Sunday, February 22, 2009

Succession Planning

Marshall Goldsmith, Harvard Business School, renown executive coach and author, writes in the January 09 issue of the Harvard Business Review, on succession planning and why it is many 'nominated' successors fail to gain the promotion into the top job.

Goldsmith points to the inability of potential successors to build relationships with stakeholder groups prior to promotion. Many executive managers are tapped on the shoulder by an existing CEO and assured they will transition into the top job - only to find that when the time comes, the board appoints someone else.

Appointing someone into the top job is as much about confidence in their abilities as it is in their prior experience. On the surface it appears logical to suggest an insider should recieve the promotion. Afterall they know the ropes, they know how things are done. All of that may be true. Do they have the confidence of the board?

Being known as an excellent employee is not sufficient. Being 2IC often means you operate in the shadow of the current CEO or Director. It is not safe to assume that person is promoting your talents to the board - afterall not all CEO's feel that sure of their own abilities. The CEO might want you to succeed him or or her, on the other hand they may be trying to keep you on board, avoiding conflict between potential successors or simply trying to be friends with everyone. You have to do the work.

Goldsmith suggests six stakeholder groups a potential CEO should be working with - in advance of a potential promotion. These include, the current CEO, peers, direct reports, customers, analysts (substitute funding bodies) and the board. Most potential CEO's focus only on building relationships with the current CEO.

This is not about currying favours or building up markers for future leverage. Relationship building is a long-term exercise. It takes time and patience. Building relationships requires diplomacy and a desire to give back as much as you get - often more - with the certainty of not knowing whether all this work will be any help in the future.

What is know for sure is this. If you aspire to the CEO's role in your current organisation and you fail to build long-term, sustainable relationships with all stakeholder groups then you increase the chance of failing to achieve the top job.

Let The Journey Continue
John Coxon

John Coxon & Associates
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2 comments:

Ben Simonton said...

Goldsmith's analysis is probably correct for many companies. But they are sick companies and so is Goldsmith's advice.

He recommends that executives become politicians if they aspire to being CEO. But politicians are never effective in running a company, more often than not running it into the ground. Besides, the troops rightfully disrespect politicians and they are the ones who determine the success or failure of a company. Operational effectiveness requires humility, integrity, honesty, openness, and the like, all quite opposite to those characteristics of an effective politician.

Sucking up to peers, direct reports, customers, analysts (substitute funding bodies) and the board leaves little time to become an expert manager of resources and functions. Besides, it is the board's responsibility to get to know senior executives so that they will be able to select the next CEO.

But if one really wants to become CEO, it might be a good trade. It is not one I would make or recommend.

Best regards, Ben

JC said...

Welcome Ben, thank you for your comment.

I believe you have touched on an issue for up and coming managers. That is they never actually learn the reason fro their existance as a manager.

I often suggest to those I work with that they need to be aware of the trap whereby they become so engrossed in the politics they forget that they need real people to make things happen.

I use the example of when someone is promoted into a senior management role they often forget all the management behaviours they didn't like to see in their former boss and fall into the trap of repeating those very behaviours themselves.

For those reading these blogs, Ben Simonton has on offer a very good e-book on management, based upon his own experiences as a manager. I have read it, I recommend you do also. It may be purchased from Ben's website @ www.bensimonton.com

John Coxon