Succession Planning Archives - HR Talent Management (HRTM) by Argosight

Can Your Company Adjust to the Ever-Changing Needs of Your Workforce?

August 3, 2015 by Brent Kleiman Leave a Comment

Company culture, employee retention, and succession plans are now among the top tasks facing human resources professionals. But payroll, benefits, and other administrative tasks still demand time and energy.

A recent survey by ADP-Environics revealed that HR professionals are aware of the importance of meeting these new challenges for the success of their organizations. However, the survey also showed that those in human resources feel the strain on their time and energy in attempting to keep up with these new demands. In some cases, they are uncertain about their organization’s ability to adapt quickly to the changing needs of the workforce. As a result, many HR departments have turned to outsourcing.

“Canadian spending on HR outsourcing services is forecasted to grow to $2.4 billion in 2016,” says Utsav Arora, senior research analyst with IDC Canada, a company that specializes in market analysis.

Fewer than four in ten HR professionals surveyed believe that their company is well-equipped to adapt to changing workforce needs, according to the survey. And only 35 percent believe their company is a market leader in using workforce data and insights to make strategic decisions.

When asked to choose between several HR issues, professionals who were surveyed view company culture and employee retention as most important. This was closely followed by leadership development. Despite these views, only 35 percent believe that their company focuses effectively on human capital, and only 33 percent believe their organization has strong succession planning and leadership development programs in place.

Additionally, 72 percent of those surveyed strongly agree that HR professionals are faced with an increasing workload.

The survey, taken by telephone from June 15-19, 2015, utilized a sample of 100 HR professionals from Canadian companies with 50 or more employees. Results are accurate within 9.8 percent.

“There are currently five generations in the workplace, all trying to get things done. The pressure on HR is there,” says Virginia Brailey, vice president of marketing and strategy with ADP Canada. “Today’s workforce is dynamic and multi-generational. The key is for HR to get and retain talent.”

“Today’s workforce expects far more than a paycheck, and this requires strategic people management approaches and tools, particularly within high-growth companies where needs change quickly,” says Brailey.

To this end, ADP Canada recently introduced ADP Workforce Now Comprehensive Services, the first HR outsourcing service of its kind in Canada. ADP Canada envisions this tool enabling HR professionals to do what they do best: focus on talent acquisition, retention, leadership, and performance management. Its technology, along with on-demand experts, is designed to help HR staff focus on the big picture.

“Attracting and retaining employees is the real work of HR,” says Brailey, who is realistic that obstacles still stand in the way of HR departments operating as efficiently as they can.

“These obstacles include legacy systems, multiple systems that are not connected, and unnecessary administration,” she says.

However, she believes that for HR departments to remain competitive in a rapidly-changing environment, they must adapt in order to focus on what is truly important.

Photo Credit: insansains

CTCG Helps Take the Pain Out of Career Transitions

May 19, 2015 by Jeff Butts Leave a Comment

One of the most painful aspects of an organization downsizing or otherwise making employees redundant is trying to support that individual’s transition from one role to another or from one employer to another. Career management is not something you see universally taught in schools, colleges, or universities. This lack of education leaves the brunt of the responsibility either on the shoulders of the individual or, in rare cases, post-downsizing support provided by organizations. UK-based Career Transition Consulting Group (CTCG) was founded with the intent to carry out its aims of helping to ease the transition made necessary when an organization’s efforts to better streamline its workforce result in layoffs or transfers.

CTCG maintains that its mission is “to coach and counsel students, job-seekers and those who are employed to function effectively in the pursuit and management of a satisfying career.” This is vital education for everyone in the workplace, because the days when a person would have a career for life and was managed by their employer to advance through the ranks have given way to a new time in which an individual might have multiple careers with no transition support as he or she moves from role to role or employer to employer.

Classes are offered to both individuals and groups of individuals, regardless of whether participants are looking for a career or are already employed. CTCG’s classes help attendees appreciate their unique and authentic capabilities while realizing their life purpose and maintaining a focus on getting the best out of both life and career.

Human resources practitioners can reap tremendous benefits from the counseling and training CTCG provides, which can be integrated into established continuing education programs or can be scheduled as stand-alone seminars to further employees’ capabilities and career development. If redundancies are deemed necessary, the morale of remaining staff can be damaged almost irreparably if the organization does not take steps to help with outplacement for displaced workers.

Another boon to the organization can be found in the courses’ ability to help deal with unmotivated or disengaged workers. The training and introspection generated by the courses can re-energize the workforce, leading to better engagement. Alternatively, the insights generated by the seminars can provide clarity on where disengaged workers really want to be, encouraging them to disassociate from an organization in a productive, non-confrontational way.

Such training can help human resources professionals in other ways. Realizing how important self-exploration is and how to recognize someone’s authentic capabilities can improve a recruiting team’s ability to identify the best candidates for a position or team of employees.

CTCG offers programs in self-awareness and capability realization, individual career management, as well as continuing education credits that apply towards the United Kingdom’s Level 4 qualifications.

If a human resources department is neglecting career development and transition training, it is missing out on a huge opportunity to improve morale and the marketability of its employees. While the days of corporations help their employees manage their careers might be over, the simple benefit of the improved morale provided by caring about continuing education and development produces better engaged and more productive employees.

Two-Thirds of Managers Need Guidance on How to Coach and Develop Employees

March 30, 2015 by Terri Williams Leave a Comment

Organizations want high-performing workers, and employees want to develop the skills and knowledge they need to advance their career and make them more valuable to the organization.

So far, it sounds like everyone is on the same page.

However, managers are the bridge from Point A to Point B – and that’s a problem because statistics show that without training and guidance, this is a bridge to nowhere.

According to a recent poll by Right Management, the global experts with ManpowerGroup, most managers are not actively engaged in career development. From January 5 through March 3, 2015, Right Management surveyed 616 employees in the U.S. and Canada and asked them one question: “Is your manager actively engaged in your career development?”

68% responded, “No”
17% responded, “Yes”
15% responded, “Sometimes”

However, the survey also reveals that 2/3 of managers need help developing coaching skills.

The responses are problematic, because earlier research by Right Management revealed organizations that provide career development are six times more likely to engage their employees and four times less likely to lose workers. These organizations are also 2.5 times more likely to be productive and three times more likely to be judged as one of the best performing companies in their sector.

It’s important to create a culture of career development, according to Bram Lowsky, executive vice president of Right Management. “Careers really matter to people at every level of the organization, and they matter to the organization itself. We’ve identified a shift in the workplace, and this shift has required organizations to become more agile to respond to changes. However, the key is to have high-performing talent.”

So why aren’t managers providing career development?

“It’s not a part of the culture – career development should be a part of the culture,” says Lowsky. “Most managers do not have the skills that enable them to have robust conversations with their employees on an ongoing basis. I’m not talking about end-of-the-year evaluations, but ongoing career development conversations.”

What can companies do to help their managers to provide career development?

Lowsky says they need to create a culture of career development, which entails 4 keys:

Visible senior leadership that articulates the value and the importance of career development
Career development must be employee-owned – people are responsible for their own careers, and the organization helps them by making the process easier
Manager coaching – managers must develop the skill set required to coach and develop others
Clear linkages – employees need to see a direct way to sync their career goals to the organization’s needs and wants

However, Lowsky warns that building a career development culture doesn’t happen overnight. “It is not a one-time event. It must have structure, definition, be ongoing – that’s how you tie it back to the organizational culture. Then employees can clearly see the competencies required, and they understand that senior leadership and managers make career development a priority.”

How to Recognize Management-Material Employees

March 18, 2015 by Terri Williams Leave a Comment

“You manage things; you lead people.” ~Rear Admiral Grace Murray Hopper

According to a recent survey released by The Creative Group – a creative staffing agency that connects full-time or project-based talent and companies in design, marketing, advertising, and public relations – the employees that are considered for management positions already display leadership skills in their current roles.

The Creative Group used an independent research firm to conduct 400 telephone interviews: 200 with randomly-selected advertising executives from agencies with 20 or more employees, and 200 with marketing executives who were randomly selected from companies with 100 or more employees.

When asked, “In your opinion, which of the following factors weighs most heavily when your company promotes professionals to management positions?” the executives responded as follows:

53% chose motivational or leadership skills
19% preferred interpersonal or soft skills
13% selected strategic business expertise
8% favored technical expertise
7% gave the most weight to seniority or tenure with the company

We asked Diane Domeyer, Executive Director of The Creative Group, to provide insight regarding the executives’ responses.

HR & Talent Management: Why do you think motivational or leadership skills were listed by over half of the survey respondents?

Diane Domeyer: Employees expect their managers to not only make timely and sound decisions but also to show enthusiasm for their work, their team, and the company and inspire them to achieve business and professional development goals.

Many executives may look for candidates with strong motivational and interpersonal skills because, unlike technical proficiency, they are harder to teach and are developed and refined over time.

HRTM: While interpersonal skills came in a distant second, it appears that these soft skills are still important when weighing an employee’s management potential.

Domeyer: Strong interpersonal or soft skills have always been important. But they have become more relevant as managers are increasingly expected to collaborate with colleagues in different departments and business contacts outside the organization, such as vendors and consultants. Therefore, managers must have excellent communication skills; this includes the ability to convey complex information effectively and listen intently to feedback so they can follow through with appropriate action.

HRTM: Seniority used to be a major criterion that companies used to promote employees to management positions, but that trend appears to be changing.

Domeyer: While tenured employees can offer the benefit of greater experience, this does not necessarily equate with better management ability. A less-experienced worker possessing a greater flair for innovation and creativity, for example, may be more likely to generate and execute great ideas.

HRTM: Although your survey reflects the creative sector, what tips can you offer HR professionals and executives in any industry?

Domeyer: As the job market picks up, professionals with in-demand skills are more apt to explore their career options, making retention a key concern for employers. Promoting from within can be a powerful retention tool – and companies can take steps to cultivate their employees’ leadership abilities. Some ideas for doing this include:

Establishing a mentoring program. Mentoring is a cost-effective, easy-to-implement method to provide hands-on training to employees and promote knowledge transfer between seasoned and less-experienced professionals.
Organizing brown-bag training sessions. Provide in-house classes that can be taught by well-respected managers from within the organization, industry experts, or even recently retired company employees.
Exploring e-learning options. The Internet offers a wide variety of effective training options for professionals while also saving employers the time and expense of sending personnel off-site for instruction.”

Strategic Succession Planning Summit by the Talent Management Alliance

November 3, 2014 by Laurie Harley Leave a Comment

Tuscany-Suites-Casino HR Professionals will be converging on Las Vegas today and tomorrow. They won’t be there for the casinos, but for the Strategic Succession Planning Summit held by the Talent Management Alliance. The event will be held in the Tuscany Suites and Casino and information can be found on Twitter through @TheTMAlliance.

This two-day conference will address succession planning and management development as it contributes to business success. The summit brochure states that strategic planning “is not enough to focus merely on replacement planning. It needs to be recognized as a systemized business imperative; critical for long-term planning, capability development and execution of business strategy.”

The opening keynote address by Nancy Long is entitled “Builting a Culture that Attracts Top Talent and the Best Leaders,” and covers the necessity of recruiting high-potential candidates and developing a culture which attracts strong leaders. Long, who is the Chief Human Resources Officer and Executive Vice President Emeritus of Hitachi Data Systems, will relay how integrating leadership competences and creating an effective culture are key to succession planning success.

In addition to Long, the 2014 Strategic Succession Planning Summit will include a long list of speakers who are top thought leaders and HR Professionals, including Yvonne Gardner, Vice President Talent Management and Organizational Effectiveness with Sutter Health; Erika Duffy, Managing Consultant Executive Development also with Sutter Health; Michael Molinaro, Chief Learning Officer at New York Life Insurance Company; Jay Longowa, Director Global Talent Management with Energizer Holdings Inc.; Jennifer L. Irwin, PhD, formerly Officer Executive Staffing & Succession Planning with The Procter & Gamble Company; Laurie Flanagan, Sr. Manager, Global Learning & Leadership Development, also with The Procter & Gamble Company; Christopher Henry, Vice President Talent and Organizational Development of MGM Resorts International; Gail Carmona, Executive Director of Talent and Organizational Development at MGM International; and additional representatives from Paychex, Inc.; Intuit, Inc.; and Citi.

This, the 2nd Annual Strategic Succession Planning Summit, has been approved by the HRCI for 10.50 general credits. Networking opportunities will be provided between sessions and Industry experts will examine the evolution of succession planning. Takeaways will include workforce planning, career management, leadership development, high impact technologies, high potential assessment & development, and learning and development. Tips from best practice organizations will provide actionable steps for attendees to increase productivity and business excellence in their own companies.

Can Your Company Adjust to the Ever-Changing Needs of Your Workforce?

CTCG Helps Take the Pain Out of Career Transitions

Two-Thirds of Managers Need Guidance on How to Coach and Develop Employees

How to Recognize Management-Material Employees

Strategic Succession Planning Summit by the Talent Management Alliance

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