Does your organization rely on external consultants and executive education faculty to train and develop your leaders?  Those resources are proven and in many cases essential for a high quality leadership development experience.  However if you are only tapping outside experts, you are missing out on a powerful asset— using your experienced leaders as internal trainers and coaches within your leadership development strategy.

Rationale for Using Experienced Leaders as Teachers

• Cost Effective - Leveraging internal leaders’ expertise reduces leadership development costs and complements external resources.   
• Scalable – Whether experienced leaders’ mentor, coach or teach individuals or groups of emerging leaders, in a day or over months, they provide flexibility to expand as needed.   
• Efficient - Using existing institutional knowledge of proven internal leaders reinforces company values, provides cultural context and builds leadership capability through role modeling.  

How to Prepare Leaders

• Provide Information: To be effective, experienced leaders need current information about career paths (career ladders and lattice), programs and development assignments offered throughout the organization. 
• Provide Context and Background: When seasoned leaders participate in a formal leadership development program, involve them early in the needs assessment, sponsorship, design and delivery for positive results.   
• Provide Opportunity to Practice: Enable motivated leaders to hone their teaching skills with co-teaching opportunities including panel discussions and use informal support from Learning and Development Professionals for feedback and suggestions. 

The Benefits of Leaders Developing Emerging Leaders

• Increased Engagement and Productivity – Highly engaged employees produce more. Great leaders who teach, mentor and coach emerging leaders, are catalysts that drive organizational performance.    
• Increased Retention – When emerging leaders experience first-hand the commitment the organization has made to build talent and career development, it motivates them to stay and grow with the company.     
• Improved Bench Strength – Having the right talent, in the right roles, at the right time with the right skills, living the company’s values supports a strong talent leadership pipeline.

Organizations that I’ve worked with in the financial services, media, and consumer products industries all used knowledgeable and high-performing leaders to teach, coach and mentor future leaders with great success.  If you haven’t tried it yet, give it a shot!

Do you know what kinds of workers are described as Generation Flux?  I’m not referring to multi-generational definitions such as Baby Boomers, Gen X or Gen Y.  Members of Generation Flux can be any age and in any industry.  Today, these workers are succeeding in the increasingly chaotic business world.  The rate of change in our economy and our culture is accelerating, driven by global adoption of social, mobile, and other new technologies.  Gen Fluxers not only cope with the chaos, they thrive in it!  I found a recent article in Fast Company on the topic of Generation Flux fascinating and thought provoking.

After reading the article a few months ago I’ve been reflecting on the attitudes, skills, and behaviors of Gen Fluxers.  Are there Gen Flux skills that can be identified and emulated by other workers? Can learning and development efforts build Gen Flux capabilities?  Using the seven Gen Fluxers featured in the article and their stories as the starting point, I consulted with current and former colleagues who as high-performers possess the same “chaos loving” characteristics to learn more.  I then used a competency model that I’ve worked with for years as a benchmark to identify the most essential Gen Flux skills:

What Makes a Gen Fluxer?

• Strategic Decision Making – Gathering information to achieve long-term goals and competitive advantage, Identify key issues and alternatives based on assumptions, facts, relationships, resources, risks and opportunities.
• Adaptability – Maintaining effectiveness when experiencing major changes in work tasks or the work environment, Adjusting effectively to work within new work structures, processes, requirements, or cultures.
• Change Leadership – Continuously seeking or encouraging others to seek opportunities for different and innovative approaches to addressing organizational problems and opportunities.
• Entrepreneurial Thinking – Creativity, Tolerance for Risk, and Desire for Achievement.
• Dealing with Ambiguity – Shift gears/change course quickly and easily, Decide and act without having the total picture,  Tolerate situations where things are up in the air,  Move between tasks and activities without having to finish each one,  Tolerate and be comfortable with risk and uncertainty.
• Collaboration/Teamwork – Being less hierarchical, Rely on teams to respond to change, solve problems and build consensus.
• Future Focused – Long-range goals fuel today’s decisions and actions.
• Technology Adoption – Early and continuous adoption of new workplace technologies.
• Learning on the Fly – Being quick to learn and apply first time solutions, Enjoys the challenge of unfamiliar tasks.

Want to take a deeper dive?  You will really enjoy reading about some high profile members of Generation Flux.

About a year ago I shared my thoughts about how Human Resources departments can support organizational continuous improvement efforts in a post entitled How HR Can Work With Lean Six Sigma.

Lean principles are fundamental for the global Fortune 100 manufacturing company that I work for.  It is not only critically important for team members in the mill operations, but the company requires every employee around the globe, regardless of functional responsibilities, to complete Lean Awareness training.

Continuous Improvement and Innovation are business imperatives and part of the corporate culture. The expectation is that employees at every level contribute to the effectiveness and efficiency of the organization.  Understanding the language, purpose, and ‘thinking lean’ behavior improves results individually and collectively. 

Bersin & Associates, a research and consulting organization specializing in HR and Talent Development, does a great job defining the Agile Model of HR which is based on Lean manufacturing best practices:

“The Agile Model of HR states that Human Resources job is not just to implement controls, standards and drive execution, but rather to facilitate and improve organizational agility.  This changes HR’s mission and focus.  Driving agility means driving programs which create adaptability, innovation, collaboration, and speed.”

Examples of Agile HR strategies include: 

• Training leaders at all levels of the company to act as a hands-on coach, not a “manager”
• Designing the organization into small, high-performance teams which set their own targets
• Creating customer interactions within all groups and functions in the company
• Delivering a strong, focused mission and values to keep everyone aligned
• Creating systems with lots of transparent information: what are our goals, who is working on what project, who are our experts
• Implementing “systems of engagement” not just “systems of record” – ie. collaboration, information sharing, project management
• Building a focus on continuous learning and learning culture at all levels
• Implementing a strong external employment brand which attracts “the right type” of people
• Hiring experts and promoting experts, not general managers
• Encouraging and teaching people to give each other direct feedback
• Creating programs for peer-to-peer rewards and recognition
• Developing programs to foster diversity in teams

Consider using the Agile Model of HR as a framework to define and communicate your HR department’s mission.

I look forward to the annual Bersin IMPACT conference next week because of the timely and relevant focus of the event.  The theme for 2012 is “Building Business and Agility through People.”  I can’t wait to learn more about the Agile Model of HR and plan to share further insights with fellow practitioners and clients in the coming weeks.

The Final Four this weekend will feature this season’s four most effective NCAA Men’s Basketball teams; Ohio State, Kentucky, Louisville and Kansas.  A common mission, strong leadership, collaboration and execution helped these teams endure the regular season and win in the NCAA tournament.  Corporate teams require the same elements to perform together and achieve business goals.  Developing a strong team, clarifying roles and creating an environment that encourages collaboration are the leader’s responsibility.  

There are a number of team development models out there that are popular and respected.  I’ve made use of Bruce Tuckman’s “5 Stages of Group Development Model” in my team building learning consulting, as well as Glen Parker’s thought leadership from his book “Team Players and Teamwork.”

A great new resource for leaders and team members is the recently published book entitled “The Secret of Teams: What Great Teams Know and Do.”  The author is my fellow Atlantan Mark Miller, Vice President, Learning and Development of Chick-fil-A.   During his time with Chick-fil-A, annual sales have grown to almost $4 billion. The company now has more than 1,500 restaurants in 38 states and the District of Columbia.

 What I enjoyed most about the book is Mark’s creative use of a fictitious business and fictitious characters to explore real-world business situations and challenges facing teams.  Through the characters’ experiences we learn that effective teamwork requires a special kind of leadership, a model that is fresh and insightful. 

Mark also provides a “High-Performance Team Assessment” that leaders and their team can take and discuss the results together.  The book was informative but also fun to read, something that isn’t always the case with business books.

I spoke with Mark to ask him a few questions about the book; here is what he had to say:

Q. You describe members of the highest performing teams as having an “all for one, one for all attitude.” What single behavior best describes this mindset at work? 

A.  What separates good teams from great ones is a sense of community. That’s what turbo-charges performance. There is no single behavior really. Community is cumulative over time. It’s when you acknowledge great performance or help someone who is struggling on a project that you don’t have to. It’s when you learn about team members’ passions, hopes, dreams, striving and failing when you don’t meet the goal. Communities celebrate together, mourn together and do life together. You can’t force people into a community, but you can create the condition that’s appealing and compelling.     

Q. What is the most important action a leader can take to build an effective team?

A. There are three key actions. 1) Focus on talent, 2) ensure they have the necessary skills and 3) consciously cultivate an environment of community.  A leader can’t pass on one or two of these; they must acknowledge all three ingredients. Like our popular lemonade recipe at Chick-fil-A you need lemons, water and sugar. You need all three.  Building an effective team is challenging. It requires courage and discipline.      

Q. How do you suggest leaders and teams use the High-Performance Team Assessment you provide in the book? 

A.  I’d recommend you 1) Complete the form individually, and talk about the answers as a group. Look for patterns where you agree and disagree. You’re bound to learn something just by starting the conversation. 2) Prioritize critical gaps and have the team decide what constitutes a critical gap. 3) Create an action plan and measure progress. You can complete the form again at the team’s discretion.    

For a free copy of the the assessment click the link to Mark’s Blog, GreatLeadersSERVE.Org under resources to find The Secrets of Teams Assessment.  

Is your team playing at a Final Four level?  Interested in Mark’s book?  Check out “The Secret of Teams: What Great Teams Know and Do.”

A few months ago I shared my views on a book I was reading at the time entitled; “Change the Culture, Change the Game”  by Roger Connors and Tom Smith.  This weekend I’m in the middle of “The Future of Leadership Development – Corporate Needs and the Role of Business Schools” edited by Jordi Canals.  Canals is the Dean and Professor of General Management at IESE Business School, University of Navarra, Spain. 

The Editor delivers chapters written by Deans and Professors of top global business schools including; INSEAD, Harvard Business School, Kellogg School of Management – Northwestern University, Graduate School of Business – Stanford University and of course, IESE.  Canals also shares the perspectives of corporate CEOs and Senior Talent Management leaders on leadership challenges and solutions.

I’ve really picked up a great deal of new information and perspectives through the first two parts of the book.  The highlights include: 

• How millennials are changing the landscape of business education.  J. Frank Brown, Dean, INSEAD writes about how different career attitudes, increased mobility and embracement of technology by millennials requires innovative solutions including more virtual learning.
• Dipak C. Jain, Professor and Dean Emeritus and Matt Golosinski, Executive Editor, Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern  University describe how the MBA degree is poised for a renaissance.  The co-authors point out how long-term demand for professional managers, ethics, global complexity and other drivers are increasing the popularity and value of the MBA degree.
• A model for future success for business schools’ impact on corporate and societal challenges is provided by Canals.  He outlines new challenges for business schools caused by the recent global economic and financial crisis.  Canals offers his recommendations to address internal challenges for schools and to align with corporate business needs. 

I’m looking forward the third and final part of the book that covers the CEOs’ perspective, what companies are looking for from leadership development in 2012 and beyond.  The Future of Leadership Development  is relatively hot off the press and well worth reading.  Let me know what you think!

Are you looking to take your sales force’s performance to a higher level in 2012?  Whether you are a sales leader or in a learning and development role, here are several actions you can take to get things rolling:

1. Assess capability gaps and identify strategies and solutions to overcome them.  Determine new sales performance requirements associated with business strategies and focus on the knowledge, skills and behaviors required for successful performance.
2. Identify learning solutions required for new product or service launches. Partner with Subject Matter Experts to ensure content is accurate, user-friendly and accessible.
3. Create or update sales competency profiles by interviewing relevant sales stakeholders.  Follow a competency-based approach to planning and developing capability based on a solid understanding of the critical levers that will most likely increase sales results.
4. Design and develop learning solutions essential for skill and knowledge acquisition within unique sales cultures.  For example, formal classroom learning, on-demand e-learning, mentoring, coaching and on-the-job resources.
5. Employ rapid design delivery methods where appropriate.  For example; virtual, collaborative, platform or stand-alone.
6. Manage program rollouts in a manner that doesn’t adversely impact sales performance in the field.  Carefully schedule formal events to not interfere with critical selling periods and trade events.  Offer informal on-demand learning experiences.
7. Collaborate with sales stakeholders to measure and evaluate the impact of the learning and development solutions.  Consider both quantitative ROI measurement and qualitative evaluations by seasoned stakeholders.

For a deeper look into the fundamental competencies and areas of expertise required for developing sales professionals and managers, check out the ASTD Sales Competency Model.

Of all the leaders that I work with to build their capabilities, I find high-potentials the most interesting and rewarding.  Their critical role in the company’s future, and the support needed to be successful requires ongoing focus and attention.  I strive to stay current on “next practices” in high-potential talent management to optimize this crucial and dynamic relationship between top talent and the organization.  

A couple of great resources I’ve relied on in my work over the past couple of years are: 

• High Potential Talent Whitepaper from the Center for Creative Leadership (CCL). The co-authors Michael Campbell and Roland Smith share the results from a survey of approximately 200 high-potential leaders attending CCL’s executive development programs.                                       
• Are You a High Potential? article from Harvard Business Review (HBR) written by Douglas A. Ready, Jay A. Conger and Linda A. Hill.  The co-authors surveyed 45 companies worldwide about how they identify and develop high potentials.  They then interviewed HR executives at a dozen of those companies to gain insights about the experiences they provide for these leaders.

I recognized many of my own experiences in the results from both research efforts and gleaned new insights that have enhanced my understanding of the development needs of high-potentials.  The CCL and HBR publications describe many key findings and recommendations.   From my experience there are 6 things that really stand out and are worth highlighting:

6 Things You Might Not Know About High Potentials (HiPos)

1. HiPos May Have Mixed Feelings - Being recognized by their company as a high-potential boosts confidence but the pressure to consistently deliver superior performance in new and challenging assignments is stressful for some and can create self-doubt.        

2. HiPos Prefer Formal Identification – Although there are risks when companies formally recognize their high-potentials, the benefits often outweigh the negatives.  HiPos are less likely to seek other employment when the company’s intentions for them are clear. 

3. HiPos Need to Reflect and Clarify Priorities - To transition from functional expert to enterprise leader, high-potentials need to reflect on their experiences and make choices to understand the sacrifices required for continued success.  Staying on the HiPo list is not guaranteed; therefore taking time to define personal values will help drive career decisions and priorities.

4. HiPos Desire Candid Feedback - Honest feedback about their performance throughout the year, transparency about the career path and next steps are empowering and motivating.  Candid conversations allow HiPos to align their goals with the needs of the organization or consciously remove themselves from the HiPo list.

5. HiPos Tend to be Smart Risk Takers – Driven to succeed and agile learners, they also have the uncanny ability to sense high risk and high reward business and career opportunities.  More than good judgment, they anticipate and seize opportunities.  They also know when to back away.      

 6. HiPos Want More Authority – They want more responsibility and decision making authority.  The assignments may be challenging, but the satisfaction and growth is achieved by being held accountable for key decisions in visible assignments.

I was motivated to learn more, so I reached out to the HBR and CCL authors and asked each a question that was on my mind.

In the HBR article, the co-authors stress the importance of consistency.   I asked Linda Hill to elaborate on what it means for organizations to be consistent?  Linda replied:

“By consistent we mean, make sure your rhetoric matches your actions.  Development takes time so consistency and persistence matter.   It is not something you can focus on one year and abandon the next, if you really want to develop leadership bench strength.  So if you have a philosophy of developing everyone and not just the top 10% for instance, then you need to make available developmental opportunities to all and not just the top 10%.”

I asked Michael Campbell of CCL what he thought was the most critical thing an organization can do to retain high potential leadership talent?  He replied:

“Have meaningful conversations with high-potentials. Development conversations are a lot different from giving advice.  Many managers of high-potentials don’t do this effectively.  Then, once these conversations are held, provide space for development to happen.”

What are your thoughts on high-potentials?

Most large enterprise companies have a dedicated Talent Management executive and department to manage the succession planning process. Medium and small businesses assign their senior HR executive this responsibility. These leaders are often supported by succession management software and external consultants who help with; identifying high potential leaders, conducting talent review meetings and selecting bench strength talent pools.

What role should business line executives play in managing the organizations’ talent portfolio? With their vision of the future and knowledge of corporate strategy, business executives should play an active and leading role in developing successors for key positions and not leave it up to HR. Here are few actions line executives can take:

1. Discuss succession management with executives in other organizations with strong business performance to understand what they do in their process. Use their knowledge and experience to help design your approach.
2. Encourage your direct reports to actively collaborate with HR in designing and carrying out the succession management process. Model the way by taking an active and visible role yourself.
3. Start the process by focusing on the corporate vision and future strategy. Get help from your Learning and Development department and external consultants to identify the competencies required to execute the strategy.
4. Identify the key jobs in your organization, the current bench strength, and the amount of time to develop your people. Do you have the right people, lined up for the right jobs, at the right time?
5. Become an expert at talent reviews of bench strength and partner with your Talent Management executive. Select primary, secondary and bench candidates for each key position.
6. Support the readiness of high potential leaders with targeted executive development programs.

There are many resources that can help the business executive master succession management including three books that I use frequently and refer to my business line executive clients:

• The Talent Management Handbook by Lance Berger and Dorothy Berger
• Best Practices in Talent Management by Marshall Goldsmith and Louis Carter
• Effective Succession Planning by William J. Rothwell

So, succession management isn’t just for HR, business line executives should play a driving role in strategic talent management, including the succession process. Let me know about your experiences in this important area!

Caring parents are often heard advising their children to “play fair” with others when; in the school playground, participating in youth sports, and playing video games.  This adage is also applicable for leaders looking to inspire trust with their direct reports and other subordinates.  By treating all people fairly and with respect, leaders can create trusting relationships which lead to higher morale, loyalty and performance.

If this is one of your Leadership New Year’s resolutions, here are some basic strategies that work:

• Double check your business practices for transparency and consistency.  Do managers on your team regularly uphold standards of fairness or do they take short cuts and run around ethics?
• Does your organization consistently perform informal business according to company policies and professional standards?
• Are your talent management practices around acquisition, promotions and dismissals transparent and honest?  Do you retain and advance people who demonstrate company values and encourage their use by others?
• Survey your direct reports to see if compensation, assignments, promotions and perks are distributed fairly.  Adjust and realign these employment practices if they are unfair.

Trust is one of the most tangible aspects of effective executive leadership.  These tips regarding consistent and fair strategies are just a few of the practices to establish open and trusting relationships.  Remember what your parents told you…..”play fair out there!”

We expect leaders of accounting and finance departments to have strong financial skills and knowledge.  But what about the folks running marketing, human resources, information technology, operations and other non-financial functions?  Financial acumen is just as important a competency for these leaders as their financial counterparts.  Why?  Because even non-financial leaders must understand how money flows in and out of their organization and be fluent with financial information.  The rationale is based on the fact that non-financial leaders must drive performance in their departments that contributes to or supports the following organizational objectives:

• Profitable Growth
• Increase Shareholder Value
• Generate Adequate Cash Flow

There are several strategies that non-financial leaders can execute when dealing with financial information on a daily basis.  Here are five (5) action steps that I think are most essential:

5 Things to Know about Finance for the Non-Financial Leader

1. Aggressively Consume Financial Data: learn to read financial statements such as Balance Sheets and Income Statements.  Keep up to date on financial news such as financial markets and economic trends.  Establish a close relationship with a financial specialist in your company and ask them to be a mentor.
2. Master Your Department’s Budget: and annual business plan financials.  Challenge your team to identify the most critical assumptions of your budget.  Determine the risks if your assumptions are wrong.
3. Understand The Interrelationships of Key Metrics: once you can read and interpret financial statements for feedback and planning purposes, track the key financial indicators on an ongoing basis.  Metrics such as profitability and liquidity ratios can indicate trends and provide the big picture of what is going on in your business.
4. Perform Financial Analysis and Decision Making: develop a consistent and logical approach for evaluating the financial impact of potential opportunities.  Use hard data and facts to support your decisions.  
5. Continuously Learn: financial knowledge and skills through books, on demand e-learning, formal training and executive education.  I can recommend the following resources based on personal experience:

• A Great Read: Finance for Non-Financial Managers  
• On-Demand E-Learning: Harvard ManageMentor Financial Essentials  
• Executive Education Providers: IEDP Finance Programs Search Feature

Developing your financial acumen as a non-financial manager will help your career aspirations, leadership performance and organization’s growth.