86% of leaders believe that succession plans are an important or urgent need, but only 2 out of 10 believe their company does a good job in sustaining an effective way of doing this.
It’s likely that you have leaders who are ill supported to drive the results that will keep your company relevant in the market. In this article, I will show you how your company can be successful by how you make decisions in the professional development and training of your leaders.
1. Make Data Driven Decisions
Having the right people in leadership roles are essential in keeping your company relevant in the market. The gaps in decision making for professional development and leadership training are due to decisions being made by instinct (gut feelings) and without hard data.
Metrics should be included in all conversations surrounding succession planning of leaders and emerging leaders. Key metrics to include are employee satisfaction, attrition and retention rates of critical roles by department and employee level.
If your company has a succession plan in place, now is a great opportunity to cross-reference current leadership training efforts, key performance metrics and employee assessments to make an effective decision on how training and development can optimally support you leaders. Utilizing data driven decisions with the feedback of employees impacted by leaders will help you to position your leaders for sustainable business success.
2. Go Beyond Performance Reviews to Determine Leadership Impact
A person’s ability to lead and their ability to perform in meeting goals are two very different capabilities.
Each year performance goals reflect how well a person did in reaching pre-defined goals and objectives. Although performance is an important factor, performing as a leader requires an ability to influence and engage others to perform. When looking at emerging and existing leaders, include professional development and training that focuses around engagement, the ability to make data driven decisions and communication in their succession plan. Refer to the metrics mentioned in number 1 to measure the effect training has on the leader’s ability to perform.
3. Include Current and Future Business Needs in Your Succession Plan
Who on your leadership team is retiring in the next 1-3 years? Do you know emerging leaders that are ready to fill critical leadership roles in the case of attrition? Evaluating how your employees are currently performing and engaging in efforts that support company goals are essential to include in succession plan consideration. Collaborate with your learning and development team or trustworthy consultant to help you identify how to develop emerging leaders and position them to handle business trajectories that are impacted by internal employee changes and external market demand.
About We Optimize Work:
Executives are concerned that leaders aren't growing fast enough to meet performance needs in a demanding market. We created a framework that allows your leaders to learn essential skills that align with your business needs. Leaders will be more proactive in making data driven decisions that improve work performance, project improvement engagement and retention of top talent.
We Optimize Work created the WOW approach that utilizes a proven framework that allow us to quickly customize workshops that meet direct needs of your company. Our approach helps your leaders to retain the knowledge gained and create tangible action items that impact the bottom line.
Connect with us today:
Email: dtownsend@weoptimizework.com
Website: www.weoptimizework.com
Phone: 615.669.7090