Succession planning in management

May 12, 2010 Leave a comment

This is an exercise that is most often done in larger organization but never really in small or mid-sized companies. Of course, most entrepreneurs might believe that they can’t be replaced or that everybody will stay on board forever. You might thing that until someone important leaves the company. Then of course comes a flurry of panic on how to deal with the situation and you look at promoting the most senior or what looks like the closest replacement available.

Moving up the hierarchy requires coaching and mentoring

I am a strong believer that in order to successfully move up the ladder, you need to not only have the right skills and experience, but also to get proper coaching and mentoring BEFORE and AFTER you get a promotion. I can never understand managers promoting people assuming that somehow they will become a great manager because they got more responsibilities. I have seen too many times great contributors to the business become less valuable as they get higher on the food chain.

Working the career path

Each employee has some form of career path. It is up to the manager to understand this path and guide the person the best way possible in achieving this plan in accordance to the need of the Company. Some employees might need more support, even some training in order to learn what is needed before embarking on a bigger challenge. The better you work and coach your employees, the more options you have as you need to plan to replace someone in the organization.

Building a succession map

While you don’t want to think about someone leaving the company (including yourself), there are many conditions under which a key employee might decide to leave for another opportunity or might not be able to work anymore (health related issues). It is very important to take the time at least once a year to build a succession map. This process will allow you to determine where you have gaps for certain replacement roles as well as what needs to be done in order to bring specific employees at the right place.

Employee succession planning

Succession does not always come from obvious places

Once you get all your managers to do the same exercise, you might be surprised on a few potential succession – widening opportunities to coach and mentor specific individuals that will better support your business in the long term. Just as well you might realize that some people used to be highly marked as potential successors but have now been set aside. This exercise is also a very good conversation piece with your managers – getting better insight on how they are seeing their direct reports.

Filed under Business Principles, Human Ressources Tagged with , , , , , , ,

Why I don’t believe in the virtual office

February 4, 2010 Leave a comment

In this day and age of Skype, chat, video conferencing, fast data transfer and IP telephony, we are seeing a lot more people looking at the virtual office concept. While technically possible, I don’t believe that this is really viable for the majority of people. Sure you have exceptions; some people are capable of being highly productive and autonomous in a virtual office. But that’s just it: these are exceptions.

Kids in the house
I love my kids but no matter how often I explain to them that I am working while at home, they are not really grasping what it means. Writing a document is already a challenge but I can definitively rest assured that when the phone rings, Murphy’s Law will prevail and one of them will come and see me about something they need. Quite a distraction when you’re making an important business call. And needless to say that every time I work from home, my youngest 2-year-old son just assumes that I am there to play with him on the Wii.

Chores to be done in the house
There is always something that needs to be done in the house. When you leave for work for a real office, you have no choice to leave these behind (and see how you can do them in the evenings or the weekend). But when you’re working from home, there are right there staring at you – waiting for you to do something.

Discipline and execution
I find that preparing to go to work entice a certain level of discipline and execution that do not pan well when working from home. Sure the one in a while day working from home in your PJs can be fun but I do not see how you can provide a regular and constant contribution to your company while doing this every workday. Also, you need to have the discipline to resist the temptation to take a break and watch your favorite TV show or answer the home phone.

Just tactical work
While the virtual office might work for very precise and tactical tasks (again not talking about the unique category of individuals that can do it all from a virtual office), forget about doing any kind of strategic planning. Even more if you need others to get involved. Strategic planning requires teamwork and collaboration and cannot be done in a vacuum. So yes, the virtual office can work if you have an engineer that is working on a precise piece of code or an artist that is designing new graphics for your web site (assuming they can ignore the points mentioned above).

Coaching and support
Working from home will rob you from one of the most important value in working in an office: the ability to receive feedback and support. When remote, people easily assume that everything is fine and dandy. Nobody things of checking with you and listen in to what you’re working on. No manager present to see how you are doing, to provide support and help you if he feels you are in a rot. No one is there to see if you are doing well – both mentally and physically.

Execs should never be in a virtual office
Members of the executive teams need to be engaged in many strategic discussion (and not just on a quarterly basis). Execs are mentors, coaches and are there to support all the employees – whether you are managing them directly or not. Executives are also there to show a good example of work ethics and performance. I would love for someone how you can achieve all of this remotely from your standalone virtual office.

Filed under General Tagged with , , , , , , , , , , ,

How to solve high employee turnover …

October 27, 2009 1 Comment

Do you have a problem with high turnover in your company? Do you know why? Of course it is easy to blame others: competition is paying more or have better benefist, employees leaving don’t see the value of what you’re trying to build, etc. I find that high turnover is caused by a few and basic elements…

Vision, Mission & Core Values

Do you know those little things that you keep pushing because you never have time to nail them? Well, I find that employee attachment is highly dependent on company culture – and your vision, mission and those often-neglected core values are at the heart of it. Do your employees understand and like your vision and mission. For example, if you want to be the biggest at something, make sure that this mission resonates with EVERY employee. Would you commit to a long-term relationship with someone that does not share your values and culture? Neither would your employees. They might start working for you (as you could start dating someone) but ultimately your core values (or lack thereof) will impact their desire to stay for more than a few years.

Leadership at the top

How respected is your senior leadership? Do people aspire to follow them thru the good and bad times (can’t just be all good)? Great leaders will make do great things from ordinary people – and employees like to be driven towards success, to be pushed to new boundaries that will help them grow their personal and professional life. Senior leadership is hard to find – when we see one, get him at all cost. Too many times I see companies reluctant to pay a little more for a senior leader. I always believed that paying a little more for your top people is a smart investment. Just think on the cost saving or opportunities gained if you can save a few additional employees each year.

Weakest link: middle management

I have seen countless companies where the middle management layer is pretty weak – either because the managers where never trained to become people managers (it is quite different to manage human capital than it is to manage a spreadsheet). Are you investing in your managers to be with leadership development programs? Are you coaching and mentoring them? If you have a high turnover, probably not … to become a good people manager requires time and effort. This is not a natural gift that most people have. So if you just promote people because you like them or because they have been with the company long enough, you are creating yourself the problem of high turnover.

Employees are humans

Each person in life wants to be appreciated, valued, challenged and need to feel important. No matter how many employees you manage, you need to focus on this. Thinking that people will be as motivated as you is very optimistic. Take the time to listen to your employees, to understand what drives them (everybody is different and unique), to communicate at the person’s level.

At the end of the day, you should never be surprised when someone leaves the company. If you are, it means you are not close enough to the problem and your high turnover will just continue, or even get worse…

Filed under Business Principles, General, Human Ressources Tagged with , , , , , , , , , , ,

The Power of Perception

August 3, 2009 3 Comments

As I was mentioning in my post Get the best out of your employees, communication is key to a company’s success. Today, I want to give you more insight in better understanding your employees; which is critical if you want to better communicate with them.

To begin, it is important to understand that we all have a unique and different PERCEPTION of what the REAL WORLD is all about. Sure there are NATURAL LAWS – fundamental patterns of nature and life that human experience has shown to be valid but beyond that, but we all have PRINCIPLES that we believe to be true about ourselves, the world and our place in it. It is our principles (or you can say our belief window) that drive all of our behaviors and actions. For example, if someone believes that in order to be respected, he needs to be rude and loud, he will act accordingly.

Now we all have our own examples of behavioral patterns that we do not like. In most cases, we try to change the behavior without understanding the principles behind the actions. Why is someone cheating in sports? Most likely they do not believe that they can win otherwise, not because they want to cheat. But this behavior can be explained with the fact that if indeed all your opponents are juiced, and then you should do it to. Our reflex is to say, “Stop cheating” but unless we can convince the athlete that he can be successful without cheating, he will continue.

Understanding the belief window of someone is the secret key to understanding his or her behavior. Next time you see someone that behaves in a way that you do not approve, focus on the WHY versus the ACTION. Instead of saying, “Stop screaming,” ask why is he screaming. You will be surprised once you start asking WHY how much people can open up to you. Only once this has happened that you can then work with this person in changing some of their principles. Discuss with this person alternative principles. For example, if someone believes that they need to scream in order to be understood, have them think that maybe sometime doing things softly with others could be more beneficial.

While changing someone’s belief window is powerful, do not forget that this takes time to measure. This is ideal when you are in a coaching phase with this person. Sitting down with him as many times as needed. In many ways, growth is the process of changing principles in the belief window. Ultimately, we are all seeking harmony and inner peace, which can only happen when our behaviors help us fulfill our needs (to be loved, to live, to feel important and our need to variety). Most importantly, start this process with yourself – we all have behaviors that are not acceptable of could be improved on. Seeking to change first and improve our own behaviors is a great driver to have others do the same – that’s the power of perception.

Filed under Business Principles, Human Ressources Tagged with , , , , , , , ,

Get the best out of your employees

July 30, 2009 2 Comments

Too many times, I have seen companies with significant inefficiencies, disengaged employees and high turnovers.  Here are some of my personal tools that I use to get the best out of my teams. To begin, I believe that everybody needs to learn and you have a responsibility to support and coach him or her in making them better – both personally and professionally. You need to take the time to listen to what drives and motivates them. Provide constant feedback on what is working and what needs improvement. I believe that if you provide the right environment, an employee should have a pretty good picture of themselves and how they are doing.

How you need to manage someone all depends on where they are in their learning curve of becoming autonomous. Ever notice that after a few months, most employees will have a little down turn or a slump. We often classify this as the end of the honeymoon period. Unless you bring back that people to the right level of motivation, you just entered a slow process of seeing this employee being less and less involved and valuable for the company. As a manager, you need to continuously monitor the evolution of your staff and support them accordingly. The one size fits all does not work. This is what is called Situational Leadership.

Directing is often the de facto style of any entrepreneur when it comes to managing people. We think that’s how we can get the best of everyone and the only way to make sure they execute as planned. But there is a limit on the number of people we can manage this way. Also as people gain experience in your business, they need to get more responsibilities and autonomy. If you stay stuck in a directing mode, you often see your most talented and senior people leave for “another offer they could not refuse”. Leaving you clueless on how to tap in to your talented resources. Of course, directing is needed with new employees as they need to be oriented, work with them in prioritizing their tasks; define their goals and objectives.  Directing done the right way allows you to teach and show the ropes to your employee. Providing feedback and doing regular checks are key elements of a good “director”.

Coaching is the next level of management style that is of course quite time consuming but is a required step nonetheless. This is where you explore the true potential of an employee, clarify what the person has to do, sharing feedback on how this person can improve and of course encourage and give them praise when needed. Being a good coach is hard work but the benefits are enormous – if you begin doing it well, you will be surprised how much more you will get from your talented resources.

How many times have you heard that one employee has complained that he feels he is not supported in his work? Ever wonder why? Without the coaching stage, we do not build a trusted relationship where our employees will come and see us when they need support. Also, some managers will have a tendency to take over when a problem is brought to their attention – the employees needs to be helped in find solutions together (listening and collaboration, facilitating, problem solving) and they need immediate feedback when they are taking decisions – whether they have done right or wrong. They need to understand what has worked and what needs to be done differently.

Once you have succeeded in coaching and supporting, you can move to delegation. You can only delegate when someone feels they are trusted. Otherwise they will only try to please you and will not really make the right decisions. Delegates also mean that you properly empower them. Giving a new responsibility to someone without the tools to succeed is guaranteed failure. Also delegating does not mean that you cannot challenge them – actually you need to be more challenging than we often think. Out of a challenge comes out better plans and decisions – it should be perceived as a positive thing …

Finally, the biggest tool to get the most of your employees is communication, communication, and communication. I find that we make the common mistake of assuming that everyone knows how to communicate – where it is the direct opposite, starting with ourselves … Whenever I see that someone is not executing as I am expecting, I begin to challenge myself about my ability to communicate. Was I clear with my goals and objectives? Where the requirements well defined? Perception is reality and unless we understand someone else’s perception we cannot make ourselves well understood. Avoid the “did you do your job well” debate and focus instead on “where the objectives clear and well understood”. You will better engage your employees in the process and get them to work with you in making things better.

Filed under Business Principles, Human Ressources Tagged with , , , ,

Follow

Get every new post delivered to your Inbox.

Join 1,060 other followers