Does Succession and Talent Management Work?

AMAzure have released the results of an interesting survey about Succession and Talent Management. They have looked back over a 10 year period with a variety of organisations to see what has worked....or not.

Here are the summary findings:

For organisations looking to introduce and implement high impact talent and succession management programmes, the key messages seem to be:

1. Don’t begin the implementation process by introducing the “succession solution” of high potential assessment, general training and development activity, talent reviews and succession planning software. This doesn’t imply that these activities can be ignored, but that they need to be part of an overall game-plan and clear set of strategic priorities, and connected within mainstream business decision making.
2. Identify the pivot roles that represent the technical expertise that will be critical to your organisation’s strategic future. Programmes around general management competency seem to have less impact than the accelerated development of specialist know-how.
3. Recognise that a different leadership emphasis will be needed at different points in the corporate life cycle. Don’t allow one-size-fits-all management competency frameworks and criteria to constrain the progression of emerging leaders. Focus on building excellence in specific leadership skill sets rather than attempt to develop broad based general management effectiveness.
4. Make decisions about who to invest in. Targeted development on key individuals reaps greater benefit than any attempt to build capability across the full management population.
5. Utilise job moves to provide key managers with the experience they need to progress and build a culture of coaching that equips managers to develop their people. Don’t assume that the introduction of management training or business education will provide an alternative to leadership development.
6. Ensure your top team is fully engaged in this activity and are taking a personal involvement in coaching and developing the next generation of leaders. Succession reviews that either are a “talking shop” or “rubber stamping exercise” don’t build organisational resilience.

What didn't work?

Organisations that had invested in an infrastructure of high potential assessment, general management training and development, succession reviews and information technology didn’t see significant gains in organisational performance. The existence of a “good” process wasn’t an indicator of positive organisational outcomes.