Is Succession Management Success Management

8/6/2019 Is Succession Management Success Management

1/20

a strategicperspective

One of the things that drives me

crazy is every survey that comesout, everyone says thatsuccession is their top priority,and then, the following year, thesame survey states that nobody

implemented itBill Kutik

Are you planningsuccession or

managing success?


2/20

2 AM Azure Consulting Ltd 2011 2

Overview

Year after year, survey after survey continually reports thatsuccession management is seen as a key priority. And the samesurveys go on to report low levels of success in doing very muchabout it.

Why does succession management seem such a difficult activityfor organisations?

Is it that good ideas translated into a programme forimplementation break down in the face of executive indifferenceor political resistance, or that the process infrastructure andtechnology is inadequate to support execution? If so, the bestresponse is better change management and smarter successionsoftware.

Or is it that often we dont think strategically about the issues in

the first place?

To understand why we get off to a bad start it helps if werecognise how conventional succession management, far frombeing a positive force to future-proof organisations, cancontribute to business failure.

The proposal here is that much practice, now deeply ingrained inthe mind-set of the talent management industry, is part of theproblem, and a key reason why organisations have foundimplementation a difficult and frustrating experience. We suggesthow to shift from succession planning to success management.

Most companies are still mediocre

or worse when it comes tosuccession planning. I think thisweakness is going to harry andhaunt them in the course of thenext 5-10 years.

Mark Vickers Only 14% of respondents in the 2010 ASTD survey report their organisationssuccession planning activity is effective.


3/20


How classic succession management is a dynamic of failure

Insanity: doing the same overand over again and expectingdifferent results

Albert Einstein

Succession planning, rather than operating as a force fororganisational resilience and sustained success, becomes adynamic of business decline when it:

1. assumes the current strategy is the right one and the formulaof future success is more of the same. Resourcing anddevelopment priorities are lined up to prepare for a future thatwont happen. In the process, the formalities of the

succession plan reinforce current assumptions about successand constrain thinking about a changing future.

2. maps out succession within existing structures in its review ofthe breadth and depth of its professional and leadershiptalent. This is succession planning lost in the bureaucracy ofjob evaluation and out-of-date organisational charts.

3. reduces the complexity of leadership psychology into asummary index of potential, plotted on a nine box grid, tosummarise its talent investment priorities. Whenorganisations manage their finances with a finger in the airthey go out of the business. Organisations that lack insightinto the complex diversity of their technical, professional andmanagement capability are likely to experience the same fateas financially naive organisations.

4. introduces a comprehensive system and supporting ITinfrastructure to put in place an organisation-wide process.When the HR system becomes the tail that wags the dog ofend user requirements, organisations are engaged in thecirculation of information, not accessing critical intelligenceabout their future resourcing opportunities and risks.


4/20


When succession becomes success management

Here the emphasis shifts from:

1. assuming the current strategy is the right one and the formula offuture success is more of the same, to seeing successionmanagement as a key dialogue about future business optionsand accessible talent

2. mapping out succession within existing structures in its evaluation ofthe breadth and depth of its professional and leadership talent toaccepting that structures keep shifting and the focus should beon identifying and prioritising activity around those roles withthe greatest strategic impact

3. reducing the complexity of leadership psychology into a summary

index of potential, plotted on a nine box grid, to summarise its talentinvestment priorities, to differentiating different categories oftalent to connect succession priorities to practical careerdevelopment recommendations

4. introducing a comprehensive system and supporting ITinfrastructure to put in place an organisation-wide process tomaking organisational life manageable by pinpointing priorityroles and individuals and applying simple and dedicatedtechnology to turn information into intelligence

The theories are so broken thatwe cant try to fix them. Its timefor new models.

Dubs, blogger at SystematicHR


5/20


1. Success management as a dialogue about the business future

Succession management is a dynamic of failure when itassumes that what got us here will get us there and that thecurrent succession plan is a blue print for future resourcing anddevelopment priorities. Instead the succession plan, inmaintaining the fiction that existing successors lined up withincurrent structures represent the next generation of leadership,becomes part of the problem.

Ed Lawler observed of several organisations: they prepared awonderful group of executives for yesterdays business. By beingso good at narrowing the gene pool, they replicated people whowould have been good leaders in the past but not the future.

The strategy - talent debate; does talent follow strategy?

When the Human Resources function got strategic in the 1980s, thechallenge was to translate the strategic agenda into a game-plan fortalent management. Priorities need to be different, for example, in anew media start-up embarking on rapid growth to that of anestablished manufacturing firm fighting to maintain market share.Although this is true and obvious, organisations struggled to make

this a reality.

The search for best practices, the dominance of laundry listcompetency frameworks, and a shared philosophy within the talentmanagement consultancy industry, resulted in a remarkable lack ofdifferentiation in talent management activity. The extraordinary factabout much talent management, from recruitment, performancemanagement, executive development to Board level succession, isjust how similar it is - even across different organisations, pursuing

very different strategies.

Of course, as in life, there are some generally smart and dumb thingsto do in the management of talent and the planning of succession.But strategic HR suggested something more ambitious: adifferentiated talent management game-plan and processes that haddirect read-across to the business distinctives of the organisation.

Brian Becker points out in The Differentiated Workforce, initiativesare seldom based on a clear line of sight between workforce successand strategic success. Instead talent management is largely a set ofhighly standardised and programmed activities that fail to reflect thevariation across firms in their business strategy or organisationalculture.


6/20


The strategy - talent debate; talent first, strategy second

In the late 1990s, the agenda shifted. If it was proving difficult to connecttalent priorities to strategic realities, we should focus on the people, andthe strategy will take care of itself.

This is the argument of Jim Collins in Built to Last. Get the right peopleon the bus, and then figure out where to drive it. This is find the who,then decide the what of strategic success. Dont worry too much aboutthe strategic direction of the bus until youve filled the bus withexceptional people.

And the talent management bible, The War for Talent, extolled thevirtue of that mind-set which recruits talent and allows it to go inwhatever direction it wants to go.

hold on to familiar and established candidates. This issuccession cronyism to protect loyal candidates who havecontributed to past success. As Polaroid discovered when itprevaricated about shifting to the digital world for fear of alienating

its key people in the chemicals and film businesses - functionsthat were rapidly becoming obsolete - current talent may be part ofthe problem when the market is changing.

pin its hopes on the superstars to bring in the bright, beautifuland best from outside. When Enron followed the talent principlesof The War for Talent, it allowed its talent the freedom to dowhat it wanted. Enrons brightest star, Lou Pai, ran up tens of

millions of losses. And this wasnt the outcome of a well-calculatedbusiness risk. This was because Pai, badged as talented, wasencouraged to pursue opportunities to display his talent.

Putting talent first is problematic. Apart from a lack of clarity aboutwhat talent is or who the right people might be, this talent first,strategy second philosophy has the potential to:

Malcolm Gladwell shrewdly observes: what if Enron failed not inspite of its talent mind-set but because of it?

When Judy Gilbert at Google says: Lets hire fantastic people,

bring them in and set them free, she is extolling the talent first,strategy second view. This may be working for Google now.Alternatively, Google may find itself in five years time asking :how did we get ourselves into this strategic confusion?

The Talent Mythhttp://www.gladwell.com/2002/2002_07_22_a_talent.htm



7/20


as a business what strategic progress are we making? Whereare we advancing and where are we stalling? Why?

which ideas and proposals are emerging from our best people to

inform our future direction? how are these ideas influencing our views about likely

successors? which strategic options are more or less realistic given our

current professional and management capability? how do we reposition ourselves for the future to differentiate

ourselves from the competition? which roles are becoming less and more important to our

strategic future? do we have the talent to excel in these roles? How easy or

difficult would it be to develop this talent internally or acquire thecapability from outside?

The strategy - talent debate; the principle of AND?

Strategy should drive the talent management agenda AND thereview of talent should shape strategic options. Nothing new herereally. But when book sales, blog hits and consultancy pitchesdepend on the new big idea that is a simplistic exaggeration of theissues, its useful to gain a sense of perspective by remindingourselves of the obvious.

When we think AND, succession management goes from being apiece of paper that summarises the current situation, to an informeddiscussion about strategy and talent.

Succession management is success management when it is avibrant conversation about the dynamic between current talent andshifting market forces. These iterative discussions probably dont

play well in a neat and tidy succession plan, but they are thereality of proactive succession management that makes a businessdifference.

If strategy and talent

pipelines are out of synch,companies end up groominglots of superbly qualifiedcandidates for leadership indead-ends.

George Anders



8/20


2. Success management to focus on strategically critical roles

The problems of the conventional succession organogram are wellknown. Typically, after much effort collating and consolidatingsubmissions from managers across different business areas, thechart is produced listing back-up and emerging successors for keypositions - and not much else happens. This is known as SPOTS -Succession Plans On Top Shelves - that make little difference tosubsequent resourcing and development activity.

Unlike some within the world of talent management were notadvocating the complete abandonment of the successionorganogram. Just as marketing and finance professionals prepare abusiness review and plan, accepting that things will change, HRneeds to summarise the talent opportunities and risks facing theorganisation. Corporate governance and risk managementconventions also demand some variation of the classic successionchart.

But the problems start when we see this exercise, not simply aboutresponding to the expectations of different stakeholder groups toensure the organisation has evaluated its exposure and risk, but asthe full stop of the process. Organisations which think thesuccession job is complete when the box is ticked combinecomplacency with cynicism.

Success management sees beyond the current map oforganisational structure and existing accountabilities,responsibilities and reporting relationships. Instead attention isdirected at those key roles that are strategically important to futurecompetitiveness.

If conventional succession planning is defensive to pinpoint thosecurrent roles with exposure, success management is proactive to

identify the talent that can progress into the roles that represent thefuture.

See for example Peter Cappellis Talent on Demand

In strategy it is important to see

distant things as if they wereclose and to take a distanced viewof close things.

Miyamoto Musashi


9/20



When Colin Chapman of the Lotus Formula 1 team identified thatfuture race wins would be about aerodynamic design and notsimply a fast driver; Herbert Chapman, the Arsenal footballmanager, spotted how a change in the offside law would need arethink of tactical formations; and Sam Walton of Wal-Martrecognised how the application of information technology andsupply chain management would transform retailing, all threeanticipated change to shape the future.

This is success management as a rethink of the present toprepare for a different future by pinpointing specific roles thatrequire greater organisational attention.

that are close to shifting customer preferences and advancesin technology, those roles that sign post the future direction ofthe business. These are the pivotal roles that highlight wherethe organisational emphasis needs to shift

involving activities where outsourcing is off the agenda. If arole can be assigned easily and efficiently to a partnerorganisation, the chances are that its not a key role requiringmuch long-term succession attention

that have high levels of performance variability, i.e. wherethere is a substantial difference between low and high

performers. These are the roles with the opportunity forbusiness improvement, and where an investment inresourcing and development can put in place the talent tomove the organisation quickly up the performance spectrum

which incorporate an unusual configuration of rolerequirements. These are the roles with that mix of experience,skill set and operating outlook that arent commonplace in the

market-place. These are the roles where external supplymight be limited but at the fore-front of the future business andwhere internal development and progression will be critical

Rather than worry too much about the succession plan acrossthe full organisational structure, it may be better to focus effort onroles:


10/20



Success management shifts horizons from current structures tolocate those capabilities that will drive future competitiveadvantage and finds way to reconfigure these activities into newroles.

We can keep doing succession to evaluate the organisationalchart and assess the conventional metrics of exposure,dependency, restraint, blockage and risk, or we can accept that

this output is designed for the purpose of stakeholdermanagement but isnt success management.

Instead we can see the current structure for what it is: one way ofconfiguring and coordinating overall organisational activity thatwill change. And it may better to direct attention on those rolesthat are either critical right now or emerging as key to the future.

Andy Grove of Intel observed: Without focus, the resources andenergy of the organisation will be spread a mile wide and theywill be an inch deep. If you are wrong you will die. But mostorganisations dont die because they are wrong; most diebecause they dont commit themselves.

Success management, commits to those roles that are critical tothe future, and doesnt worry too much about each and every role

in the organisational structure. No doubt identifying thesestrategically important roles is a tough challenge, demandingbusiness imagination and courage to make the right judgementcall, but its preferable to the alternative: allowing the present tofreeze the past.


11/20


3. Success management to differentiate talent

As carbon is to chemistry, potential is to successionmanagement. Is this true?

The dominant tool within succession management has been themapping of performance and potential against a nine box grid.

If the last two decades had generated a generation ofexceptional leaders, with organisations reporting depth of

leadership bench strength, we would be reassured about theapplication of this tool. In an era of leadership folly, fiasco andfailure, and declining levels of employee trust, its easy to arguethat the talent management industry and its preoccupation withthe identification of the magic dust of potential utilising blackbox assessment has contributed to these failings.

Or, to paraphrase Malcolm Gladwell, those organisations that are

succeeding are doing so despite, not because of the talentmanagement industry.

When that show case of leadership evaluation - the assessmentcentre - shows serious signs of flagging predictive validity, itstime for a fundamental overhaul in how we think about leadershippotential and the processes we use to forecast futureeffectiveness.

Why Assessment Centre Validity Is Falling and What To Do About Ithttp://www.amazureconsulting.com/files/1/29141665/AssessmentCentresValidityAndOptions.pdf

The nine-box categorysystem is crude andclumsy

Professor Adrian Furnham,

University College London


12/20


13/20


14/20


3. Success management to differentiate talent

Succession management becomes success management whenit acknowledges the range of different technical and professionalskill sets, business experiences, leadership capabilities, andcareer motivations and aspirations within the target population.

Rather than distil complex data into one metric and lump thework force into the three categories of low, medium and highpotential, success management knows that potential comes in

all sorts of shapes and sizes.

When we start to ask specific and evidence based questionsabout the causes and consequences of sustained effectiveness,we may be surprised by the responses of executives to providemeaningful evaluations.

And when we know how to integrate this data into a talent map

that reflects different career themes - those who want to focus ontechnical excellence, build greater professional mastery, extendtheir effectiveness into different organisational activities, progressto commercially orientated roles, and so on - we gain a morerealistic insight into talent management realities.

We also generate outputs that provide an agenda for meaningfulconversations with individuals, and we link succession priorities

to career development.

Rethinking Leadership Realitieshttp://www.amazureconsulting.com/files/1/73424767/RethinkingLeadershipRealities.pdf

Talent Management: 7 Battlegroundshttp://www.amazureconsulting.com/files/1/30518455/TalentManagement-7BattleGrounds.pdf


15/20


One problem is that we make ittoo big and try to want it all

Christian Almgren

Paul Hogan, producer and star of Crocodile Dundee attributedhis success to his willingness to bite off more than I could chewand chew fast as I could. An effective strategy for film making,Hogan didnt have to implement succession management.

After an extended period of role profiling and competencymapping, the design of templates and software customisation,succession management is launched. A year later and a

thoughtful senior executive wonders what the fuss was all aboutbecause little has in fact changed. From her perspective:

vacancies are still filled slowly, with questionable candidates,often brought in from outside

the usual suspects are once more debated at talent reviews,and high potential programmes seem to progress the selfserving rather than those making a genuine contribution to the

business she still cant navigate through the talent management

software to locate the data she needs about her people

Much of the time succession management is designed,introduced and implemented in a way that is unworkable.However well supported by a communication and changeprogramme, succession often flies in the face of organisational

complexity and uncertainty.

Typically by the time the succession process has been agreed,the technology vetted, tweaked and integrated, the business hasmoved on and is grappling with a new set of challenges.Executives then find themselves struggling with a system that isout of step with the issues they now face. Unsurprisingly thesuccession system has to be updated. The cycle continues,

process technology lagging behind organisational change.

4. Success management to make succession a manageable activity


16/20

16 AM Azure Consulting Ltd 2011

Integrated talent management is an important goal. Thoseorganisations which dont make the connections between thetalent they bring in and how it is managed, rewarded anddeveloped, can only create disruptive tensions that end badly.This is integration of a shared philosophy to create consistencyaround an overall purpose.

What seems more problematic is the process technology of

system integration. No doubt the day will come when we canhave it good, fast and cheap. In this world, recruitment andselection, learning and development and performancemanagement connect smoothly to talent and succession activityto deliver intelligence against different business and work forcescenarios - and any changes are made quickly, easily and cost-effectively.

But, judging from the surveys of succession system users, werenot there yet.

Success management recognises the art of the possible.Instead of creating a wish-list of wouldnt it be goods itestablishes accountabilities and priorities within a tightly definedscope with fit for purpose technology to make succession arelevant issue for line managers.


The ability to simplify means toeliminate the unnecessary so thatthe necessary may speak.

Hans Hofmann


17/20

17 AM Azure Consulting Ltd 2011

Rethinking the talent reviewOur starting point is the moment of truth of succession, the talentreview - the forum for the organisation or business unit - toassess current resourcing opportunities and risks, prioritise keyroles and individuals, and agree actions.

Classic succession planning builds an infrastructure of processand technology to conduct a comprehensive exercise to review

the full population of professionals and managers. Each role isprofiled, and every individual submits a detailed career profile.The HR function consolidates additional data to compilesummaries. The outcome: a listing of 100 names against thecategories of a nine box matrix?

Alternatively, the talent review is a highly focused process todirect discussion around a few individuals to develop practical

recommendations for their career development. This hinges on aset of filters defined by management accountabilities forparticipating managers to highlight only:


What happens after a review,not the review itself, determinesthe value of the review.

Ben Dowell

strategically important roles retention risks

individuals who require a significant investment for proactiveaccelerated development

constraints within the talent pipeline which needorganisational attention

When the talent review becomes either an exercise in analysisand plotting, or addresses issues which line managers shouldhave resolved within their work area, it loses its distinctive focusin shaping the recommendations and actions for follow through.


18/20



On line reviewof direct reports

by linemanagement

On line review

of direct reportsby line

management

Option of

individualcompletion ofshort on line

personal review

Option ofindividual

completion of

short on linepersonal review

Talent ReviewTalent Review

peer review to agree priorityindividuals

agree actions and commitments

Individual DebriefIndividual Debrief

a key conversation about talentreview outcomes

agreeing development prioritiesand commitments

Talent DatabaseTalent Database

personal profiles of the targettalent population

Talent Map to highlightpriorities within the targetpopulation

trend analysis to identify overall

organisational gaps, strengthsand risks

Simple and dedicated technologyWe can rely on folders in filing cabinets toshuffle the succession paper work, or get bywith a combination of PC applications tomanage data consolidation and analysis.Alarmingly common, this is not a sustainableapproach. Or we can draw on integrated HRsystems to coordinate information flows and

manage talent outputs. But we might have towait.

Alternatively we can keep successionmanagement as a focused activity that seestalent reviews as pivotal to progress, makesline management critical to the process, andsets an agenda of key roles and individuals

as priorities. In this scenario, we move tosimple and dedicated on line technology tohelp line managers prepare for the process,focus the discussion on priorities andprovide support for follow on careerdevelopment.

The emphasis is on screens thatare colourful and appealingrather than on meeting businessinformation needs

Leanne Markus reporting f rom the HR

Technology Conference, 2010


19/20


Strategic thinking and success management

Succession management is strategic success managementwhen it:

pinpoints the specifics. As Michael Porter argues genuinestrategic thinking requires a great level of specificity. Genericcompetencies, for example, useful as a blue print to identify therange of skills that are fundamental to effective managementpractice, dont highlight where excellence will make a strategicdifference. And overall indices of potential don't answer the

question: potential for what? Success management locates thespecific professional expertise, technical know how and industryknowledge that are emerging as critical to the future

plans for a different future. Conventional succession planning,in listing names against current structures, assumes a continuitythat may be hazardous. Here succession management, inrestricting its horizons to current roles and individuals, begins to

close down options. Success management accepts tomorrowwill be different to today and anticipates which activities willrequire more attention and where an investment in talent willbring the future closer

prioritises around difficult choices. Succession managementisnt so much like chess to mastermind a series of movestowards long-term success, but more like the game of roulette.Here bets are placed on the future. Spreading our bets is a slowand unlikely route to success. Instead we have to makeinformed choices and investments in key roles and individuals.

keeps things manageable. When in the infamous words ofDonald Rumsfeld we attempt to know the unknowables byattempting to predict what is unpredictable and control what isuncontrollable, we run into trouble. When we focus on what wecan do by limiting the scope of our efforts but directing energy towhere we can make a practical difference, we move to success.

Theres a whole bunch of things I dontknow a thing about. I just stay awayfrom those. I stay within what I call mycircle of competence.

Warren Buffett


20/20

Documents

Is Succession Management Success Management