Essay Grade

Succession Planning
Unlocking human potential
HRAC ANNOUNCES
ITS NEW BOARD OF
DIRECTORS
Unlocking human potential.
The Human Resources Association of Calgary (HRAC) is dedicated to the
advancement of human resource management and leadership. The more than 2500
members are your strategic business partners in business, education and government
organizations. A not-for-profit organization, HRAC’s mission is to provide professional
development, support professional certification, and offer networking opportunities for
professionals engaged in a broad scope of human resource activities.
Alykhan Bandali, CHRP
STEP Energy Services
HRAC President
Laura Hansen Somers, CHRP
LHS Associates Inc.
President Elect
Alykhan Bandali, HRAC President, is pleased to announce the new
Board of Directors for 2011 – 2012
Wayne Thomas, CHRP
Alliance Pipeline Ltd.
Past President
Kevin Neish
Telus
Secretary Treasurer
by Laurie Maslak
“OO” Succession
Planning:
Replacing the
C-Suite
August 24, 2011, marked a significant day in the world of
CVTJOFTT*UXBTUIFEBZ4UFWF+PCTBOOPVODFEIFXBTTUFQping down from the role of CEO at Apple and Tim Cook, former COO, would be replacing him. This did not come as a
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While the world wondered how the markets and investors
would respond, the corporate message was loud and clear:
Tim Cook had been preparing to assume control of Apple
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It was during this same week that the nation responded to
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of vision, optimism and determinism. The difference between these two announcements, the NDP was left to question “Now what?” and “Who next?”
Marino Giancarlo, CHRP
Saddle-ite Management Consulting
Director Communications
Andrew Walcot, CHRP
Gowling Lafleur Henderson LLP
Director Major Events
Fran Parolin
City of Calgary
Director Major Events
In recent articles by Carey, Feigen and Cashman, (2011),
Landsburg, (2011) and Mills (2011), effective C-suite succession planning ensures sustainability of leadership, legacy
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Yet all point to the important and critical role of boards in
assuming responsibility and accountability for this success.
They attribute the success of world-class C-suite succession
capability to the following 10 principles:
Naveen Balkhi
Agrium, Inc.
Director Professional Development
& Education
Patricia Fraser
LIV
Director Professional Development
& Education
Christopher King
Crown West Recruitment
Director Marketing & Advertising
1. The act of succession planning at the “OO” level is viewed
as a process, not an event. It is not a transaction that finishes
with the placement of a new “OO” in position; it is a systemBUJD QSPDFTT JOUFHSBUFE JOUP B DPNQBOZT UBMFOU NBOBHFment approach that has beginnings, development, placement and then new beginnings. It is a continuous cycle
versus a finite process.
Janice MacPherson, CHRP
Glenbow Museum
Director Membership & Volunteers
Laura Mensch
Gowling Lafleur Henderson LLP
Director Legal Affairs
Kurtis Grenkow, CHRP
Strike Energy
Director Strategic Initiatives
For information on events
and membership inquiries please visit
www.hrac.org
or call 403.269.3303
Kari White
HRAC
Manager, Member Services
2. Succession planning at the “OO” level is focused on strategy. Good CEO succession planning at the board level provides an opportunity for the board and executive team to
become intimately connected with the company strategy,
to ask the important questions around the current and future strategy, and to become clear on the strategic-driven,
management-informed set of leadership competencies
needed to execute the strategy.
3. Succession identification is about character, ability, fit
AND legacy. It is important to ensure the values, character
and integrity of “_OO” leaders are evaluated and trusted. It
4
www.hrac.org
Succession Planning
Unlocking human potential
8. Look outside as well as inside. A highly functioning
board (and CEO) will have a quiet “stable” of external candidates to draw upon, in response to required changes to a
business strategy or environmental forces that necessitate
a change from the internal succession pool identified. This
keeps a board and executive from developing myopic vision within the business and ensuring they are abreast of
talent external to the business.
appears that the more self-focused the CEO, the greater the
potential danger exists for the organization. The more enterprise-focused the CEO to both people and performance,
the more enduring value is created. Even excellent leaders
can fail; most often, this failure is linked back to a lack of
fit within the environmental context required. Succession
planning at the “_OO” level is not done “looking backward”;
it is done by bringing forward the best of the past, and
looking to the future.
9. Develop and implement a clear, disciplined and datadriven process. Morris Chang (CEO of Taiwan Semicondutor Manufacturing Company) stated, “Without strategy, execution is aimless; without execution, strategy is useless.” A
good succession plan requires a clear, disciplined process
with tangible metrics to measure success. A formal competency and evaluative model will help to minimize bias and
maximize fairness and consistency in the process. Clear
and consistent metrics provide a recipe for comparative
evaluation and calibration of both internal and external
candidates, with objective data/feedback to help explain
decisions.
4. Develop an abundance mentality versus scarcity mindset. Malcolm Gladwell spoke of the success of Howard Moskowich, a distinguished marketing consultant, and his work
with Prego. When Moskowich was asked to help Prego develop a strategy for overtaking Ragú as the dominant market leader, he did his research through focus groups and
found that his research did not point to a specific preferred
type of spaghetti sauce; rather there was a market for a
number of preferred sauces (plural). He repeated this finding with other types of foods and found the same pattern.
He concluded that in our search for the “one” best item (or
successor), we may overlook the other “bests” that also exist; that, in fact, there is usually more than one “best” successor to consider, develop and nurture in preparation for
the right context (preference) to surface. The same can be
said for a strong “_OO succession plan.” A good succession
plan identifies a number of potential “bests” or ready-now
candidates in well-run companies.
10. On-boarding the new “_OO” for success. A 2009 article
in The Globe and Mail noted that most CEOs have only
three business quarters to prove their success. Given that
most change efforts require a minimum of 18 months for
full integration, it appears that the new leader is set up to
either fail from the starting gate, or be lucky enough to
reap the benefits of their predecessor who was deemed
unsuccessful! Retention of C-suite leaders has become an
increasing issue in the business community and the first
year remains critical. Successful planned transitions, such
as those due to retirement, have been accompanied by a
period of parallel mentoring opportunities with the “outgoing” and “incoming” leader working side by side for an
overlap period. The reality is that not all transitions provide
the opportunity for a smooth, gradual transition. Extra
caution must be used to ensure adequate support for the
new leader in their new role through the use of leadership
coaching or formal mentorship.
5. Ensure the CEO leads the process. The job of the CEO is to
prepare a list of potential candidates for succession, as part
of a robust talent management strategy, and then help the
board and executive team get comfortable in vetting these
candidates. The CEO is responsible for ensuring the development and nurturing of the identified candidates to set
them up for future success. It should be an integral part of
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6. Development planning is essential, not optional. Once a
list of potential successors has been established, it is critical
that they be provided with opportunities to demonstrate
the required strategic, collaborative and silo-breaking
leadership competencies. Stretch assignments, international, cross-functional or cross-business unit exposures
may help in understanding the whole business. Provide
opportunities to build relationships upwards and outwards
as well as participation in reshaping and setting corporate
strategy and cultural change. An assessment of an individVBMTTUSFOHUIT QSFGFSFODFTBOEQPJOUTPGMFWFSBHFJTIJHIMZ
valuable during this phase.
Succession planning for the C-suite is a critical and often
overlooked priority for most boards and executive teams. A
well-designed and executed succession plan linked to the
business strategy can create substantial market value – if
done poorly, it can destroy it.
Laurie Maslak (PhD, CHRP) VP, Principal Consultant of
Talent Management, Right Management. She can be reached
at laurie.maslak@right.com.
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vetted “_OO” succession candidates, through one-on-one
meetings, travel opportunities and mentoring opportunities. The board members benefit from the education, the
candidates benefit from the mentoring and experience,
and the succession process is strengthened.
References:
Carey, D., Feigen, M., and Cashman, K. (2011) Ensuring CEO Succession Agility in the
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Landsberg, M. (2011). In Search of Excellence in CEO succession: the seven habits of highly
effective boards. Heidrick & Struggles Leadership Consulting Practice, White Paper.
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#MPPNCFSH #VTJOFTTXFFL IUUQXXXCVTJOFTTXFFLDPNNBOBHJOHDPOUFOUKVO
ca20110617_227147.htm
6
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Management
Big-Picture
Performance Appraisal
Tying individual ratings to an overall team score shows
senior executives organizational performance. By Paul Falcone
uch has been written about
tuming the annual performance
review process into a “strategic”
corporate exercise. And for good reason.
In an era where intellectual capital defines any company’s ability to stand out
from its peers, measuring that human
capital as a true asset may dictate the organization’s ultimate success or failure.
In reality, though, this challenge has
gone mainly unresolved because managers see pertbnnance appraisal as an
exerci.se that focuses only qvahtatively
on indiidual pedbrmance as the core
M
foundation and huilding hlock of the
perfbmiance review “process.”
Instead, the strategic value of your
company’s annual performance review
exercise lies at the quantitative, enterprisewide level. That’s where the “critical
eyeballs” will be found. Only when your
CEO and senior management team find
it in their own best interests to ensure
that the annual performanee evaluation
“measurement” accurately reflects a division’s standing in the company—as well
as their own individual pentbrmance
score—will this critical exercise be taken
as seriously as it should be.
Getting There
Most managers see perfomiance appraisals as an exercise of benevolence
and compliance. “I know I’ve got to do
this for the employees sake—I’m already
a month behind the deadline for my
team, but I just don’t have the time to
get to it right now” is a fairly common
management response to filling in the
circles on the fomi iuid writing a narrative that sums up 12 months of work. So
much for the Golden Cycle of Performance Management, which is:
• Goal setting and planning.
• Ongoing feedback and coaching.
• Appraisal and reward.
Under the current way of handling
appraisals, the first two steps rarely get
addressed, leaving the culmination in
the third step more theory than reality.
Hence the mandator>’ paj>er cha.st’ at annual review time rather than a system
built on implementation, planned feedback and ongoing communication.
Now picture it this way. A senior exAugust 2007 HRHagazlDB 97
P” Online Resources
ecutive says, “OK, in three months, performance reiews will be due. That
means that I’ll need to meet with my
senior team now to detennine where our
SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats) analysis lies and
where our divisions overall score should
come in so that I have an accurate reflection of my indi’idual performance
on my own report card.”
A slightly difierent focus, isn’t it?
Once you can tie a senior leader’s overall
perfomiance score (and therefore his
merit increase and bonus payout) to the
appraisal score that his team receives,
then “strategic” performance appraisal
will be achieved.
Here’s how it might work in your organization. Let’s say that you follow a
scoring system where a “5” means you
exceed expectations and a “3” means ^ou
meet expectations. Yourfirstquestion as
a senior executive is, “What score accurately refiects my division’s or department’s overall pertbmiance?”
Remembering that yt)u will have to
present tbis to the CEO, you will want as
accurate a refiectiou as possible; Score
your team too high, and you will look
foolish and be Ijrought down to reality.”
Score it too low, and you’ll lose out on
your merit increase and negatively afiect
your career progression potential.
As an example, let’s say you are head
of sales foryour organization. You have a
young team of account executives, but
your produet is selling very well right
now, hoth in terms of volume and margin. YouVe fortunate enough to be in a
niche without tremendous competition,
but you know that won’t last long. You
believe tliat a 4.2 overall rating for your
team would adequately reflect your
SWOT score: “Young team with training
potential, little turnover, high current
profit margins, but competition looming
around the corner…”
You will need to discuss this 4.2 evaluation with your senior sales staff and
make sure that everyone agrees with the
For an example of a 9-bcx graph, see
the online version of this article at
www.shrm.org/hrinagiiirine/07August.
assessment. At that point, your senior
nianagere am go about drafting reviews
of their .staff members, keeping an eye
on the tact that the overall score of eacli
individual team within the sales group
should average 4.2—the targeted score
tbr the entire sales division.
Managers might first draft sample
scores before they write anj’ reviews for
individual employees, in essence using
forced ranking of their best and worst
perfomiers. So if one team manager
chooses to give all her members scores of
5, that’s absolutely fine. However, she
will need to discuss tbis with the senior
manager. Wliy is her team a 5? Whose
team is a 3 and why?
In essence, tliese advance discussions
and agreements as to the team’s overall
score have a unifying and barnioni/ing
effect on the process. Senior managers
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98 HR Magazlite August 2007
must draft their reviews with the overall
4.2 concept in mind, he ahle to defend
their recommendations and push that
critical thinking mind-set down to their
managers.
Assuming the senior manager agrees
with her managers’ initial scoring recommendatioas, they can then set out to
engage employees in the annual review
process itself. Note that with this
“30,000-foot-leveI view” of the playing
field in mind, the managers will he less
likely to inflate grades or otherwise lose
sight of the bigger “divisional” picture.
They’ll also he more prone to tying individual perfonnanee feedhack to your
sales division’s goais.
Once a first draft of reviews is completed, your managers can meet with
you to review the narratives and scores
of individuals in their groups. You and
your managers can then look at each review in isolation, going over individual
category scores, narrative comments,
development plans and the most critical
piece of the review itself: the overall
score at the end ofthe document.
While doing tliat, you will he able to
discuss opportunities to reward top performers, develop training plans as well as
stretch exercises tor those in the middle
of the bell curve, and construct pertbrmaiice improvement plans for those not
meeting expectations. More important,
you’ll ensure that this particular manager’s group averages the 4.2 divisional goal
you’re Uxjking to achieve—or at least
know^ that an>’ deviation will need to he
balanced out hy some other team’s overall average score in your division.
The9-BoxRoU-Up
With these numbers clearly where they
need to he to accurately reflect your assessment ofthe sales team’s general performance, you’re now ready to prepare
your own performance review for your
hoss. the CEO.
Lets assume your company uses
something similar to a “9-hox” succession
planning model to assess the pertbrmtmre iuid pt)tential of its senior executive
teani. The 9-bax model is a simple graph
that shows “pertbrmance'” on the x-axis
and “potential” on the y-axis. Your goal in
this exercise will he to place the sales
function of your company in the appro-
priate box on the grid. (Note that the
nine boxes on the grid consist of three
sets of three boxes stacked on top of one
another. The ideal scenario would be in
the top right quadrant—highest performance and highest potential. The
worst scenario would be in the bottom
left quadrant—lowest performance and
lowest potential.)
Although “potential” is a bit more arbitrary to score and somewhat out of your
control (for example, you may he outsourcing part of your sales function in the
upcoming year, lowering your “potential”
score througli no fault of your own), the
“performance” score Is clearl>- more concrete. In essence, your responsibility will
be to grade the sales function with an appropriate overall score, which makes up a
critical part of your own perfomiance
evaluation. (That’s why it’s so important
that your managers get this right!)
Your goal now will he to justify the xaxis performance score on your own review, which matches your sales group’s
overall rating. You will discuss why you
rated your division a 4.2 and account for
the “gap analysis” indicating what you
will need to do in the tliture to become a
5. Your development plan will focus on
the way you see yourself getting there, fbr
instance, hy promoting Mary, sending
John’s team to advanced product training and placing 14 individuals on perfonnanee plans with 90-day windoTO.
In short, you will be able to demonstrate that you made an accurate assessment of your team’s strengths and areas
for development, know by name the key
players who stand out among their peers,
and have an action plan fbr dealing with
those sales execs who are “struggling to
the minimums.” In addition, your con’ersation with the CEO may tum to your
potentiai successors, their scores and the
timeline necessary to get them up to
speed.
Congratulations, Ms. Head of Sales,
you have just demonstrated the proper
amount of leadership and career introspection that will ensure the highest
merit rating and bonus for yourself, at
least from a talent management perspective. For an added honus, let the
CEO know that you’re expecting your direct reports to meet with their staff
memhers quarterly to assess their
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S O F T W A R E
lcfKi Sehmir: HMnfr^ lUrMHl-. >Uci|Ii’ fSuunlDn”. i1lln«i •tanHmWai
(hW
August 2007HRHiguliu 99
l
progress in terms of achieving the
”measurable outcomes” that you have
developed in this exercise.
You’ll likewise be able to commit to
keeping the CEO abreast of the change
in perfomiance appraisal over time, a
true “human capital metrics” trending
indicator. And voila, the Golden Cycle of
Performance Management is back
working right as it should!
Now Make It
Really Strategic
But your organization isn’t done quite
yet. It still has one more level of roll-up to
undergo before this exercise attains the
highest essence of “strategic.” If traditional performance appraisal focuses on
the individual, and moving it to the level
of “human capital strategy” involves t-ing each division’s overall performance
score to the senior executive’s merit increase and bonus, then the final step in
the process will fall to the CEO. He will
need to create a company scoreeard by
rolling up all divisions’ overall scores into
one giant organizational snapshot. That
snapshot will place each department/division onto the 9-box grid, mapping in
clear picture format which areas are high
performance/high potential and which
ones are not quite there yet.
As is the case so many times when
demographics are mapped out on paper,
there will be some oohs and aahs that
the CEO simply didn’t see up to now.
The divisional “pertbrmance” scores will
no doubt affect or at least influence their
“potential” scores, and a healthy sense of
competition will develop where divisions work to achieve progress both in
competition with each other and within
themselves.
With that one-page dashboard capturing the overall “productivity” of the
enterprise and treating each functional
area as an “individual” performer, the
CEO then grades the entire company’s:
• Human capital overall score.
• Enterprise development plan.
And don’t forget one key ancillary
benefit that your company will derive
from this approach to perfonnanee appraisal: You will be able to publicize the
fact that your organization values individual contributions more than your
competitors. As such, all employees will
receive a performance assessment and
career development plan every year that
rolls all the way up to your division head
and ultimately to the CEO.
Few companies invest in and focus
on their people to that degree. Your
company, thankhilly, can make it a way
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—
-••
Glass Ceiling? Get a Hammer
Holstein, William J . New York Times , Late Edition (East Coast); New York, N.Y. [New York, N.Y]18 June
2006: 3.12.
ProQuest document link
ABSTRACT (ABSTRACT)
As companies are looking for top executives and members of boards, it becomes a self-perpetuating country club.
When you want a new C.E.O., you want someone who has had C.E.O. experience. And when you want a chief
financial officer, you want someone who has been one. But there is so little diversity in those populations. So
companies need to think about how they can get more diversity in the pool. And companies need better
succession planning, both at the C.E.O. and board level, in which they think more conscientiously about bringing in
a broader range of people.
A. I certainly hope so. You would expect them to move up at some point into C.E.O. and board positions. But I think
you have to make some very significant personal choices. Once you become a C.E.O., your life is not your own
anymore. Those can be difficult personal choices, particularly if you have children or a working spouse. Some will
choose to do it. Others will not. The other thing we’re seeing is that a significant number of women are starting
their own companies and becoming entrepreneurs. In some ways, that’s women’s response to the challenges of
moving up in traditional organizations.
FULL TEXT
AuthorAffiliation
William J. Holstein is editor in chief of Directorship magazine.
WOMEN who want to make it to the top in corporate America face many hurdles, but the obstacles are
surmountable, says Linda A. Livingstone, dean of the business school at Pepperdine University in Malibu, Calif.
Here are excerpts from a conversation:
Q. Are women fully represented in business schools?
A. The typical breakdown of an M.B.A. classroom is about 25 percent female. It’s not at the 50-50 level. That’s a
concern, particularly when we see law and medical schools moving to 50 percent or more in terms of female
attendance.
Q. Why aren’t business schools attracting more women?
A. You typically go to medical and law schools immediately after you finish your undergraduate work. But with
traditional business programs, we encourage students to get three to six years of work experience before they
come. That can bump up against the time when women want to start families. Another reason is that many
business schools have a culture of being cutthroat and competitive. But we here are trying to create a very
collaborative, team-oriented learning experience with smaller class sizes. So we’ve seen an increase in the number
of women.
PDF GENERATED BY SEARCH.PROQUEST.COM
Page 1 of 4
Q. Aren’t some women simply opting out of the rat race — to ”off ramp,” as you put it?
A. They certainly are. Some women choose to off-ramp and never come back. That can be a perfectly good choice.
The challenge is when you have women who off-ramp and who want to come back.
Q. What barriers prevent women from becoming chief executives or board directors?
A. Many of those positions are filled by people who have gone through line functions or finance operations. We’ve
had a tendency in many industries to see fewer women with line responsibilities. So if they have higher aspirations,
one of the things women need to do is get that line experience. Maybe they need to find the right mentors, or
maybe they need to take special assignments. They need to take personal responsibility for that.
And as companies are looking for top executives and members of boards, it becomes a self-perpetuating country
club. When you want a new C.E.O., you want someone who has had C.E.O. experience. And when you want a chief
financial officer, you want someone who has been one. But there is so little diversity in those populations. So
companies need to think about how they can get more diversity in the pool. And companies need better
succession planning, both at the C.E.O. and board level, in which they think more conscientiously about bringing in
a broader range of people.
Q. Are executive search firms that bring in outside candidates a bottleneck?
A. The way they could be a bottleneck is if they are going only to people who have had very narrowly defined
experience. The search firms could identify people who may not be at the top level but are down a tier or two. They
could play identification or mentoring or development roles.
Q. How bad was Carleton Fiorina’s forced departure from Hewlett-Packard for executive women in general?
A. As you look back on Carly’s situation, she was obviously a very visible female leader and she left in a very visible
and painful public sort of way. But she had very strong leadership qualities.
Q. Which other women are doing a good job as chief executives?
A. Obviously, Meg Whitman comes out at the top of the list. She’s had some challenges at eBay, but she’s done
some amazing things. And Anne Sweeney, president of the Disney-ABC TV Group, has been very innovative and
cutting edge.
Q. There seems to be a growing number of female C.F.O.’s and senior vice presidents. Will they be able to make it
to the top?
A. I certainly hope so. You would expect them to move up at some point into C.E.O. and board positions. But I think
you have to make some very significant personal choices. Once you become a C.E.O., your life is not your own
anymore. Those can be difficult personal choices, particularly if you have children or a working spouse. Some will
choose to do it. Others will not. The other thing we’re seeing is that a significant number of women are starting
their own companies and becoming entrepreneurs. In some ways, that’s women’s response to the challenges of
moving up in traditional organizations.
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Q. Is it sexism that prevents women from getting to the top or is it that large organizations have a culture that’s
highly driven and hugely time-consuming?
A. It depends on the organization. There is less overt sexism than there used to be. It has become more about the
hugely competitive and challenging nature of running a business that puts a huge demand on anybody. But I’m not
going to be so naive as to say that overt sexism doesn’t exist. We read stories about investment bankers going to
strip clubs. That’s not an environment designed to be welcoming to women.
Q. You personally have made it to the top of a business school. What was your secret?
A. A lot of hard work. I was very fortunate in a couple of ways. I was an athlete in high school and college. That
developed a sense of competitiveness in me. I spent a lot of time around men, competing against them and with
them. I developed an ability to live and work in a man’s world.
Illustration
Drawing (Drawing by Sean Kelly)
DETAILS
Subject:
Career advancement; Women; Business schools; MBA programs &graduates
People:
Livingstone, Linda A
Company / organization:
Name: Pepperdine University; NAICS: 611310
Publication title:
New York Times, Late Edition (East Coast); New York, N.Y.
Pages:
3.12
Number of pages:
0
Publication year:
2006
Publication date:
Jun 18, 2006
column:
Office Space: Armchair M.B.A.
Section:
3
Publisher:
New York Times Company
Place of publication:
New York, N.Y.
Country of publication:
United States, New York, N.Y.
Publication subject:
General Interest Periodicals–United States
ISSN:
03624331
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Page 3 of 4
CODEN:
NYTIAO
Source type:
Newspapers
Language of publication:
English
Document type:
Interview
ProQuest document ID:
433363761
Document URL:
https://ezp.waldenulibrary.org/login?url=https://search.proquest.com/docview/
433363761?accountid=14872
Copyright:
Copyright New York Times Company Jun 18, 2006
Last updated:
2017-11-15
Database:
ProQuest Central
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