadership

Author Daniel Pink draws on decades of scientific research to identify what makes us truly happy at work. Hint: It’s not all about the money.

Check it out here!

Technorati Tags: Employee Motivation, motivating employees

Part of this decline is an effect of reduced demand caused by the global economic recession, but there is also a generational factor at play according to recent research:

The report by specialists sourceforconsulting.com, which included a survey of the largest buyers of consultancy services, concluded that there is still significant demand for HR consulting but it was increasingly focused on elements that offer a measurable financial return. The majority of organisations in the study (84 per cent) had reduced their expenditure on consultants in the past year and half had reduced it by more than 20 per cent.

Consulting on organisational design and change management are in particular decline but performance management is a growth area, found the research, entitled What is the future for HR consulting?

Fiona Czerniawska, joint managing director of sourceforconsulting.com and author of the report, said the trend is leading to consolidation in the consulting sector.

“Our research points to a ‘generational shift’ in HR consulting, away from traditional areas to focusing more on performance management,” said Czerniawska. “The future of HR consulting will see traditional firms collaborating, even merging, with smaller, more innovative specialists in order to survive. The merger of Towers Perrin and Watson Wyatt and the recent acquisition by PricewaterhouseCoopers of performance management consulting firm Paragon is evidence of this evolving trend.”

In another generational twist, another report today asserts that job satisfaction in the U.S. is at its lowest level in two decades (read article here). Managers need to be aware of this trend as the economy begins to rebound, or they will be facing an even larger talent and knowledge gap than the one being caused by the shifting generational makeup of the workforce.

“While one in 10 Americans is now unemployed, their working compatriots of all ages and incomes continue to grow increasingly unhappy,” says Lynn Franco, director of the Consumer Research Center of The Conference Board. “Through both economic boom and bust during the past two decades, our job satisfaction numbers have shown a consistent downward trend.”
Fewer Americans are satisfied with all aspects of their employment, and no age or income group is immune. In fact, the youngest cohort of employees (those currently under age 25) expresses the highest level of dissatisfaction ever recorded by the survey for that age group.
“The downward trend in job satisfaction could spell trouble for the overall engagement of U.S. employees and ultimately employee productivity,” adds Franco.
“These numbers do not bode well given the multi-generational dynamics of the labor force,” says Linda Barrington, managing director, Human Capital, The Conference Board. “The newest federal statistics show that baby boomers will compose a quarter of the U.S. workforce in eight years, and since 1987 we’ve watched them increasingly losing faith in the workplace.” Twenty years ago, some 60 percent of that generation was satisfied with their jobs. Today, that figure is roughly 46 percent. Barrington adds: “The growing dissatisfaction across and between generations is important to address because it can directly impact the quality of multi-generational knowledge transfer–which is increasingly critical to effective workplace functioning.”

If you aren’t considering the effects of the generational shift on your organization, now is the time! Don’t be caught in a situation in which knowledge is lost, talent is not developed, and employee satisfaction and productivity are low! Businesses, now more than ever need to be focused on the generational issues at play in the economy and in their organization, and plan for the future by investing in talent development and knowledge transfer management. Although, as the first story indicates, businesses are increasingly cutting consulting budgets to save costs, this will not be a solid strategy for many organizations in the long term.

Technorati Tags: american job satisfaction, generational workforce satisfaction, HR consulting, workforce generational shift