Posts Tagged ‘succession planning’

3 Simple Guidelines for Your Organizational Talent

Author: Paul Dillenburg, Date: 7/25/2013

1. Invest more development dollars and time where you will get the highest return. Do not spend your development dollars equally; high potentials, critical positions, and key leaders (current or future) demand differential attention. Likewise, while all employees should be receiving regular feedback regarding their performance and development, leaders need to be steadfast in providing timely, specific feedback and appreciation to their top talent.

2. Provide opportunities for accelerated development to help current and prospective leaders grow in their jobs and their careers—keep the pipeline filled. Potential opportunities may include individual coaching, mentoring relationships, involvement in key projects or initiatives, internal training, stretch assignments, networking, delegated tasks, participating in organizational meetings or industry conferences.

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Succession Planning in Small Companies

Author: Paul Dillenburg, Date: 11/6/2012

In our talent management work with clients, a question we often hear following a talent review process is, “What happens if we don’t have any successors for a given position in our company?

In small to mid-size companies, it is quite common to have several key positions without successors who are ready to step into a role. There are few layers in the company so having stretch assignments to develop into the “next level” can be difficult. If you have some positions without successors, ask various questions:

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An ‘Aha’ Moment

Author: Paul Dillenburg, Date: 4/19/2011

Last week I attended a local SHRM conference which offered presentations around topics such as recruitment, talent management and leadership development. One of the presentations I found helpful involved a panel discussion on succession planning with a small budget. As the discussion progressed, a member of the audience asked how each of the panelists find time for succession planning on a continuing basis.

One of the panelists’ explained her method. She blocks a day off of her calendar each quarter to concentrate on succession planning. This day is often chosen 3 months prior to ensure nothing else is currently on the calendar which could interfere. Once on the calendar, the day is “locked” for succession planning.

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Talent for Today

Author: Paul Dillenburg, Date: 2/1/2011

Many people think about talent management and leadership development as something “you do for the future.” While the future leadership of an organization is important, can we really predict who those future leaders will be? Ultimately, how much control does the organization have over an employee’s decision to stay? Organizations certainly can influence the decision, but no amount of influence can guarantee your ‘star’ employee will stay.

This does not, however, imply talent management, succession planning, and leadership development should be relegated to the back-burner. On the contrary, these initiatives should be front-and-center on the minds of your leadership team now and the reason is a simple “numbers game.”

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