William J. Rothwell - Effective Succession Planning (2005)(3-e)(en)

268 CLOS ING TH E ‘‘ DEVE LO PME NTAL GAP ’’

Exhibit 11-2. (continued)

Questions About the Key	Question Responses
Position	(Describe ideas to avoid
	simple replacement
	from
	within)
Can a key position be
rendered unnecessary
by redistributing the du-
ties to a team in the
same part of the organi-
zation?
Can a key position be
rendered unnecessary
by reallocating the du-
ties to other parts of the
organization?
Can a key position be
rendered unnecessary
by outsourcing the
work?
Can a key position be
rendered unnecessary
by using flexible staffing
approaches?
Can combining the ap-
proaches listed above
eliminate the need for a
replacement in a key po-
sition?

Assessing Alternatives to Internal Development	269

eroding the value of their pension packages. Some observers of the business scene even doubt that a talent shortage will appear.5 At the same time, employers do not want to experience the confusion that results from filling tough-to- fill positions with green, off-the-street (or at least untested) hires. One researcher found that only 12 to 16 percent of retirees currently work past retirement but that 80 percent of baby boomers intend to do so.6

If you say ‘‘reinvent retirement’’ today to most employers, the first thing that crosses their minds is to discourage experienced workers from exercising their retirement option when eligible or else to call retired people back to fulltime work. But many other options exist, and reinventing retirement means tapping the retiree base in creative ways to meet the organization’s short-term and long-term talent needs.

There are actually many ways that retirees could be tapped. They can be temps; contingent workers; consultants; teleworkers or telecommuters; assigned to special projects, perhaps at distant (even international) locations; or assigned as coaches or mentors for their successors. Many other options are also possible (see Exhibit 11-3).

Tapping the retiree base will be a challenge for the future. A first step is to establish who wants to do what, who wants to work when and how, and how to find and tap the talents of retirees on demand. That will require creative applications of exit interviews, conducted with retirees, and periodic followups with retirees to see if they have changed their minds about the work options available to them. It will also require better competency or talent inventories to find the competencies that retirees possess and tap them creatively on short notice. It will also require new management approaches, since retirees may have lower tolerance for arbitrary management practices than others.

Deciding What to Do

There is no foolproof way to integrate SP&M with alternatives to replacement from within. The important point is to make sure that alternatives to simple replacement are considered. Often, that responsibility will rest with HR generalists, HRD specialists, SP&M coordinators, and even CEOs or others who bear major responsibility for succession planning and management. A good strategy is to raise the issue at two different—and opportune—times: (1) during review meetings to identify successors; and (2) on the occasions when a vacancy occurs in a key position and permission is sought to fill it.

During the review process, ask operating managers how they plan to meet replacement needs. At that time, raise the alternatives, and ask them to consider other possibilities as well. Be sure that only key positions are being considered in succession planning and management efforts in order to focus attention on areas of critical need.

When a vacancy occurs—or is about to occur—in a key position, raise the

Exhibit 11-3. A Tool for Contemplating Ten Ways to Tap the Retiree Base

Directions: Use this worksheet to guide your thinking on how the retiree base of your organization might be more effectively tapped to shore up talent needs. In any given situation when your organization is facing a talent need or shortage wrought by a retirement, consider each of the strategies listed below. For each way to use the retiree base to solve the problem, indicate whether it might be appropriate to that situation by checking yes, no, or maybe. Make remarks in the right column about

whether two or more alternatives might be combined.
			Is This Approach				Remarks: Can Two or
	Ways of Tapping the Retiree Base		Appropriate to the				More Alternatives Be
	to Meet a Talent Need			Situation?			Combined?
	Could the work be accomplished by:		Yes	No	Maybe
1	Calling in retirees for full-time employment?
2	Calling in retirees for ‘‘permanent part-time’’ employment?
3	Calling retirees ‘‘as needed’’?
4	Giving the retirees virtual work to do?
5	Giving retirees cell phones and putting them ‘‘on call’’ to
	coach their replacements when needed?
6	Hiring retirees as coaches for those who are really not ready
	for the promotions they are given?
7	Giving retirees computers and having them do virtual
	coaching by ‘‘instant messaging’’ as needed?
8	Tapping retirees as onsite or online trainers?
9	Hiring retirees to document procedures or other information
	that they know?
10	Hiring retirees as consultants?
11	Other (Specify:	)

Assessing Alternatives to Internal Development	271

issue again. Ask operating managers what alternatives to simple replacement they have considered. Briefly review some of them to ensure that succession is driven by work requirements and not by custom, resistance to change, or other issues that may be needlessly costly or inefficient.

Summary

This chapter has reviewed alternatives to traditional replacement from within. Alternatives may be used when any one or all of the following questions may be answered yes:

1.Is the key position no longer necessary?

2.Can a key position be rendered unnecessary by finding new ways to achieve comparable results?

3.Can a key position be rendered unnecessary by redistributing the duties to a team in the same part of the organization?

4.Can a key position be rendered unnecessary by reallocating the duties to other parts of the organization?

5.Can a key position be rendered unnecessary by outsourcing the work?

6.Can a key position be rendered unnecessary by using flexible staffing approaches?

7.Can combining the approaches listed above obviate the need for a replacement in a key position?

8.Can the retiree base be tapped for a qualified replacement?

Pose these questions during review meetings to identify successors and on the occasions when a vacancy occurs in a key position. Be sure that key positions are filled only when absolutely necessary to achieve essential work requirements and to meet the organization’s real strategic objectives.

C H A P T E R 1 2

U S I N G T E C H N O L O G Y T O S U P P O R T S U C C E S S I O N P L A N N I N G A N D

M A N A G E M E N T P R O G R A M S

The Internet and the World Wide Web have profoundly influenced the world. That fact is as true for succession planning and management (SP&M) practices as for anything else. Many organizations are in a competitive race to enter e-commerce, or to consolidate the competitive edge they are already acquiring from it.

Online and high-tech approaches have also had a dramatic impact on succession planning and management practices. This chapter focuses attention on four key questions: (1) How are online and high-tech methods defined? (2) In what areas of succession planning and management can online and hightech methods be applied? (3) How are online and high-tech applications used? and (4) What specialized competencies are required by succession planning coordinators to use these applications?

Defining Online and High-Tech Methods

An online method relies on the Internet, a company or organizational intranet, an extranet, or the World Wide Web. Examples of online methods range from traditional print-based electronic mail to Web-based multimedia productions that integrate print, sound effects, music, animation, still graphics, and video. A high-tech method is anything other than an online method that substitutes technology for face-to-face interpersonal interaction. Examples of high-tech methods include videoconferencing or audio-teleconferencing.

One way to conceptualize online and high-tech methods is to think of them as existing on one continuum ranging from simple to complex and on a second continuum ranging from noninteractive to fully interactive, as depicted in Exhibit 12-1. Simple methods are usually easy to design and inexpensive to use. Complex methods are usually difficult to design and are often expensive to design and use. Noninteractive methods do not involve people in real time, while interactive methods require people to participate actively. These distinctions are important when planning and budgeting the use of online and hightech methods. The most complex or interactive methods often necessitate spe-

272

273 CLOS ING TH E ‘‘ DEVE LO PME NTAL GAP ’’

Exhibit 12-1. Continua of Online and High-Tech Approaches

		Simple		Complex
Noninteractive		Electronic mail		Online help with forms
		Web-based documents		Policies, procedures, in-
		Audiotape-based train-		structions, forms, or in-
		ing or instructions		struments distributed by
		Videotape-based train-		disk or CD-ROM
		ing or instructions
Interactive		Print surveys sent elec-		Groupware
		tronically		Interactive television
		Print surveys completed		Multimedia training
		over the Web		material
		PC-based		Virtual reality applica-
		audioteleconference		tions
		PC-based videotelecon-
		ference

cial skills in the design process and are more expensive and time-consuming to plan and use.

The software to support succession planning and management is becoming increasingly sophisticated. Nontechnical users who are tasked with sourcing the right technology to support the organization’s operations in this area face a daunting task. And the information is not necessarily easy to come by. Much time can be spent just trying to find what software is available and compare their features. A good approach is to clarify what your organization plans to do with the software and then find a product that will best meet the needs. Use the rating sheet in Exhibit 12-2 as a starting point to define what is needed.

I have found that some popular vendors on the market are the following (this is not a product endorsement):

▲Talent Management by AIM (see www.aimworld.com/AIMtalent.html)

▲Succession by Business Decisions, Inc. (see www.businessdecisions

.com/)

▲HRSoft by Executrack (see www.hrsoft.com/)

▲Click XG Workforce by PeopleClik (see www.peopleclick.com/ )

▲Succession Pulse by Pilat (see www.pilat-hr.com/solutions/succession

.html)

▲Workforce Performance Management by Success Factors (see www.suc cessfactors.com/index.php)

▲Human Capital Management by Softscape (see www.softscape.com/us/ home.htm)

(text continues on page 277)

Exhibit 12-2. A Starting Point for a Rating Sheet to Assess Vendors for Succession Planning and Management
Software
Directions: Use this rating sheet as a starting point to develop your own rating sheet to assess various software vendors for
succession planning and management software. Note that there are three sections. The first section asks you to rate the software
product. The second section asks you to rate the vendor. The third section allows you to provide any additional comments you
wish to provide. For each criterion listed in the left column below, gather sufficient evidence to rate the vendor in the center
column according to the following ratings: 0 Not Applicable; 1 Not Acceptable; 2 Somewhat Unacceptable; 3
Somewhat Acceptable; 4 Fully Acceptable. In the right column, provide notes to explain your scores. If you rate the vendor
as anything less than fully acceptable, provide a justification in the right column.
			Part I: The Software
		N/A	Not	Somewhat	Somewhat	Fully
			Acceptable	Unacceptable	Acceptable	Acceptable	Justification
Is the software:		0	1	2	3	4
1.	Compatible with other	0	1	2	3	4
	software that your
	company uses—or can it
	be made compatible with
	relative ease?
2.	Simple to use?	0	1	2	3	4
3.	Browser-based?	0	1	2	3	4
4. Capable of giving different		0	1	2	3	4
	levels of access to different
	types of users?

5.	Able to provide the kind of	0	1	2	3	4
	reports that you or others
	will want?
6.	Capable of being	0	1	2	3	4
	customized for individuals,
	such as your CEO?
7.	Capable of providing the	0	1	2	3	4
	level of security that you
	want?
8.	Competitively priced?	0	1	2	3	4
9.	Priced with upgrades?	0	1	2	3	4
10.	Well-matched to the needs	0	1	2	3	4
	your organization plans to
	meet with it?
				Part II: The Vendor
Does the vendor:
1.	Have a good track record	0	1	2	3	4
	with other clients?
2.	Provide the support your	0	1	2	3	4
	organization will need?
3.	Respond to requests?	0	1	2	3	4

(continues)

Exhibit 12-2. (continued)
		N/A	Not	Somewhat	Somewhat	Fully
			Acceptable	Unacceptable	Acceptable	Acceptable	Justification
4.	Know enough about suc-	0	1	2	3	4
	cession planning and
	management to be
	helpful?
5.	Provide the level of support	0	1	2	3	4
	your organization needs/
	wants?
6.	Provide a range of solu-	0	1	2	3	4
	tions and avoid a ‘‘one-
	size-fits-all’’ approach?
7.	Provide training you or	0	1	2	3	4
	others might need?

Now add up the scores.
The higher the score, the more	Total
acceptable it is:
	Part III: Your Additional Comments

Using Technology to Support Succession Planning and Management Programs	277

For additional help, check out the current Buyer’s Guide to Talent Management Systems, which could be found (at the time this book goes to press) at http://shop.hr.com/products/ICGReport_TalentMS.asp. Of course, many more software packages are out there.

Where to Apply Technology Methods

To state the issue simply, online and high-tech methods can be applied to almost any area of an SP&M program. Such methods may be used in: (1) formulating SP&M program policy, procedures, and action plans; (2) assessing present work or competency requirements; (3) evaluating current employee performance; (4) determining future work or competency requirements; (5) assessing potential; (6) closing developmental gaps; (7) maintaining talent inventories; and (8) evaluating the program. Of course, online and high-tech methods can also be used for communicating details of a succession program and providing training and skill building, or even real-time coaching. They substitute virtual interaction for face-to-face interaction. The maddening thing about them is that they date so quickly. Almost nothing today changes as fast as technological innovations.

How to Evaluate and Use Technology Applications

To use online and high-tech applications in SP&M programs, you can use a hierarchy of applications, such as presented in Exhibit 12-3. The subsections below first describe the hierarchy and then provide specifics about how to apply online and high-tech methods to an SP&M program.

A Hierarchy of Applications

Researching secondary information is the first, and lowest, level of online and high-tech applications for SP&M. You can use the Web—or your organization’s human resource information systems (HRIS)—to collect and analyze information that is readily available. Use secondary information of this kind to look for articles, books, or Web sites about best practices and research on succession issues. Surf the Web, using search engines or metasearch engines (see a full list of metasearch engines at www.searchiq.com/directory/multi.htm), around key words or phrases linked to succession planning. Conduct analyses of your organization’s workforce using your organizational HR information system about such important issues as the ages of your workers at various levels (executive, managerial, professional, and technical) and their projected retirement ages, their racial or gender composition, performance ratings, turnover rates, absenteeism, and other information. Try to use this information to answer such questions as these: