TM - May 2008 - (Page 36) recruitment & retention assessment & evaluation compensation & benefits performance management learning & development succession planning [succession planning] by Mark Brenner Mentoring’s Role in Succession Planning To make the most of mentoring as a succession planning tool, activities must be flexible and focused on the human aspect of the relationship, and work in tandem with a supportive organizational culture. t’s no surprise more than 80 percent of senior executive recruits change employers within two years of hire. It takes a lot to make today’s knowledge worker happy. Once top talent is recruited into an organization, significant efforts must be made to develop, promote and ultimately to retain them. Yet, many succession management initiatives go down a dead-end path because traditional program efforts create an environment that works against the goals their designers had in mind. There is also a widespread misunderstanding of how adults actually learn and develop, combined with an overreliance on technological solutions to the human challenges involved in creating, filling and maintaining a consistently reliable talent pipeline. The water gets even muddier because corporations continue to rely on unscientific assessment tools in their efforts to fill holes in their organizational charts. Mentoring figures prominently in many of these deadend succession scenarios because corporations default to mechanistic talent approaches to a developmental process that at its core is nonlinear, nonanalytical and unambiguously human in nature. As one of several facets of a robust succession management platform, mentoring cannot be delivered in assembly-line fashion. Mentoring is talked about a great deal, but few people understand the high bar an effective mentor must clear. It requires a very personal and even intimate relationship. It’s much more about EQ (emotional intelligence) than it is about IQ — it requires a high level of interpersonal finesse, particularly on the mentor’s part. Mentoring must support the human learning process. Otherwise, its ability to transform individuals and organizations will be limited. May 2008 I Train Pets, Not People Most succession management programs look wonderful on paper but discount the complexity of human relationships. In the modern workplace, programs play out inside the sterile, white space surrounding the boxes, circles and arrows of a company’s flow chart. Highly structured, formulaic processes generally follow the same flawed pattern as they attempt to: • Address a perceived need for managers and junior executives to be schooled in leadership, performance management, conflict resolution and corporate citizenship. • Create and implement a curriculum built around critical topics. • Put a spark in or otherwise balance out the classroom elements of the design with a simultaneously running high-touch program. • Match participants with an appropriate senior executive in a mentoring relationship. Further, a structured, traditional mentoring approach may not always work because no one truly knows how to meaningfully or effectively pair people. Succession management often ignores that necessary development activities discount EQ in favor of IQ. To ascend the higher regions of a career arc, nearly all the leverage is in a person’s EQ development and ability to cultivate: • Accurate self-awareness. • Self-confidence and steward-like behavior toward colleagues and the world. • Thorough trustworthiness. • Transparency and authenticity (perceived by others as being an “open book”). • Full self-control. 36 talent management magazine www.TalentMgt.com http://www.TalentMgt.com
Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of TM - May 2008 Talent Management - May 2008 Editor's Letter Contents Human Performance Leading Edge Learning Connections Make the Connection: Effective Employee Evaluations Vacation: The Benefit Many Employees Don't Take The Four Pillars of Managing Performance Transform Talent With Deeper Skill Specialization Mentoring's Role in Succession Planning Graybar: Supporting a Long-Term View of Talent Management American Diabetes Association: On a Mission to Improve Employee Health Taking the Talent Pulse: What Drives High Potentials? American Systems Employees Earn a Piece of the Pie Advertisers’ Index Editorial Resources Full Potential TM - May 2008 TM - May 2008 - (Page Intro) TM - May 2008 - Talent Management - May 2008 (Page Cover1) TM - May 2008 - Talent Management - May 2008 (Page Cover2) TM - May 2008 - Talent Management - May 2008 (Page 1) TM - May 2008 - Talent Management - May 2008 (Page 2) TM - May 2008 - Talent Management - May 2008 (Page 3) TM - May 2008 - Editor's Letter (Page 4) TM - May 2008 - Editor's Letter (Page 5) TM - May 2008 - Contents (Page 6) TM - May 2008 - Contents (Page 7) TM - May 2008 - Contents (Page 8) TM - May 2008 - Contents (Page 9) TM - May 2008 - Human Performance (Page 10) TM - May 2008 - Human Performance (Page 11) TM - May 2008 - Leading Edge (Page 12) TM - May 2008 - Leading Edge (Page 13) TM - May 2008 - Learning Connections (Page 14) TM - May 2008 - Learning Connections (Page 15) TM - May 2008 - Learning Connections (Page 16) TM - May 2008 - Learning Connections (Page 17) TM - May 2008 - Learning Connections (Page 18) TM - May 2008 - Learning Connections (Page 19) TM - May 2008 - Learning Connections (Page 20) TM - May 2008 - Learning Connections (Page 21) TM - May 2008 - Make the Connection: Effective Employee Evaluations (Page 22) TM - May 2008 - Make the Connection: Effective Employee Evaluations (Page 23) TM - May 2008 - Make the Connection: Effective Employee Evaluations (Page 24) TM - May 2008 - Make the Connection: Effective Employee Evaluations (Page 25) TM - May 2008 - Vacation: The Benefit Many Employees Don't Take (Page 26) TM - May 2008 - Vacation: The Benefit Many Employees Don't Take (Page 27) TM - May 2008 - Vacation: The Benefit Many Employees Don't Take (Page 28) TM - May 2008 - Vacation: The Benefit Many Employees Don't Take (Page 29) TM - May 2008 - The Four Pillars of Managing Performance (Page 30) TM - May 2008 - The Four Pillars of Managing Performance (Page 31) TM - May 2008 - The Four Pillars of Managing Performance (Page 32) TM - May 2008 - The Four Pillars of Managing Performance (Page 33) TM - May 2008 - Transform Talent With Deeper Skill Specialization (Page 34) TM - May 2008 - Transform Talent With Deeper Skill Specialization (Page 35) TM - May 2008 - Mentoring's Role in Succession Planning (Page 36) TM - May 2008 - Mentoring's Role in Succession Planning (Page 37) TM - May 2008 - Mentoring's Role in Succession Planning (Page 38) TM - May 2008 - Mentoring's Role in Succession Planning (Page 39) TM - May 2008 - Graybar: Supporting a Long-Term View of Talent Management (Page 40) TM - May 2008 - Graybar: Supporting a Long-Term View of Talent Management (Page 41) TM - May 2008 - American Diabetes Association: On a Mission to Improve Employee Health (Page 42) TM - May 2008 - American Diabetes Association: On a Mission to Improve Employee Health (Page 43) TM - May 2008 - Taking the Talent Pulse: What Drives High Potentials? (Page 44) TM - May 2008 - Taking the Talent Pulse: What Drives High Potentials? (Page 45) TM - May 2008 - Taking the Talent Pulse: What Drives High Potentials? (Page 46) TM - May 2008 - Taking the Talent Pulse: What Drives High Potentials? (Page 47) TM - May 2008 - American Systems Employees Earn a Piece of the Pie (Page 48) TM - May 2008 - Editorial Resources (Page 49) TM - May 2008 - Editorial Resources (Page 50) TM - May 2008 - Editorial Resources (Page 51) TM - May 2008 - Editorial Resources (Page 52) TM - May 2008 - Editorial Resources (Page Cover3) TM - May 2008 - Editorial Resources (Page Cover4)
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