Trending Now

Building a Resilient Supply Chain with Advanced Predictive…

New Articles

5 Ways HR Can Make Diversity and Equality Central to Succession Planning

succession
Archives, Executive Education, Global Trade Daily

5 Ways HR Can Make Diversity and Equality Central to Succession Planning

Leave a comment

Women are making progress in corporate leadership. A record 41 female CEOs are scheduled to run Fortune 500 companies in 2021.

Along with this positive news about diversity and equality in the workplace, business observers think another good example was set by a male CEO deciding to step down in 2021. Zalando’s Rubin Ritter said he is leaving his position so he can put his wife’s career first.

While these actions atop corporate structures signal steps forward for women, the challenge at many companies remains how to create a culture of diverse and equal succession planning at all leadership levels, says Jennifer Mackin (www.jennifermackin.com), ForbesBook author of Leaders Deserve Better: A Leadership Development Revolution and a leader of two consulting firms.

“Diverse teams are built through a focused and strategic succession plan, which identifies the best talent early on and commits to developing those people over a long period of time to replace leaders who inevitably leave,” Mackin says.

“It’s been proven that executive teams with varied backgrounds and leadership styles offer important advantages to businesses. And the C-Suite must drive the succession planning strategy in order to maximize the process.”

Mackin offers five ways for companies and their HR departments to create a culture of equal and diverse succession planning:

Intentional emphasis by top leadership. Through her experience working with many organizations, Mackin has found that even among companies focusing on diversity and inclusion, most haven’t hit their goals. One of the problems, she says, is a lack of clear initiatives backed by leadership. “Many companies don’t implement a succession plan consistently,” Mackin says. “If current leaders don’t have the time to devote to it, it comes back to bite the company when potential replacements aren’t properly prepared. It requires a culture change, where top leadership embraces diversity as a foundational part of the succession plan and the company’s future growth.”

Commitment for the long term. Mackin says it can take three to five years for a company to have sufficiently prepared people for their next move. Yet many companies find themselves in a position where they lose a key executive and they haven’t planned well enough ahead for the transition. “Succession planning is a long, detailed process that takes into account all the demands of the job while determining who best to fill it,” Mackin says. “That requires documenting key knowledge and skills needed for success, and the company identifying  support and development needs to make the replacements ready for their new role.”

Focus on all leadership roles at all levels. “A sound culture top to bottom relies on the HR team to ensure that potential leaders at each level are thoroughly prepared,” Mackin says. “That requires a broader development plan for every individual in the organization.”

Measuring performance objectively and subjectively. Mackin says consistent and high-performing employees who keep improving and take on more responsibility may have the right stuff for leadership. But determining how to objectively measure the performance of a possible future leader is critical to the overall process. “It is difficult to create a succession plan without objective data and leadership coaches, who can extrapolate that data and know what it means in terms of leadership capability,” Mackin says.

Share company plans with leadership candidates. “Sharing the plan shows employees that the company is thoughtful about their future plans, is willing to invest in employee development, and that there are opportunities to work toward,” Mackin says. “Communicating and outlining all roles will help others aspire to gain the knowledge and skills they need to fill them in the future.”

“Diversity and equality need to be a cornerstone of succession planning,” Mackin says. “That kind of culture starts at the top and never stops, showing that real progress means everyone’s included.”

_________________________________________________________________

Jennifer Mackin (www.jennifermackin.com) is the ForbesBook author of Leaders Deserve Better: A Leadership Development Revolution, and a leader of two consulting firms – CEO of Oliver Group, Inc. and President and Partner of Leadership Pipeline Institute US. As an author and speaker with over 25 years of consulting experience, she is a recognized leadership development influencer, having worked with CEOs, human resources managers, leadership development leaders, entrepreneurs, and other senior leaders in all industries. She earned her BS in marketing from Indiana University and her MBA from Owen School of Management at Vanderbilt University. 

succession
Archives, Executive Education, Global Trade Daily

Who’s The New Boss? How To Avoid Succession Planning Mistakes.

Leave a comment

Many corporations have endured a rough 2020 that included the resignations of top executives at some major brands. Will their replacements be ready? It’s a fair question, especially if the new company leader is promoted from within. Studies show many senior leaders don’t think their companies properly educate and prepare future leaders for succession.

If an organization has no pipeline of leaders ready to take over senior leadership positions, then a lack of succession planning can be catastrophic for even the most enduring company, says Jennifer Mackin (www.jennifermackin.com), a leader of two consulting firms and the ForbesBook author of Leaders Deserve Better: A Leadership Development Revolution.

“Many companies don’t find the development of leaders significant until they are readying for succession planning, embarking on a new venture, or weathering storms that threaten their viability,” Mackin says. “This reactive approach is risky because development takes time.”

Mackin says it’s time for CEOs, senior leaders, and heads of HR to modernize their leadership development because of the ever-evolving business world, which is especially volatile now.

“Leaders often weren’t ready to assume higher roles before the pandemic, and now it’s a bigger problem in terms of succession,” Mackin says. “A rapidly-changing time, such as now, is a good reason to focus on succession to ensure the chances of a company’s long-term survival.”

Mackin says the common mistakes companies make in their succession plans are:

They start too late. Even when companies realize they will have a void in their leadership roles, they wait too long to get the succession process started, Mackin says. “They may know people are retiring in two years,” she says, “but they need to start their planning well before then. It takes three to five years to do it right.”

They only consider the CEO role in their succession conversation. Mackin says that when a company does a thorough evaluation of its people, looking not only at their present performance but gauging their future, they might discover they don’t have the right kinds of people in the right roles. “Companies that win think strategically and have a people plan to address those gaps,” she says. “I recommend an overall development plan for the organization’s leaders as a whole and for individuals, and a succession plan for all key roles, not just for the CEO or C-Suite.”

The succession plan and development plan aren’t shared with leaders. Many companies worry that if their plans are known by the individuals slotted for upcoming senior roles, other people, not chosen, will leave. “Having outlined all roles with expectations will help others aspire to gain the knowledge and skills they need, because then they know what is required at the next level,” Mackin says.

Decisions are made subjectively by the top leadership team. “It is tough to create a succession plan without objective data about the future open roles and the employees that could potentially fit those roles with the right development,” Mackin says.

“Prepared leaders who are stepping into higher roles have never been more important than they are now,” Mackin says. “They are more adept during unforeseen disruptions and are able to pull their teams together. They can recraft a new, realistic, strategic direction quickly.”

_________________________________________________________________

Jennifer Mackin (www.jennifermackin.com) is a ForbesBook author of Leaders Deserve Better: A Leadership Development Revolution, and a leader of two consulting firms – CEO of Oliver Group, Inc. and President and Partner of Leadership Pipeline Institute US. As an author and speaker with over 25 years of consulting experience, she is a recognized leadership development influencer, having worked with CEOs, human resources managers, leadership development leaders, entrepreneurs, and other senior leaders in all industries. She earned her BS in marketing from Indiana University and her MBA from Owen School of Management at Vanderbilt University.