Building Relationship Continuity

As the unemployment rate in the state of Iowa continues to drop and the national one also moves in this direction, I listen to more and more leaders across the country describe that their biggest strategic challenge right now is how to recruit and retain good employees. Many for-profit and non-profit organization are dealing with open positions where they just can not find the right people for the right seats on the bus, referencing an old Jim Collin’s metaphor.

As I participate in these strategic level discussions, I am reminded of the following quote by Roger Herman: "In the future, success will depend on a stable workforce of people who can adapt to rapid change. That's because no matter what else shifts in the market, relationship continuity is increasingly going to be what matters to customers, to suppliers, and to investors.  Even in a fast economy, it's still longevity that counts.” 

What we have to realize this morning is that the future has now arrived and we as leaders need to respond to it in a thoughtful and concerted effort. This problem is not going away and will more likely be compounded as more and more Baby Boomers retire.

Here are three quick recommendations as we all seek to build relationship continuity. First, succession planning is a hot and getting hotter topic during many strategic reviews. This will continue to be an issue, but we also need to realize that in order to build relationship continuity, we need to start focusing more on engagement planning and in particular how to develop better supervisors, managers and leaders who people want to stay and work with through change.

Second, we need to spend more time discussing collaboration within the company and between the company and it suppliers. Collaboration is the sum of a multitude of specific behaviors. Figuring out how to collaborate better will improve the potential for people to stay longer in their jobs and be more effective.

Finally, we need to focus more on the processes and systems that build cultural clarity and operational excellence. These two pieces are intertwined and will make a major difference in recruitment and retention.

This week, pull your team together and begin talking about the importance of relationship continuity. The future has arrived.

Geery Howe, M.A. Consultant, Executive Coach, Trainer in Leadership, Strategic Planning and Organizational Change Morning Star Associates 319 - 643 - 2257

People Before Numbers

My search started during a conversation at the Spring 2011 From Vision to Action Executive Roundtable. As a small group of us explored issues related to performance management and talent development plus how to prepare for effective succession planning, I not only realized how inter-connected all of these issues were but I also realized that I wanted to know more about how very large companies integrated these elements into a coherent and consistent talent management system.

During the coming weeks and months, I started asking questions about this subject to a variety of leaders in many different organizations. While the answers were interesting, I just did not feel like I was getting my arms around the whole picture. Then, when reading a recent issue of the Harvard Business Review, I came across some information about a book published in 2010 that I had missed reading. It was authored by Bill Conaty, former Senior Vice President at General Electric, and Ram Charan, co-author of the #1 New York Times Bestseller book Execution. Their book, The Talent Masters: Why Smart Leaders Put People Before Numbers, Crown Business, 2010, explains that “If business managed their money as carelessly as they managed their people, most would be bankrupt.” Together these two authors explain that talent is the leading indicator of whether or not the success of an organization happens over time. As they explain, “In the fast-changing global marketplace, the half-life of core competencies grows shorter.... Only one competency lasts. It is the ability to create a steady, self-renewing stream of leaders.”

Furthermore, Ron Nersesian, the head of Agilent Technologies Electronic Measurement Group, who is quoted within the book, points out, “Developing people’s talent is the whole of the company at the end of the day. Our products all are time perishable. The only thing that stays is the institutional learning and the development of the skills and the capabilities that we have in our people.”

The book, The Talent Masters, explores in-depth how a variety of companies like GE, P&G, Novartis, Hindustan Uniliver, and Agilent, create and manage their total leadership development systems including such elements as same-day succession planning, performance management, leadership development and career management. The essence of the book revolves around seven core principles. They are the following:

1. An enlightened leadership team, starting with the CEO who really “gets it” and sees talent development as a competitive advantage.

2. A performance-driven meritocracy, a willingness to differentiate talent based on results as well as the values and behaviors behind those results.

3. Explicit definition and articulation of values, citing strong company beliefs and expected behaviors.

4. Candor and trust, leading to better insights into people’s talents and potential, focusing on development needs to accelerate personal growth.

5. Talent assessment/development systems that have as much rigor and repeatability as systems used for finance and operations.

6. Human resource leaders as business partners and trustee of the talent development system with functional expertise equal to the CFO’s.

7. Investment in continuous learning and improvement to build and continuously update the leadership brand in sync with the changing world.

As I worked my way through the book, I enjoyed seeing how the principles played out in different companies and yet resulted in the same consistent and positive results. For those of you who are seeking new insights and perspectives on these subjects and have the time to read 302 pages, I believe you will find this book very worthwhile.

Geery Howe, M.A.Consultant, Executive Coach, Trainer inLeadership, Strategic Planning and Organizational ChangeMorning Star Associates319 - 643 - 2257

The Silver Tsunami - part #2

Walk around many offices on any given day and one will see quite a bit of white hair, wrinkles, and even some balding men! As the customer base has aged, so has the work force. And this is causing all sorts of challenges.

First, we have two problems hitting the aging workforce at the same time. In some industries, there is a strong incentive to retire and to retire soon. Some hope this will result in a savings because older workers cost more than younger workers. Nevertheless, the incentive programs to get older employees to retire sooner than later can initially be quite costly.

With some older workers leaving the work force or being encouraged to retire, we also run into the problem of a massive brain drain. With white hair, usually comes some perspective, wisdom, and lessons learned. There also comes some clarity about why certain things work the way they work. Quite regularly now, I listen to older employees explain how a certain system was built or problem was solved 10+ years ago to the amazement and illumination of everyone in the room. This loss of perspective will cause many problems at a strategic and operational level. Some people retiring should be put on retainer so, when needed, their wealth of experience and knowledge can be tapped to solve new or emerging problems. They also could be valuable mentors for up and coming new people.

The other problem with the aging work force is that many 50+ year olds can not afford to retire. Their long term savings were wiped out in the whole September 2008 affair. Thus, they are going to be working for a very long time, especially if they need healthcare benefits.

This aging workforce translates into many people not being able to be upwardly mobile in the work place. Senior people will stay in order to rebuild their retirement savings. Mid-level managers who want to become senior leaders can not find a space to continue their career. Therefore, supervisors can not become mid-level managers, and so forth. This new “glass ceiling” is very demotivating for young workers who have excelled at climbing up the proverbial corporate ladder in a relatively short period of time. Now, many have complained to me in private: “When is that old person just going to move on? Isn’t it time?” The answer for many older workers will be “no” and for many younger workers the wish will be “please go and go now.”

When we step back and look at the problems of an aging workforce, we realize that there are major strategic elements in play. From succession planning to service delivery continuity, from career management to financial resource management, the Silver Tsunami is not going away. This week plan to discuss these issues at your next strategic review. It is a problem that will grow in magnitude during the coming years.

Geery Howe, M.A. Consultant, Executive Coach, Trainer in Leadership, Strategic Planning and Organizational Change Morning Star Associates # 319 - 643 - 2257

Work Your Plan: Implementation vs. Entropy, Order and Complacency - Part # 1

THEME: Fall 2010 From Vision to Action Executive Roundtable Report

FOCUS: Work Your Plan: Implementation vs. Entropy, Order and Complacency - Part # 1

Monday morning: October 11, 2010

Dear friends,

This past spring I was invited to lead a group discussion around the following book: Collins, Jim. How The Mighty Fall and Why Some Companies Never Give In, HarperCollins, 2009. To date, it was one of the highlights of the year. In particular, I thoroughly enjoyed watching this group of leaders grasp the concept of a “flywheel,” i.e. mass x velocity = motion. The tremendous depth of clarity that surfaced during the discussions has generated great results throughout the summer and into the fall.

When I reflect on all that we explored at the Spring 2010 From Vision to Action Executive Roundtable, and all that has taken place since then plus the quality of the discussions at the Fall 2010 From Vision to Action Executive Roundtable, it may seem simplistic or trite to write that truly change is the constant now. And when change is the constant, then organizations are in constant motion. The goal of all this constant motion is an ordered flow and specific outcomes. But experience teaches us that with constant motion, we also experience entropy, i.e. the degradation of motion to non-motion. We forget as leaders that when things, people and teams are in constant motion, then they want or tend to move toward non-motion or have the desire to slow down.

Furthermore, when we implement something new at the personal, team or organizational levels, it comes from a new or “disorganized” state and therefore it does not trend toward entropy. However, once something moves through the trough of chaos and continues on toward system integration, then “degradation” of motion takes place and we witness a drop in urgency. With this degradation, we see the rise or the tendency for the complacency to take over. It is not easy to accept that disorder always moves toward order

At the same time, once a system becomes orderly, not only does it no longer move forward with the same level of progress and focus, but it, over time, also trends toward complacency, i.e. a complete lack of urgency. Therefore, we as leaders have to remember the insights Dan Cohen gave in his book, The Heart of Change Field Guide: Tools and Tactics for Leading Change in Your Organization. Harvard Business School Press, 2005, about the reasons why change Initiatives slow down. They are as follows: exhaustion on the part of the leaders, failure to see progress, turnover of key change agents, flagging team morale, and taking too long.

John Kotter in recent writings notes that the world will always selective order over disorder. Furthermore, he notes that producing order is rewarded and encouraged within organizations. He says that order creates entropy (lack of motion) and complacency (lack of urgency) on many levels. For leaders, an ordered flow, a very desired outcome, always generates it’s own demise because it creates a lack of forward momentum and complacency. In short, the world will select order whenever it gets the chance., but, we must remember that ordered flow also produces entropy faster.

This week recognize that seeking order can generate short term success and long term problems. Entropy and and lack of urgency are normal issues that leaders and mangers need to deal with on an on-going basis.

Have a marvelous week,

Geery

P.S. In 2010, nearly every strategic planning process and strategic review that I have participated in has had a discussion about one common problem, namely, what to do about succession.

Finally, after months of looking for a good article on this subject, I am delighted to report that I have found one. In the October 2010 issue of the Harvard Business Review, Anne Mulcahy, former Xerox CEO, writes an excellent article called “Xerox’s Former CEO On Why Succession Shouldn’t be a Horse Race.”

In 2009, Xerox named Ursula Burns as it’s new CEO, marking the end of a nearly drama-free succession process. This article explores how Anne Mulcahy spent nearly a decade orchestrating this smooth transition. Looking back on the long process of choosing and then grooming her successor, Mulcahy explains how she did it and why she started that process soon after she became CEO.

For those of you who look over the horizon and realize succession is part of your near future, then please read and discuss this article. For those of you who think succession issues are a long way off, please read this article and recognize that in order to have a smooth transition one needs to start sooner than later otherwise you could end up with a highly dysfunctional transition and senior team.

Geery Howe, M.A.Consultant, Executive Coach, Trainer inLeadership, Strategic Planning and Organizational ChangeMorning Star Associates319 - 643 - 2257