There's more to organizational success than simply surviving. Now that the
economy has begun its slow ascent from the ashes of the Great Recession, leaders
are turning their attention to excelling, which requires the most pivotal talent
available.
Now more than ever, organizational leaders realize that the right talent in the
right roles will lead to operational and business success. Since resources are
still constrained, talent managers are focusing their development spending on
high-potential talent. A recent PDI Ninth House study found that nearly
two-thirds of global organizations planned high-potential programs in 2010,
which makes sense considering that high-potential talent pools are breeding
grounds for successful leaders.
However, talent leaders at forward-looking organizations are going a step
further. They are identifying pivotal leadership roles within their
organizations and using their high-potential and succession planning processes
to ensure the right people are deployed into these roles in order to realize
more immediate, tangible and positive results.
Pivotal leadership roles are vital to an organization's success or failure.
These roles are readily identifiable because a change in a pivotal leader's
performance will have a significant impact on an organization's performance.
Weak performance in a pivotal role can create great risk for an organization's
mission, objectives or results, whereas high performance in a pivotal role often
provides greater competitive advantage and improved operational results.
Important Roles vs. Pivotal Roles
To identify pivotal leadership roles, talent leaders must understand the
difference between important and pivotal. Important roles are necessary to carry
out key business processes or operations. Pivotal roles also are necessary, but
they are utilized specifically when performance improvements can significantly
impact a company's strategic, financial or operational results. The purpose of
identifying the most pivotal leadership roles is to understand where talent
management investments will have the greatest impact on an organization's
performance and bottom line.
To understand the difference between important and pivotal roles, managers need
to understand the company's strategy. Consider the following hypothetical
scenario involving two companies in the airline industry. The first is a
budget airline whose strategy is based on efficiently and rapidly turning planes
around in order to fly more routes per day. The second is a more traditional
full-service airline whose strategy is to control high-value, long-haul routes
across continents by locking up gates at major international hubs.
For the budget airline, the ground crew roles are likely the most pivotal, since
they are essential in getting the planes ready for the next departure as quickly
as possible. Although the ground crew roles are important for the full-service
airline, they are not pivotal. Instead, the roles involved in negotiating gate
access would be the most pivotal because this airline's strategy is based on
having more access to more gates at key hubs.
If the budget airline wants to drive overall business performance improvement,
it does not need to invest more heavily in its gate negotiators. However, if it
improves its ground crew's productivity to fly an additional route per day, it
will significantly impact its asset utilization and business performance. In
contrast, the full-service airline would benefit much less from improving its
ground crew's performance as they are not key to its primary objective.
The Powers That Be
To understand which roles are pivotal versus important, talent managers need to
examine three main drivers of pivotal roles:
1. Quality:
Organizations need to know what their strategy is, and where it will matter most
to have better leaders.
2. Quantity:
Sometimes the issue is not about quality - having leaders with sufficient
capabilities - but rather about having enough leaders to meet an identified
need.
3. Specialty roles:
Organizations should know their rare leaders, those individuals with unique
knowledge and skills, as they often are the most costly and difficult to
replace.
Although it is essential for business success to identify and leverage pivotal
roles, company executives must understand that there is significant business
risk associated with these roles. If a company loses a high-performing, pivotal
individual, it can be damaging to business performance. One way to mitigate risk
is to have a robust succession plan to ensure successors are well trained and
ready to step in when needed. To do so, organizations should develop and use a
strategic assessment management process that:
a) Determines pivotal leadership roles for current business priorities while
recognizing that these positions may change as business strategies change.
b) Assesses incumbent leaders and potential successors to gauge skills,
strengths and weaknesses.
c) Creates a succession planning process that is directly tied to pivotal roles
versus generic leadership levels.
This process looks at the skills gaps for pivotal roles and fixes them through
development activities and programs.
Creating a Pivotal Accelerator Program
As a global healthcare company in the laboratory equipment and diagnostic
testing arena, Becton, Dickinson and Company (BD) focuses on growth, innovation
and talent to drive company success. However, two years ago, BD realized that
its bench strength was not as deep as it should be when it came to general
management.
Tom Ruddy, vice president of talent management, leadership and learning at BD,
knew the company needed a strategy for its pivotal general manager roles. Given
how critical these roles are to drive growth, BD had to ensure those currently
in the roles had the necessary skills and experiences to execute the growth
strategy, as well as ensure a robust pipeline of future general manager talent
in the feeder pools.
The BD talent management team established an accelerator program to develop
general manager talent. Some individuals in the program were already in general
management roles; others were selected as potential future general managers. The
program had three core elements:
1. Individuals participated in a detailed developmental assessment to determine
strengths, developmental opportunities and transition needs. Participants were
able to craft a development plan focused on the skills and experiences needed to
be successful in the general manager role.
2. After the assessment feedback, individuals were assigned mentors based on a
match between their development needs and the mentors' particular strengths and
styles.
3. Individuals were then placed on various projects and special assignments to
further their development and ensure they received exposure, experiences and
opportunities to acquire key skills required for success at the general
management level.
The accelerator program has been a quick success for BD's pivotal general
managers. Since the start of the program, 60 percent of participants have been
promoted to the general management level.
Given the encouraging results from the accelerator program for the pivotal
general manager role, BD expanded the program to other pivotal roles within the
company. To determine similar roles, the company's senior human resources team
collaborated with executives from all business segments to determine the key
roles critical to each segment's success. Leaders were asked questions such as,
"Which roles are critical to help drive business growth?" and "What are the
roles where a sub-performer could cause the most damage to your business?"
From these meetings, BD determined that a handful of pivotal role pools existed
within the organization with 327 employees currently positioned in those roles.
For BD, pivotal roles were general managers along with specific roles within
research and development and key functional areas such as finance, supply chain
and procurement.
Those 327 employee positions represent only 1 percent of BD's entire employee
base, thus illustrating how pivotal programs are highly targeted to those
individuals who truly make a difference in a company's business strategy.
Limited Resources Influence Programs
With the benefits of focusing on pivotal roles clear, the next question is: What
is the best way to fit this into a talent management strategy?
Although the economy is turning around, company executives remain financially
cautious, and most HR leaders have limited resources. Talent leaders must
therefore take a close look at their business. Where are they today? What are
the current, critical initiatives? What are the long-term strategies? What
skills and teams will be needed to ensure the organization meets its short- and
long-term initiatives? What kind of assessment processes are in place to ensure
a seamless transition of talent when needed?
Talent leaders also may wonder if they should focus on pivotal leaders or
high-potential leaders. Where will they see more financial rewards? Often
pivotal roles focus on the immediate, critical initiatives needed to execute the
strategy and drive current operational performance, whereas high potentials are,
by definition, talent assets needed to build for the future.
Both are necessary; it's not an either/or scenario. Pivotal leader and
high-potential programs should dovetail. In fact, pivotal leadership positions
often are powerful development opportunities for high-potential employees. A
talent management strategy that leverages both in a strategic, cohesive approach
will be an effective use of scarce development resources and will help to ensure
a company's success now and in the future.
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