Build Talent Bench Strength Now!

By Trish Holliday

“What you leave behind is not what is engraved in stone monuments, but what is woven into the lives of others.”—Pericles

The expected mass exodus of retirements did not occur; instead it has been a slow stream of retirements. As a result, many organizations have been considering succession management as an important but not urgent issue for their success. This perspective has often created a lack of preparedness regarding talent and being future-ready. Herein lies the urgency for accelerating leadership development within organizations. 

When one thinks of what makes a great leader, it is often connected to the relationships that are created with that leader.  Leadership is about relationships. Part of a leader’s role is to develop others and help them reach their potential.  For business to be successful it needs great talent. Great talent needs to constantly be nurtured and developed.  Research suggests that development is a valuable retention tool. Retaining top talent in today’s competitive labor market challenges organizations to manage and develop talent effectively at all levels. Employees who feel that they are growing and developing in an organization are more likely to stay.  Moschetto (2019) states, “One area where you can get a big bang for your buck is in employee development. Helping employees build their careers demonstrates respect for them. It shows that their work is appreciated and that you’re concerned about their professional growth.”

Organizations with great leaders differentiate themselves with their competitors because talented leaders create high engagement and increased productivity. Developing and training leaders can solve organizations’ largest business challenges. Success is typically connected to organizations that are prepared and demonstrate the ability to leverage opportunities when they occur. Leadership development is about knowing how to exist at the intersection of preparation and opportunity. It is the role of executive leaders in a company to ensure leaders are well-prepared and well-developed.  Often times it is about making sure high performing and high potential employees are given the right opportunities that will enhance their development and readiness for even larger and more influential roles in the future.

I recall an emerging leader telling me that they would not have stayed with the organization if it had not been for the leadership development program they got to participate in while working for the organization.  So many times, we think development programs are too expensive or there is too much to do to take the time out of daily operations to develop future and current leaders.  And yet I talk to so many executives who look back and wish they had committed the time and resources to increase the focus on developing their workforce.  

I remember when my youngest son got his latest job offer and the confidence it created in him was amazing to see.  Then what happened about 9 months into his new role, his supervisor selected him to be a part of a certification program that would allow him to receive a certification in one of his areas of interest and provide him the opportunity to differentiate himself as a contributing member of the team.  His level of engagement increased and his commitment to the team and organization increased as he felt valued as a significant contributor of the organization and team.

Holliday│Kenning has designed different plays for developing emerging leaders, leaders, senior leaders and executives. While all leaders have common leadership challenges, there are different perspectives of leadership distinct to each leader level. Transitioning from leading self as an individual contributor, to leading teams, to leading other leaders all requires enhanced skills and competencies.

The Holliday│Kenning leadership development play ensures an organization can deepen the talent bench strength if there is a commitment to “grow your own” workforce. This approach is comprised of two components:

• Advanced leadership development programs for people leaders and
• Targeted employee leadership training specifically designed for the needs of each level of leader’s next-place and in-place roles

In the EMERGING LEADERS program, the first step is to identify the high performing/high potential employees within the organization to ensure those selected for the Emerging Leaders program are truly interested in leading people. Developing specific criteria and tools that help organizations identify the emerging talent is essential to selecting the right people to lead people.  Second, it is important to provide learning and development that increases self-awareness, teaches relational skills, and focuses on evidence-based leadership competencies that prepares early leaders for the shift from managing self to managing others in the future. Some of the components of the Emerging Leaders program include:

• Self-assessment to identify current areas of improvement
• Exploring important leadership competencies for success
• Group coaching to allow emerging leaders to grow together, connect across organizational functions, consider future scenarios and roles, and develop a leadership mindset
• Mentoring relationships to expose high-potential leaders to other parts of the business

The LEADERS program is for those who lead from the middle. The middle managers and team leaders are the layer of leadership and coordination between top strategic leadership and front-line employees. This layer is critical to organizational success and often operates as the heartbeat of the organization. The Leaders program offers learning in practical management skills and individual topics that are important to the success of leading from the middle. A couple of questions to consider are:

• How are you developing those managers who desire to grow and aspire to leadership positions?
• How are you helping them build the myriad of skills required now and in the future?

Recognizing that leading from the middle requires a strong skill set in problem-solving and quality decision making is part of why developing the middle of an organization can ensure a future talent pipeline exists. Our program for middle managers provides the skills needed to succeed. The program teaches managers how to coach and mentor, the importance of collaboration and influence, and how to build effective teams and a strong culture of inclusion.

The SENIOR LEVEL AND EXECUTIVE LEADERS program is for those leaders who rise to the enterprise-wide senior-level and executive roles. Within these roles, leaders learn that the complexity of what success looks like increases. Top level leaders are expected to strategically manage as a whole and/or specific business units, no longer just managing groups of leaders. These leaders are expected to act as forward-looking visionaries, driving action through others. Through individual executive coaching, the Senior level and executive leader program teach how to discuss complex business issues and development goals, increase team cohesion and ability to identify a shared vision, identify areas of improvement and how to lead others for organizational success, and build business acumen and critical industry-specific skills to lead with a systems thinking mindset.

By accelerating the development of leaders, organizations are proactively positioning themselves as investors in the performance, productivity, and success of the organization which ultimately leads to a sustainable competitive advantage in the marketplace. In order for leadership development to add value to the organization, it must emphasize the opportunity for a collective leadership mindset and skillset rather than an individualist mindset.  The strength of an organization comes with its collective organizational capability where leaders share the same leadership vocabulary and mindset toward the importance of developing others.  Leadership development is about identifying and developing potential that in turn offers the organization a bench strength of prepared talent who are ready to handle whatever the future may bring.  Accelerating leadership development is a must do for long term success!