EMERGING LEADERS ASSESSMENT: Feedback for Alignment, Development and Succession

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May 5, 2007 - By Scott Anderson

The Chief Executive Officer of a large trade association had asked for OI Partners’ help in assessing the strengths and development needs of their emerging leaders. In addition to identifying “high potential” managers and possible successors, the organization wanted to provide these selected participants with individualized feedback and career development action plans.

The senior leadership team of this well-regarded organization had worked successfully together for many years under the same CEO. Now approaching retirement, the CEO was faced with assessing internal succession candidates for his own position as well as identifying the next generation of leaders to be developed for the future. It is anticipated that 75% of the senior team will retire within five to ten years.

In order to assess and develop their bench strength, the officers and senior executives had identified 12 key middle managers as having greater leadership/succession potential. Each executive encouraged their selected direct report(s) to participate in a career assessment and path planning exercise.

The organization also was interested in identifying the strengths, development needs and career path preferences of the selected participants, and then creating experiential learning opportunities for development and alignment purposes. The focus of the assignment was to address the following questions:

• Who are the emerging leaders for the organization’s future?
• What developmental plans are needed to improve overall leadership competency?
• Who can step-up should key vice presidents and/or officers leave the organization?
• What could the organization do in order to better support its emerging leaders?

Individual career assessment interviews were scheduled with the 12 selected participants during which we became better acquainted personally/professionally, reviewed their backgrounds and career aspirations, discussed the organization’s culture/emerging challenges and talked about how the assessment tools would assist them in taking charge of their own career development.

Next, each person completed a leading online assessment/development instrument to ascertain their similarity to a comparison group of 5,600 successful senior leaders on 18 competency areas and five key leadership capabilities including:

1. Self Management
2. Problem Solving
3. Team Building and Teamwork
4. Organizational Capabilities
5. Sustaining the Vision

Individual follow-up sessions were conducted with each participant to review their results/recommendations and consider the appropriate next steps relative to their own career/ leadership development plan. Each was encouraged to initiate a career path planning discussion with their sponsoring upline manager to engage and align support. Each executive team member was likewise briefed and prepared for these one-on-one planning sessions.

Finally, an aggregate summary of the interview and assessment results was developed and presented to the senior leadership team at their annual strategic planning retreat. The presentation included an overview of the participant’s strengths, development needs and career path preferences as well as observations on the organization’s culture and group dynamics/attitudes. Additionally, a sampling of career development opportunities (leveraging real time experiential learning) was shared along with strategies for focusing development to improve organizational effectiveness and outcomes.

In addition to the “group portrait” of the emerging leaders and summary of key organizational/ cultural dynamics, the following results were achieved:

• Five individuals were identified as clearly having senior leadership succession potential;
• Twelve career development plans were developed and implemented;
• The organization has more closely aligned the performance objectives of senior and mid-level managers;
• A new, more outcome-based performance appraisal system is being implemented;
• Retention, development planning and mentoring are now actively supported as effective means for growing the next generation of leaders.
• A seminar program has been developed for groups of “high potential” managers who have been identified as up-and-coming leaders for the future. The format is highly interactive and combines lecture, case study, role playing and roundtable discussion groups.

Committed to growing from within, this organization has continued to be proactive in its efforts to assess emerging leaders for career development and potential succession planning purposes. Subsequently, they have implemented both individual and team development action plans; invested in a web-based, self-directed employee development system; instituted several rotational assignments for broader leadership exposure; and have identified an internal successor to the CEO, who is currently mentoring his protégé to assure a smooth leadership transition.

Scott Anderson is managing partner of OI Partners in West Michigan. The firm serves as a leadership resource to individuals and teams in securing the advantages of organizational change through Leader Development, Performance Improvement, Career Realignment and Transition/Outplacement. A graduate of Valparaiso University, Scott is also a Fellow Manager with the Institute of Career Certification International. He can be reached at 616-454-6670 or sanderson@oipartners.net.