A quantum leap in executive career plans

Workforce, June, 2003

Dear Workforce:

How can we develop a career path for executives over the next 10 years?

--Where to Start, executive in the manufacturing industry, New Delhi, India

Dear Where to Start:

Jeanne T. Lambkin, associate principal, Buck Consultants, has this advice:

The first requirement of any executive-development program is to have ample talent to develop. In addition to innovative hiring practices, an organization must have a stellar employer brand (i.e., employer-of-choice reputation). Employees have sophisticated, often skeptical, perceptions about the marketing of employment relationships. Independent and authentic valuation of a company's commitment to people is essential.

Further exacerbating the problem of creating a long-term executive-development program is the nomadic employment behavior exhibited during the late 1990s. This behavior is likely to rebound with the economy as Gen X and Gen Y employees wonder "Is this all there is?" and demand greater meaning from their life's work--not to mention competitive pay, comprehensive benefits, and healthy work environments.

Because the external pool of candidates will be smaller and therefore in greater demand, having a strong bench of internal candidates will be a crucial source of competitive advantage. Therefore, the 10-year strategy must be comprehensive in its approach. We recommend integrating three things. These will nurture a culture that genuinely values learning, provides realistic work/life balance, and demonstrates ethical values throughout the organization.

Performance Management. At every career stage, meaningful feedback is vital. Unfortunately, many organizations get so distracted by the performance-management process that they lose sight of its purpose. Simply put, managers must communicate effectively (frequently, clearly, and two-way) to ensure that employees understand responsibilities and have a realistic perception of performance and appropriate advancement/development opportunities.

Succession Planning. What are the critical roles? Who fills them? What is the optimal tenure? While workforce-management professionals are very familiar with these questions, succession is often considered to be largely just a workforce-management concern. Organizations excel at building a pipeline of talent when both business-unit and corporate executives agree that shaping the careers of future leaders is their responsibility as stewards of the company.

Leadership Development. The technical and managerial skills needed to excel are obvious components of leadership development. So too is the need for a global perspective in a world made increasingly small by technology. Creating a vision, driving change, and valuing diversity are expected leader competencies. What leaders know will not be significantly different a decade hence, but the speed of decision-making will continue to increase. As organizations become even more electronically egalitarian (e.g., e-mail access to the CEO), leaders must "think on their keyboards." Employees, customers, and competitors have access to more information than ever before and will continue to get smarter and expect more of those in leadership positions. Last, but most important, is the need to establish organizational ethics by demanding commitment to a code of conduct. As ethical horror stories continue to appear in the media-and courtrooms-it is evident that ethics must be an integral part of leadership development.

Although it is advisable to have a template or set of templates for career paths, to reap the true value of diversity and appeal to the very talent the organization is hoping to nurture, the organization should develop its high-potential employees in a wide variety of ways. Expatriate assignments don't work, for example, for two-career couples (nor do they work well for the manager who is "out of sight, out of mind").

As for return on human capital, the development of the best and brightest into leaders of the organization requires workforce-management professionals to be fully engaged as strategic partners. You should analyze each position within the talent pipeline and produce a customized and proprietary development plan that is as valuable as new-product R&D projections or other business strategies. With criteria to ensure equitable selection of high-potential leaders, customized career path and development plans can be produced. A comprehensive career plan--one that reflects the employee's individual interests--is an important part of a culture that values its workforce and a strong builder of the employer brand, which is the key ingredient to attracting future generations of leaders.

Standing Out in Job Marketing

Dear Workforce:

We're working on recruitment activities for a retail business in the seasonal tourist area of Nags Head, North Carolina. We've exhausted local hiring and are targeting qualified workers who live 50 miles from our place of business. We're considering providing those we hire with a transportation subsidy, and have analyzed its impact on our bottom line. What else can we do to recruit and-more important-retain these people?