My reflections on talent development. Creating leaders ready to take on roles of increased responsibility and scope is a constant focus and struggle for Fortune 500 companies. As I reflect on my time in talent management I offer two principles and three steps organizations can take to make this job easier.
Guiding Principles: Focus on Succession Pools vs. Candidates and Discovering vs. Anointing Leaders
Throughout my talent development career, I was amazed at the small percentage of critical roles filled by the person designated as the primary successor. For a variety of reasons, I saw organizations hire external candidates, or pick candidates not on the official succession plan.
My first principle is to focus on building a pool of qualified candidates, and not focus much time and energy on one or two succession candidates. There are simply too many variables to accurately predict who the best future candidate will be. Use vital resources and time to build a pool.
The second principle is to discover your leaders by their actions, versus anointing a few by labeling them “high-potential.” If you insist on using the high-potential criteria for your leadership development programs, set aside 25% of your slots for people that don’t meet the criteria, but have shown ability through their actions / accomplishments.
With these two guiding principles as a foundation, take three steps to building your talent pipeline.
Step 1: Increase Exposure and Set Higher Expectations.
If successful careers are built on expertise, connections, and visibility, providing colleagues with cross functional initiative or project experiences check all three boxes! The goal is to create a culture in which the largest possible percentage of people get to work on these types of projects. Then look for the people who thrive in these environments and grow their skills the best and fastest. These are your best leaders.
When you invest time and money to create leadership development programs, set higher expectations that increase accountability. How? Require program graduates be promoted or take on new roles within three to nine months. With this simple rule, greater care will occur during the selection process, and leaders are more engaged knowing they must provide new opportunity to program graduates.
Step 2: Build Capability and Experience.
I’ve found the most direct way to build capability is through on-the-job experience. Creating a system that fosters talent mobility is the key. Pick a team of people responsible for identifying talent ready to learn more. Work with hiring managers to move people into different roles. In my last company this was done by a “talent team” that moved vice presidents and directors into different roles.
The team should have a mix of business and human resource leaders. Think “business lead, but HR facilitated.” Having business leaders in charge of the process gives the initiative credibility across the organization. Having HR facilitate the process ensures the initiative aligns with the overall talent strategy and legal compliance.
Step 3: Make it Sustainable.
Nothing is more frustrating to human resource executives than seeing talented individuals stuck in a role that does not use their abilities. Leadership development program participants quickly become dissatisfied if they feel stuck. You get the graduate degree, but no pay raise is given. You complete the leadership program, but no promotion occurs. Etc. Make your development programs and talent mobility strategy work by requiring mentorship and sponsorship. Mentorship, the sharing of knowledge and providing guidance, can be mandated, and organized centrally. This helps people at all levels expand their expertise.
I’ve found that sponsorship, actively promoting someone and providing them access to opportunities, is difficult to mandate or force between two people. That said, it does not mean it can’t be encouraged, organized, and tracked. HR leaders can require that all leaders sponsor people, and track who and how many people a leader is sponsoring. Tracking mentorship and sponsorship will increase accountability for developing and using your talent pools.
Bottom Line
Creating a culture that provides exposure to new opportunities, rewards colleagues that increase their expertise with promotions and new job assignments, and formalizing mentorship and sponsorship will increase your pool of talent.