TM - August 2008 - (Page 40)

recruitment & retention assessment & evaluation compensation & beneﬁts performance management learning & development succession planning • How can the company give employees the experience and exposure required to be global leaders? Who needs to be involved in the global succession planning process within an organization? “The short answer is everyone,” said Jeff Kristick, senior vice president of marketing at Plateau Systems. Companies at the forefront of succession planning have HR play a key role. When undertaking succession planning on a global level, it is equally imperative senior executives be involved in the process, and not in dayto-day details. Senior leaders need to determine if the company is providing employees with opportunities they need, Terry said. Aligning Vision With Global Requirements Any succession plan requires examining an inventory of skills and competencies for critical positions at present, as well as ﬁve years down the line because of the dynamic nature of a business, Kristick said. The next step is to match the requirements with current employees and examine the bench strength. Con- • Implement a user-friendly talent planning system to make it easy to identify talent globally and align them to key roles. As roles become available, it will be easy to identify people with matching skill sets and capabilities. • Refresh the company’s leadership competency model to assess if people have the right mindset and capabilities to succeed in different markets and roles in a global environment. Consider broad thinkers who are open-minded, ﬂexible and appreciate cultural differences. “There’s more of a focus on on-boarding and coaching, and assessing who has the right temperament and the right mindset to be effective in [certain] kinds of roles,” Krupp said. Observe Cultural Nuances to Overcome Roadblocks Global succession planning requires more preparation than its domestic counterpart, and cost can be one hurdle to overcome. If a company can’t afford to give employees international assignments, it can involve them in projects that will give them a sense of cross-cultural complexities, Terry said. If positions become available in Asia, but the ideal candidates are in Europe, is HR aware of and does it have access to them? The lack of accessibility and communication could be another hurdle to developing employees for future leadership roles. Companies at the forefront of succession planning have HR play a key role. When undertaking succession planning on a global level, it is equally imperative senior executives be involved in the process. ducting a gap analysis will determine where there are shortcomings and where to develop individual learning plans. Steve Krupp, executive talent management practice leader at Oliver Wyman-Delta Organization and Leadership, outlined some additional considerations for global succession planning: • Identify critical roles as the organization grows globally, and build succession planning around them. • Analyze the global makeup of the business, and ensure succession planning incorporates and grooms candidates who ﬁt the proﬁle of the future in regions of the world where business is growing. • Ensure people in leadership positions are willing to take on international assignments. When foreign leaders are given expatriate assignments, one of their deliverables is to identify and groom indigenous successors for regional leadership roles. August 2008 “The main obstacle is lack of visibility of the talent pool,” said Fred Barnhart, director of sales for Latin America at SumTotal Systems. “It’s hard to gather information on all potential candidates when they are disbursed around business units in various countries.” It’s also a challenge for U.S.-based companies to identify talent in emerging markets. “You sit around a table in Philadelphia or New York, and you haven’t met or you don’t know these leaders,” Krupp said. “So you’re not as conﬁdent to put them on a succession plan.” HR and talent leaders can overcome this by identifying and grooming talent from emerging markets over a longer period of time. “ company needs to understand from a A regional perspective where it’s growing, what its leadership needs are [and] what its leadership gaps are [so it can facilitate] regionally oriented acceleration,” Krupp said. Local leaders can set up regional councils that focus on succession planning within the regions, but this isn’t always a straightforward process. Krupp said many of his clients face a shortage of leadership talent in marketplaces such as China, India, Brazil, Mexico and Eastern Europe because people don’t have the right 40 talent management magazine www.talentmgt.com http://www.talentmgt.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of TM - August 2008

TM - August 2008 Editor's Letter Contents Human Performance Leading Edge Foundations Global Background Screening Does Global Assessment Work? Global Total Renumeration: Creat One Organization Border Insecurity: Immigration Reform and Talent Management The Global Workforce: Communication Across Cultures Around the World in How Many Days? Insight: Exelon: Performance Under Pressure Special Report: Perspectives on Managing People Application: Reinventing Sales Rewards at Motorola Dashboard: Mideast Meets West Dashboard: Mergers and Acquisitions 2008 - Don’t Leave Employees Behind Editorial Resources Advertisers' Index Full Potential

TM - August 2008

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