TM - August 2008 - (Page 41)

background, experience or exposure to assume leadership roles. It isn’t necessary to be from a culture to understand the culture though. “The goal of wanting somebody who’s native to a certain country or region is a good idea,” said Tom Gimbel, CEO of Chicago-based stafﬁng and executive search ﬁrm The LaSalle Network. “But you can hire a poor manager who’s native to an area, or you can hire a great manager who’s not, but who’s willing to learn the culture.” Global ﬁrms want to have global workforces and diversity for a variety of reasons, not necessarily for cultural issues as much as to get people with different educational backgrounds who could offer different perspectives on business, Gimbel said. Predictably, language and cultural barriers are not uncommon. The market for English-speaking managers in certain parts of the world is wildly competitive, Krupp said. On the other hand, Americans or Europeans who don’t speak other languages will be at a disadvantage if they take leadership positions in the Philippines, for instance. “People need to develop language and cultural abilities because that’s important for the future and has to be started early,” Krupp said. The willingness to cater to the cultural needs of existing staff also is important when dealing with international succession plans. “For instance, employees in the U.S. might prefer a condensed workweek, whereas employees in a foreign country may want ﬂexible hours so they can take time off to care for an ailing grandparent,” Gimbel said. Regulations and labor-relation laws across countries offer another challenge, Kristick said. Some European countries and other regions of the world have strict labor regulations about how a company can change job descriptions and move people around within the organization. Understanding such laws and regulations can help talent managers avoid roadblocks to global succession planning. Kristick said possibly the biggest issue facing global succession planning is for companies to recognize the need for it. “Unfortunately, many organizations are still very reactive when it comes to planning or gaps in their workforce,” Kristick said. “They don’t start thinking about who’s going to be the next CFO until he hands in his resignation papers.” Another obstacle crops up when critical roles, from a global view, haven’t been identiﬁed. Talent leaders need to identify these roles, assess candidates effectively against the roles and target their efforts to accelerate talent development around the world for roles with succession shortages. Drive Long-Term Succession Planning Factoring time into the grooming process for future leaders is a best practice, especially if a company wants leaders generated internally. Employees a company identi- ﬁes as high potentials who are two or three moves away from being on the executive team should have mentors planning the next move ahead of time. “If you have enough time, you can provide experiences for [employees] and manage that in an orchestrated way,” Krupp said. “Too many companies send candidates on global assignments with no ‘what happens next’ plan. It’s beneﬁcial to have a more long-term view on succession planning and set metrics that hold the top team accountable for selecting successors from the bench you’ve identiﬁed.” Prior to his job at Novations, Terry worked for a large industrial manufacturing center where he had HR responsibility in Asia, Latin America and Europe. Having operated on a global scale, Terry said the need for local autonomy is another best practice. When interacting with global talent leaders, it is beneﬁcial to share best practices from other regions of the world and let them adapt them to their own cultures. It can be helpful to provide some structure and then let them work within their culture to determine how fast they need to aggressively develop people through the pipeline. Global succession planning is an integral component to the continued success of any organization operating internationally. Terry said he has found periodic check-ins to be helpful and effective: Are they moving along with their plans? Are they struggling? What are they struggling with? “Frequent check-ins and contact made a big difference,” he said. Track the Process and Measure Beneﬁts The metrics-gathering process for global succession planning is similar to that for domestic succession planning. It involves tracking the retention rate and attrition rate of employees and senior leadership, as well as examining the depth of the bench, Kristick said. Tracking the percentage of open positions ﬁlled internally versus externally also can be a useful metric. If a company ﬁlls a lot of positions internally, it’s doing a good job of identifying the skills and competencies required of individuals internally. This results in less expensive hires who understand the company culture and likely are more productive. August 2008 talent management magazine www.talentmgt.com 41 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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