Phone (02) 6658 0775
More

Succession Planning: Hire Leaders from Within

To Hire Leaders from Within, or to bring in Outside Leaders? That is the Question

Finding skilled workers to fill open skilled positions is among the top challenges in virtually every organisation. As the economy improves, top talent will have more choices and attrition will accelerate. In addition, “X” and “Y” generation leaders will require us to evaluate our approach to career progression/options, work-life balance and global factors. This, along with strategic uncertainty, the impact of social media and data overload, and the increasing velocity of business, indicates mounting people challenges ahead for businesses large and small.

Sometimes hiring external candidates to meet these needs is a sound strategy. However, according to research by the Center for Creative Leadership, an astonishing 66% of senior managers hired from the outside fail within 18 months. Clearly, our historic view of leadership and talent pipeline readiness will have to be redefined.

Strategic Human Resource Management (SHRM) research indicates that many organisations have addressed the near-term challenge with creative solutions such as hiring retired employees as consultants or temporary workers. Others offer more adaptive working conditions such as flex hours, telecommuting, part time and job sharing. While these tactics help bridge the gap, given the statistics above, they do not represent a solid strategic approach to fulfilling the organisation’s long-term talent needs.

The Harrison Assessments Talent Solutions outline a fresh approach for mitigating the above challenges and will help redefine the traditional view of succession planning. For more information on Harrison Assessment check out this short video.

Years ago, succession planning was primarily focused on the C-suite. In far too many cases, succession planning has been defined by “list management” and subjective “popularity criteria.” More recently, many organisations have identified high-potential (HiPo) candidates at mid-level and above to create bench strength for potential openings in senior positions.

Looking ahead, successful organisations will define their talent pipelines beginning at entry-level jobs—early on identifying HiPos based on a new set of criteria, and increasingly applying technology to manage the process. The strategic imperative will purposefully focus on assessing the talent pool at every level of the organisation.

The predictive outcome will be more highly motivated employees, fewer gaps in filling key positions and reduced attrition, all contributing to increased competitive advantage and bottom-line results.

Harrison Assessments believes that careful and informed talent management can lead to successful succession choices and long term profits for your company.

For more information on how Harrison Assessments can help your business with Succession Planning click here

Naturally myself and the team are here to help so if you would like to discuss you business succession plan connect with us today

Regards Sean

Source: Harrison Assessments International