Every company we speak to is concerned with losing, finding and keeping good managers. When there’s an opening, Senior Managers immediately want to rush to fill those org chart boxes by posting the job on line, or by engaging a search firm. But maybe they shouldn’t rush.
Recently, we began to challenge clients to think about these open positions in a different way–before starting the search process. We ask these questions:
- “Those might be the right boxes on the org chart now, but what should those positions be in 3-5 years?” The industry and world will change, so shouldn’t the future organization reflect those changes?
- “Who will help lead this company in a few years, and what skills and knowledge will they need?” There are probably undeveloped future leaders already working here! What roles and education can we give them so that they learn, are challenged…and stay?
- “How do we prepare our middle managers to lead?” These employees probably got promoted based on technical skill, not management ability.
These are the questions that, when answered, lead to a true leadership pipeline that will help to ensure motivation, retention, continuity, and a sustainable culture of leadership and management development.