Want Succession Success? Six Imperatives to Guide You

Want Succession Success?

Six Imperatives to Guide You

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We all know about the shortages in

leadership and leadership failures,

there’s plenty of data out there

illustrating these shortfalls.

Over the last decade, while investments in

leadership development have been steadily

increasing, the rate of leadership

readiness has been steadily decreasing.

Maybe we need to rethink.

If Learning is acquiring knowledge or skill…

and…

If growth is applying that new learning…

…then we seem to be doing a lot of

learning, while achieving very little

growth.

Acceleration is the discipline of growth.

(Hint: That means shifting our focus to the application of Learning.)

Leadership Acceleration is struggling to become a discipline.

As HR professionals, we need to

answer a few burning questions…

Burning Questions We Need to Answer:

• How will we make the shift from having people who are “not ready,” to having leaders who are “ready now”?

• How do we accelerate that process?

• Is readiness a state of being? Do we one day arrive?

• Or, is it a discipline of taking on new challenges?

Ready Now All organizations are on some kind of journey

to establish leadership readiness.

At DDI, we use six words, or

ACCELERATION IMPERATIVES,

as guideposts for the journey:

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What do these six imperatives mean?

We’re glad you asked—read on.

COMMIT: Adopt acceleration as a business imperative.

AIM: Define leadership in the language of business context.

INVEST: Make shrewd investments in leadership Growth.

ASSESS: Assess readiness gaps and give great feedback.

GROW: Make the right development happen.

SUSTAIN: Aggressively manufacture the energy for Growth.

COMMIT

• Senior leadership decides—proactively—to make

Acceleration a priority.

• This is more than simply investing in a program.

• Leaders need to treat the growth of talent like sales

growth or cost reduction.

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I M P E R A T I V E

Learn to COMMIT

• Adopt Acceleration as a business imperative!

• Nail the business case. Leave no skeptics.

• Debate leadership needs among top management.

• Pinpoint capacity gaps.

• Own the metrics of success at the top.

• Drive it like it is your core business.

AIM

• Knowing what you are looking for means defining

success in context.

• Your business. Your strategy. Your culture. Your context.

• It’s more helpful to aim at a few broad targets.

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I M P E R A T I V E

Learn to AIM

• Define leadership needs simply, clearly

• Focus on the few: Fewer than 5 business priorities

• Don’t let the present blind you to the future

• Mark the hazards—clarify difficult transitions

• Seek to accelerate the whole person (knowledge,

experience, competencies, personal attributes)

INVEST

• You must decide how you are going to distribute limited

resources for growth.

• It’s tough for organizations to acknowledge the fact that they

cannot grow everybody at the same rate—but that doesn’t

mean that you can’t grow everybody.

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I M P E R A T I V E

INVEST

You won’t achieve your business needs if you can’t make

some decisions about who will have accelerated development

opportunities at a certain time, and who will not.

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I M P E R A T I V E

INVEST

• If you plan and handle your investment strategy the right

way, you have a much better chance at achieving growth at

the rate your business needs.

• Remember, the highest return comes from investing in

those who have not yet shown value, but show the

potential to do so.

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I M P E R A T I V E

Learn to INVEST

• Become disciplined talent scouts

• Clarify definitions: performance, potential, readiness

• Confront the implications of differential development

• Don’t ask a test to do what a manager can learn to do better

• Facilitate rigorous debate about potential—be behavioral

• Develop a disciplined routine for review

ASSESS

• Once you’ve developed your investment strategy you are

ready to assess.

• Create an assessment strategy that scales to the different

needs you have. Fully assess your workforce.

• In the discipline of Acceleration, assessment and feedback

fuel improvements that create growth.

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I M P E R A T I V E

ASSESS

• This imperative is critical to understanding gaps—for both

individuals and various groups within your organization.

• Scaling assessment is based on volume, risk, and the level

of implementation difficulty.

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I M P E R A T I V E

Learn to ASSESS

• Assess readiness gaps and give great feedback

• Assess the whole person

• Scale assessment rigor to level of risk

• Use assessment analytics to plan future business

scenarios

Learn to ASSESS

• Don’t ask (or allow) managers to do what assessment

can do better

• Cultivate 3-part Courage:

• Sr. Management: courage to acknowledge that judgment errors happen.

• Leaders: courage to take the journey inward.

• Talent Management: courage to promote structured, accurate assessment.

GROW

• Make the right development happen so that growth occurs.

• Development must be scaled to the audience.

• It is essential to have a diverse array of learning solutions to

ensure the right growth happens.

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I M P E R A T I V E

GROW

• For large groups of leaders across the enterprise, a university

approach might work.

• Or, you might implement a learning journey for a cadre of

people preparing for a special application or specific role.

• Perhaps a coach for a leader in transition.

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I M P E R A T I V E

Learn to GROW

• Make the right development happen.

• 10/20/70 is not just a catch-phrase

• ‘Self-driven acceleration’ is an oxymoron—it takes

a village

• Factor in Business, Role, and Self

• Create a journey, not an event

Learn to GROW

• Make it matter to the business—to me

• Don’t just learn. Apply. Apply. Apply. (Hint: That produces Growth!)

• Powerful development experiences are

assets—invest wisely

• Don’t neglect the middle (i.e., mid-level leaders)!

SUSTAIN

• In times of rapid learning, there is energy. Excitement. Fear.

• Positive learning tension is the energy of Acceleration.

• It can be manufactured with:

– Great communications

– Powerful measurement dashboards that illuminate progress

– Well-aligned accountabilities for all

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I M P E R A T I V E

Learn to SUSTAIN

• Create engagement through positive growth tension

• Make growth tension a goal. Measure it.

• Give accountabilities teeth. Measure. Monitor. Reward.

• If failure seems uncomfortably plausible, you’re on the

right track

Learn to SUSTAIN

• Where learning is concerned, your shareholders don’t

know what’s good for them (they won’t encourage risk)

• Institutionalize the belief in human growth

Let’s Recap.

Ready Now Six imperatives serve as guideposts for Ready Now leaders:

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Invest

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Grow

Sustain

COMMIT: Adopt acceleration as a business imperative.

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2

3

4

5

6 Commit

Aim

Invest

Assess

Grow

Sustain

AIM: Define leadership in the language of business context.

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2

3

4

5

6 Commit

Aim

Invest

Assess

Grow

Sustain

INVEST: Make shrewd investments in leadership Growth.

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2

3

4

5

6 Commit

Aim

Invest

Assess

Grow

Sustain

ASSESS: Assess readiness gaps and give great feedback.

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2

3

4

5

6 Commit

Aim

Invest

Assess

Grow

Sustain

GROW: Make the right development happen.

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2

3

4

5

6 Commit

Aim

Invest

Assess

Grow

Sustain

SUSTAIN: Aggressively manufacture the energy for Growth.

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2

3

4

5

6 Commit

Aim

Invest

Assess

Grow

Sustain

Ready to Begin Your Leadership Journey?

Take these next steps to succession success:

Visit our website:

www.ddiworld.com/expertise/succession-management

Contact us: (800) 933-4463 or info@ddiworld.com