Why is Succession So Badly Managed? A Globally-Thought-Provoking Subject

By Michelle Malay Carter on November 6, 2007 

Board Ignorance Surrounding CEO SuccessionI made a comment to a CEO succession post on Harvard Business School’s Working Knowledge entitled, Why is Succession So Badly Managed?

My comment was no more?brilliant and certainly not as detail-rich as many I have posted here, but I have seen a substantial spike in global traffic driven by my comment.? Many of these new?readers are staying on the site for 10 and 20 minutes; several have surpassed the one hour mark.

So as not to deprive my regular readers of this globally-thought-provoking?insight, I am posting my slightly-refined comment here as well.? Some of it is review:

Succession planning should be a piece of a larger talent management system.? A critical key to an effective system is eliminating some of the conflicting interests.

Contrary to current talent management models, two levels of talent development accountability are needed.

1. The manager needs to be accountable for developing employees to maximize their current potential in their current role.

2. Managers-once-removed need to be accountable for long-term career development and mentoring of their direct reports once removed for future assignments.

Making managers accountable for spotting high potentials can lead to talent hoarding when underutilized employees are well behaved, and conversely, high potentials frequently clash with their managers because they are nipping at the managers’ heels and they threaten their managers.

It is only when organization’s institutionalize the idea of regular face time between employees and their managers-once-removed will high potentials “suddenly appear” when they were right there under the nose of the manager all along.

So in the case of a board of directors, it should be accountable for both assessing potential and long term development of the CEO’s direct reports.?? If they do this, then,?when it’s time for CEO succession, they only need execute their plan, not begin their planning.

I’m OK. You’re OK. Let’s fix the broken system.

Filed Under Accountability, Executive Leadership, High Potential, Managerial Leadership, Requisite Organization, Succession Planning, Talent Management

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