Leadership Levels – Transition

An effective plan details the specific skills and competencies required at each of the four levels of leadership within an organisation (informal, people, organisational, strategic).  Current leaders need to come first; an assessment of current leaders’ skills and competencies against these specific criteria is crucial.  Identifying what skills and competencies need to be developed prior to moving to the next level is the basis for a succession plan.  High Performance consults with organisations to establish these skills and competencies, assess current capacity/capability, and develop programs for transition to the next level.

 

Internal and/or External Facilitation

It is crucial to involve internal leaders in the facilitation of leadership development programs as part of practical succession actions.  This creates a culture of coaching and the receptiveness of the participants is greatly increased.  However, successful programs also need external facilitators for many of the ‘soft skills’ necessary for change management, innovation, leadership transition, and coaching skills.  The impact on the attendees and their motivation is increased by using an external specialist who understands their work culture.

 

Strategic Focus – The Next 5 Years

Succession planning needs to involve the Board and/or Senior leadership group as the leaders of tomorrow may need to have different competencies than past successful leaders.  High Performance collaborates with clients to develop a succession plan linked to strategic outcomes – including maximising internal talent before recruiting externally. 

 

Vision – Values – Behaviours

Any succession plan must be relevant to the organisation’s stated vision.  Where is the organisation going?  What values are important in our leaders and staff to achieve this?  What competencies and resulting behaviours are needed in our leaders?  Competencies and behaviours that link to leadership at each of the four levels must be explicit or the organisation’s values will not be on display consistently. The resulting operational focus will disconnect the organisation from achieving strategic objectives.  High Performance works with leadership teams to clarify vision and values while codifying behaviours at each level.  Assessment and development programs then are created to manage on-going succession.

 

Practical Application

Many organisations state their desire to have a succession plan in place, yet operational and immediate recruitment demands often sidetrack the initiative.  High Performance supports practical application of succession planning by providing clients with a range of tools and criteria from which to choose.  “You don’t have to reinvent the wheel; you just need to make the plan relevant to your organisation.”   We work with Boards, Senior Leadership Teams and leaders at all levels to create customised succession plans and to implement effective leadership development.

 

Assessing Your Future Leaders

Beyond the assessment which is part of a detailed succession plan, learning from other successful organisations also needs to be considered.  Through continual research into effective organisations and leadership teams, High Performance develops assessment profiles for leaders or teams at each of the four levels which reflect Australian workplace ‘best practice’.