Leadership Development Training: The Forgotten Aspect of Succession Planning "Leadership is one of the most observed and least understood phenomena on earth." – James MacGregor Burns Most organizations understand the value of succession planning, but very few have developed their future leaders. In a recent survey, 86 percent of the respondents agreed their organizations' future depended on the effectiveness of the future leadership. Yet a study found almost 75 percent of respondents felt their leadership development programs were not very effective. Today, many people have the capabilities of being a follower or a leader, depending upon the situation they are put in and the skills they are provided. In fact, Barnes and Krieger, in their seminal work, The Hidden Side of Organizational Leadership, suggested that leadership is more of a reflection of an organization rather than a person.

1. Leadership Development Training: The Forgotten Aspect of Succession Planning
Before you are a leader, success is all about growing yourself.
When you become a leader, success is all about growing others.
~ Jack Welch
What? How?Select Reading List
Why ?
Recommendations
Books:
Bennis & Goldsmith, Learning to Lead: A
Workbook on Becoming a Leader
Dale Carnegie Training, The 5 Essential
People Skills: How to Assert Yourself, Listen
to Others, and Resolve CConflict
Dotlich & Noel, Action Learning
Gray & Brown & Macanufo, Game Storming:
A Playbook for Innovators, Rule Breakers and
Change Makers
Higgerson & Joyce, Effective Leadership
Communication
Landsberg, The Tao of Coaching
Lencioni, Overcoming the Five Dysfunctions
of a Team: A Field Guide
Leonard & Swap & Barton, Critical
Knowledge Transfer: Tools for Managing Your
Company's Deep Smarts
Lynn, Quick Emotional Intelligence Activities
for Busy Managers
Paterson, The Assertiveness Workbook
Rikleen, You Raised Us, Now Work With Us
Rothwell, Succession Planning: Ensuring
Leadership Continuity and Building Talent
From Within
Shaw, Sticking Points
Young, Micro Messaging : Why Great
Leadership is Beyond Words
Studies/Articles:
Aon Hewitt, Best in Class Succession
Management: Who Will Take the Baton
Brandon Hall Group, State of Succession
Management 2015: Increasing Investment
and Accelerating Automation
Conger and Fulmer, Developing Your
Leadership Pipeline
Deliotte Consulting LLP, Global Human
Capital Trends 2014
Donnelly, How to Create a Leadership
Development Program
Groves, Integrating Leadership Development
and Succession Planning Best Practices
Institute for Court Management, Building
Bench Strength: Succession Planning
Readiness
Institute of Executive Development, 2014
Report on Senior Executive Succession
Planning and Talent Development
Monarth, Evaluate Your Leadership
Development Program
The vision and goals you create for your leaders
should be believable, or you could lose your
employees trust in leadership program.
(CNN) reported on December 27, 2010 that
beginning in January 2011, 10,000 baby boomers
in the United States will turn 65 years of age every
day for the next 19 years.
Informal Things Managers Can Do:
Develop a mentoring relationship with
reports.
Be transparent and honest with your
team.
Create a process for regular reciprocal
feedback with your direct reports.
Identify small projects for individuals to
have hands on leadership experience.
Provide group and individual leadership
exercises in team meetings to further
develop skills.
Measure leadership progress of
individuals regularly.
(See envelopes below for a selection
of leadership exercises to use with
your team)
Developing a Formal Program:
Create and encourage organization wide
forums.
If possible, go off site or to an area not
traditionally used for day-to-day
activities.
Align the program with current and
future needs of the organization.
Keep it simple and leverage technology
for consistency purposes.
Keep it transparent. Transparency
results in better retention and
engagement of top performers at your
organization.
Encourage executive level leaders to
participate in or provide training in the
program.
Provide regular communication with
staff regarding program development.
Pair classroom training with real life
exposure to leadership.
Add an assessment to identify potential
for advancement and leadership skill
gaps after participation in the program.
Strategic Planning: An organizational
management activity that is used to set
priorities, focus energy and resources,
strengthen operations, ensure that employees
and other stakeholders are working toward
common goals, establish agreement around
intended outcomes/results, and assess and
adjust the organization's direction in response
to a changing environment.
Succession Planning: Premised on the goal of
having the right people, with the right skills, in
the right place, at the right time. To be a
success, it requires foresight and planning by
organizational leaders. (replacements for those
who move on)
Succession Management: Identifying and
developing high potential leaders who can
execute and add to the strategy and goals of
the institution.
Leadership Development: Activities that
improve the skills, abilities and confidence of
leaders.
Leadership Development Strategy/Program:
The goals and expectations for leaders in your
organization. Defines the key capabilities,
competencies, and experiences a successful
leader in your organization will have.
Before you begin a
leadership development
program make sure you
can easily answer these
questions.
What do you
value as an
organization?
What do you believe
in as an organization?
What behaviors
does the
organization want to
reward and
recognize?
What do you want the
future leaders in the
organizations to
accomplish?
Organizations need to build
leadership capabilities at every
level and create a “succession
culture” as an integral part of
their corporate fabric.
Keep it Flexible:
Programs identify leaders who are “ready now”, leaders
who will be ready “soon,” and leaders whom the
organization should “keep an eye on” and provides
differing training and leadership opportunities at each
level.
Or provide a shadowing program where individuals are
selected to follow leaders though out the organization or
be paired with an executive coach.
Or target developmental experiences for rising stars
through exercises provided by their managers.
True succession planning
takes time-
It’s a process, not an event.
~Tracy Chambers