Training Industry Magazine - Summer 2022 - 27

50% to 70% of executives fail within
18 months of taking on the role,
regardless of whether they were an
external hire or promoted from within,
according to research from the
Corporate Executive Board (CEB).
According to DDI's Global Leadership
Forecast 2021, " Leadership bench
strength hits an all-time low. In
2020, only 11% of human resources
professionals said they have a strong
enough bench to fill leadership roles. "
The costs are staggering according to
HBR: " Many large companies fail to pay
enough attention to their leadership
pipelines and succession
practices.
That leads to excessive turnover at the
top and destroys a significant amount
of value-close to $1 trillion a year
among the S&P 1500 alone. "
Generally, the succession process
focuses on two key areas:
Identifying critical job roles that
need filling
(C-suite, executives,
etc.), as well as other jobs essential
to the business, (sales, research and
development, technology experts,
production, customer services,
marketing, logistics, maintenance,
etc.). In performing this step, there
is consideration for: Evaluating the
importance of each role, establishing
timelines for the urgency of
replacement candidates, alignment
and balance of key leadership
strengths on the respective teams
and identifying niche skills unique to
the organization.
Understanding the existing talent
bench strength of individuals. This
review is based on skills, experience,
education and performance ratings.
Next, determine how to develop
existing talent to meet future
succession needs to establish a
strong pipeline.
The problems with succession planning
arise in key area number two, where
the ingredient to accurately identifying
authentic leader talent falls short.
Identifying current talent based on
an
inventory
education
and
of
skills,
training
experience,
without
a
validated assessment tool does not
Inherent personality risk factors, or
ineffective coping behaviors under
stress and conflict, so that effective
development plans can be formulated
to help candidates minimize their risks.
When scientifically validated assessment
tools for employee selection screening
are used to identify talent, this assures
that jobs are filled with the best
fits and that people are developed
congruently with their strengths and
talent. The same objective data should
be part of succession planning. There
are additional considerations in the
succession planning process, such
as competitive forces; external talent
availability; business strategy; diversity,
equity and inclusion (DEI); finding
hidden talent for upskilling; technology
and retention.
provide a clear picture of the true talent,
skills gaps and capability of a leader.
There are simply too many blind spots
and subjective data points used in the
evaluation process. While these limited
inputs are part of the overall process,
there needs to be an upfront measure
of each individual's potential using
validated assessments to measure:
In-depth personality characteristics,
(Big Five) traits and vocational
strengths.
Intrinsic motivators to align future
roles with one's passions, values
and interests.
This " top to bottom " approach is just that.
This means that all executives, even the
C-suite, leaders and employees should
be assessed and developed according
to their own true talent, gifts and needs.
This also provides key insights to identify
the traits of executive positions that need
to be filled in the future. It is important
to gain a clear reading on where the
executive talent and bench strength
exists today. By assessing and analyzing
the current individual executive profiles
and team profiles, organizations can
ascertain what gaps, lopsidedness or
obstacles may exist that need to be
addressed to reach future performance
and succession planning goals.
Talent diagnostics and key positions
mapping happens next. During this
process, it is important to identify
misplaced or misaligned executives
and talent and then to creatively design
and recommend options to connect
these leaders with more suitable roles
and responsibilities. After key mapping
and assessments are administered to
respective employee groups, next
is
A strategic succession planning approach
that utilizes deep-dive assessments,
analytical capabilities, forward thinking
and a transformational approach prepares
all levels of leadership for a far improved,
competitive future of positive returns and
for enterprise-wide, inclusive leader and
talent development. A strategic approach
to succession planning involves an all-in,
" let's get this done " attitude with buyin,
ownership and transparency, top to
bottom. This is to maximize measurable
success and accelerate performance
results and sustainability of leadership
bench strength and growth.
TRAINING INDUSTRY MAGAZINE - SUMMER 2022 I WWW.TRAININGINDUSTRY.COM/MAGAZINE
to begin filling pipelines and having
respective leadership teams focus
on developmental planning for the
various levels of employees. This
requires involvement of leadership
teams cascading down throughout
the organization to focus on the
development of their employees.
Coaching and development are
critical components to enterprisewide
strategic succession planning
processes. This includes assessing
and debriefing the C-suite members
with their own assessment results for
two reasons: One, for improved selfawareness;
and two, to gain better first|
27

https://www.businessinsider.com/reasons-executives-fail-2015-3 https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/new-ddi-study-reveals-leaders-are-struggling-with-burnout-which-could-create-retention-issues-301229724.html https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/new-ddi-study-reveals-leaders-are-struggling-with-burnout-which-could-create-retention-issues-301229724.html https://trainingindustry.com/wiki/performance-management/the-big-five/ https://hbr.org/2021/05/the-high-cost-of-poor-succession-planning https://www.trainingindustry.com/magazine

Training Industry Magazine - Summer 2022

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