Managing Talent Pipeline
Contributors:
Gregory Sonis
James Metzger
Travis Winder
Middle-market and emerging enterprises are particularly challenged when it comes time to groom “high-potentials” to become the leaders they need tomorrow. If these organizations have identified high potentials, how can the company help them build the skills and cultivate the mindsets necessary to be successful leaders? How can the company ensure a path within the organization of continuous development and improvement? And remember, not only do you have to find high potentials with leadership potential, but you must also ensure that those leaders reflect true diversity of gender, ethnicity, and sexuality. How can you find people in under-represented constituencies and get them into leadership development tracks? Before candidates for leadership training are identified, you need to first map out your hiring needs. Putting together a long-term workforce planning model can be difficult. However, the effort will yield valuable strategic thinking. How many staff do we need in three years? How many managers? With what skills? And what are we doing today to achieve that result? How big will the organization or department be five years from now? What do we need to do over the coming five years to have effective leaders in place? All of these questions and more shape our thinking as to how to solve for the long-term and not just a short-term crisis. As an example, if we can forecast today that in two years we will need 10 entry-level positions filled, what would be the best strategy to build a pipeline that ensures we have those 10 positions filled with strong candidates? This gets away from thinking about the next month or two in hiring needs—the acute pain points—and builds a longer-term strategy that puts the best people in those positions. The same thinking applies to leadership development--except that the stakes are higher. Look ahead, identify needs and candidates. And then build a program that provides sufficient time to train and develop strong leaders. One tip: Engage company’s clients/customers to stretch, test, and find practical solutions that help organizations take their most promising leaders-in-training and turn them into the guardians of the future. One thing is for sure — the run-of-the-mill approach is not going to produce enough great leaders to meet future organizational needs. And neither will an approach that lacks focus or clarity on strategy and objectives.
32 I ACHIEVENEXT HELPING YOUR MANAGERS SUCCEED
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