The CEO as the keeper of the culture

Including succession planning as part of your A/E or environmental services firm’s strategic plan is crucial to ensuring the continuation of the company culture.

In this turbulent time, organizations— including A/E and environmental services firms— are turning to lean operations, having the right people with the right skills in the right place is non-negotiable. CEOs, presidents, and other firm leaders are saying, in essence, what Jim Collins writes in his book, Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap… and Others Don’t: “Look, I don’t really know where we should take this bus, but I know this much: If we get the right people on the bus, the right people in the right seats, and the wrong people off the bus, then we’ll figure out how to take it someplace great.”

Part of taking the firm “someplace great” is having a leadership succession plan in place that not only ensures that a company’s leadership will be taken care of in the future, but that the firm’s culture and organization’s values will be too. And as HR leaders and representatives at our respective firms, it is our responsibility to communicate to the senior leadership the importance of including the aspect of culture in the leadership succession plan.

An overview
Leadership succession planning is a fundamental part of the strategic planning process and must be linked to the organization’s business plan and the organization’s workforce planning and talent development. Leadership succession planning identifies and, with proper executive coaching, grooms candidates for future openings in key positions due to lost leadership, new markets, or merger or acquisitions. This activity is the sum of many separated but integrated activities such as linking forecasting, career planning and development, assessment, and performance appraisal.

To effectively plan for leadership succession, the firm must first clearly articulate its strategic goals and objectives regarding long-term changes in direction and growth. Second, the organization must forecast staffing requirements consistent with these business objectives. Third, the firm’s board of directors must challenge the CEO as to where the top executives of the future will come from and who will be their replacements? Fourth, the company needs to decide on how to identify a successor. Fifth, there needs to be contemplation on how the information will be shared with others in the firm. Sixth, seek outside advice. And, finally, seventh, create a timetable.

Factors to judging future success
There are several factors found in a successful leadership succession planning process. The most typical ones are:

* Senior leaders are personally committed to the planning process.
* Senior leaders hold themselves accountable for growing staff.
* All staff is committed to their own self-development.
* Success is based on a business case for long-term needs.
* Succession is linked to strategic planning and annual business planning.
* Leadership competencies are identified and used for selection and development.
* Senior leaders form a partnership with human resources.

HR leaders should communicate the following phases to firm leadership and make sure they are put to action in order to achieve a successful leadership succession plan— which includes the continuation of culture.

Phase 1: Link strategic and workforce planning decisions
* Identify the firm’s long-term visions and direction.
* Analyze future requirements for products, services, and technology.
* Connect the plan to the core values and beliefs of your organization.
* Connect the plan to the needs and interests of all shareholders and stakeholders.

Phase 2: Analyze data for gaps
* Identify core competencies; technical competencies; and what the organization will need five, 10, and 15 years from today.
* Identify all critical positions and make sure they are included in the organization’s plan.
* Determine current supply and anticipated demand.
* Determine talents needed for the long term.
* Develop an annual business plan based on long-term talent needs, not on job replacement.
* Identify high-performers who are almost ready to step into new, critical positions.

Phase 3: Identify your talent pool
* Identify talent with critical competencies— early in their career and frequently.
* Analyze external sources of talent.
* Use 360-degree feedback for individual development activity.
* Assess competency and skill level of the organization’s current workforce; works best if an assessment instrument, such as an assessment instrument from Lominger International (www.lominger.com), is utilized.
* Identify who will be eligible for retirement within the next five years.
* Managers need to identify the responsibilities, skills, and competencies that will be needed by their replacement.
* Background information on potential successors, such as education, experience, skills, appraisals, and potential must be reviewed.

Phase 4: Develop your succession strategies
* Develop your organization’s recruitment and retention strategies.
* Develop your organization’s development/learning strategies, such as planned job assignment and rotation, formal development, coaching and mentoring, assessment and feedback, action learning project, and shadowing, to name a few.

Phase 5: Implement your succession strategies
* Link succession planning to human resources processes such as performance management, compensation, recognition, recruitment and retention, workforce forecasting, and planning.
* Develop a comprehensive communication plan and strategies for maintaining senior-level commitment to the process.
* Develop a system for providing feedback and encouragement to potential successors.
* Seek outside advice from time to time to critique your organization’s progress.

Phase 6: Monitor and evaluate
* Track your selections from talent pool.
* Listen to feedback from internal talent and exit interviews.
* Analyze 360-degree feedback information from customers, employees, and stakeholders.
* Assess response to changing requirement and environmental needs.

A few closing thoughts: First, focus on more than just technical competencies; consider team-building and leadership development requirements. Second, design your plan with upward mobility and lateral succession. Third, organizations must offer appropriate training and developmental opportunities, not generic leadership training programs. Fourth, hold managers and leaders accountable for succession planning. And, finally, share the data with staff, if not, you run the risk of losing promising staff if they don’t understand the firm has a plan for their development.

A.J. Lindemann is corporate director of human resources at Wood, Patel & Associates, Inc. (Phoenix, AZ). Contact him at alindemann@woodpatel.com.

For future information on succession planning, check out Best Practices for Succession Planning, by Mark R. Sobol, Phil Harking, and Terence Conley, and Effective Succession Planning, by William J. Rothwell. Resources are available in bookstores, including www.amazon.com