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The Case for Formally Building a Pipeline of Ready Now Leaders – before it’s too late.

Ensuring a Company's Future Depends on a Strategic Approach to People Development. 

7 Strategic Decisions for an effective Leadership Development Program.

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While there may be a lack of confidence in next-in-command leadership, there's no lack of research foretelling the challenges HR is already beginning to experience related to people development and available candidates.  

Be Prepared for Massive Workforce Changes:  

  • Older Americans are retiring in droves. The exodus of baby boomers has begun. In December 2016, enough baby boomers retired to change the labor force by a full percentage point; only 23.6% of the labor force is from the baby boomer generation. 
  • 63% of United States Executives are eligible to retire. Many are postponing retirement, in hopes of quickly fostering competent successors. 
  • By 2025, 3 out of 4 workers globally will be Millennials. Average tenure of a Millennial is two years compared to 5 years for GenX and 7 years for boomers. Do you even want to consider GenZ? Research on the sharing generation (GenZ) sounds an alarm as early studies indicate that their "8 second attention span" might not be a myth.  

Be Prepared for Workplace Changes: 

  • Multi-generational workforce is rapidly becoming the norm. HR must prepare current employees for the impending diversity and cultivate a culture of inclusion. Artificial Intelligence, automation and the rise of the machines will reduce the number of entry-level positions. The same positions your future workforce needs to develop interpersonal skills, work ethic, and basic "good employee" values.
  • Employee rights and a heightened intolerance of injustice is being demonstrated in the #MeToo movement. Harassment in the workplace may be slowing but complaints are on the rise. HR has to take a strategic approach to fostering a healthier, more considerate workplace culture. 

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At our current development pace, according to the Aberdeen Group Study, organizations will only be capable of delivering two-thirds of the leaders required in the future. Can you image running the business on a two legged stool? HR has a unique opportunity to engage as a critically important strategic partner for the business by insisting on a more formalized approach to leadership development. 

- Anisa Aven, CEO, TurnKey Coaching & Development Solutions ​​​


Be Prepared By Understanding Your Leadership Team's Concerns:

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    84% of organizations anticipate a shortfall of leaders as boomers retire
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    25% say less than 10% of their critical leadership positions have ready-now, competent successors 
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    83% of organizations believe it is important to develop leaders and employees at all levels 
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     58% report addressing leadership skill gaps as their top priority 
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    A mere 5% have formal development programs and only 19% of those say their programs are very effective  
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    Source: State of Leadership Development - Brandon Hall Group

There are a number of factors that influence the effectiveness of a leadership development program. However, it doesn't have to be complicated or complex.  There's a formula for simple and yet effective leadership program design: 

  • 1
    Know your numbers and build your your business case. Decision makers need to see the facts to help them understand that this investment will have a measurable ROI or that their lack of investment will cause sufficient financial pain in the future. 
  • 2
    Make your business case.  After doing your research, apply it to your business, your culture, your specific organizational succession planning needs. Where are the gaps and what must be done to close them? How will the trends impact your business and in what specific units? 
  • 3
    Prepare Your Approach. What do we know about our needs? What do we need to refine about our leadership competency gaps? Answer six questions: 1) Who is eligible? 2) How do we communicate the program? 3) How will senior leadership support the program? 4) How will we measure success? 5) What components do we want to deploy? 6) What's our budget? 7) How will we fulfill the program? 
  • 4
    Determine Eligibility and Selection: Spend a day discussing who will be eligible for your leadership development program. How will we select candidates or invite to apply? What is our criteria? The target is 10% of your workforce will warrant leadership development.
  • 5
    Determine Components: What components do we want to build the program around?  Do we have internal leadership competencies, or will we need to build them? What training do we want to target? How will we ensure adoption of the learning by the participants? What assessments and feedback instruments will we use? How will we integrate manager feedback? Will we use coaching or group-coaching? How will our mentoring program integrate with leadership development? 
  • 6
    How will we measure results? What are our KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) that indicate success or failure? How will we benchmark the program for long-term evaluation and adjustments? 
  • 7
    What's our implementation plan? What are the three steps we can take today to launch before "this" date? (Pick a season or a date and decisions will be made faster. ) What are all the steps we need to check-off before that date? What's one thing I can do today, to begin our leadership development program? 

Just Begin it.

Strategic HR leaders don’t wait for perfection. They don’t wait for total buy-in or complete executive agreement. It's important to make the case and insist on some action, any action that moves your organization into the reality that leaders must be developed or the organization's future is in peril.

Strategic HR partners do not allow their most critical contributions to be dismissed out of ignorance or an inability to see the future by those who aren't looking at the reality of what's occurring in the workforce.

Start a program.  Call it a pilot, if that helps!

However, HR professionals know to keep in mind, it's not really a pilot program, because you’re not TESTING whether or not your people can handle development.  

You are planting a seed for your organization’s future growth.  Sometimes it takes 10,000 seeds to build a single strong oak but you'll begin an orchard of seedlings, and that's an important step towards ensuring your organization's future.  

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Leadership Development Programs, Main Locations

Customized, scalable services are available throughout the year for the following segments: Executive Coaching, Leadership Development, Middle-Manager/Team Coaching, Emerging Leaders Coaching – Training – Mentoring Integrated Programs (from design to management to fulfillment), in our “main-focus” cities:

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