"Hi CEO! Have You Lined Up Your Leaders in the Pipeline?" - Prof.M.S.Rao

“Look at all the companies that just lately have gone outside to find CEOs -- Boeing, Hewlett-Packard twice, Sara Lee, 3M twice. The leadership pipeline is broken.” - Noel Tichy


Imagine one day you find a key senior executive resigning and the company depends solely on him for strategic operations and activities. You get jittery right! Probably because you never anticipated his resignation and you did not groom the next level leader ready for this role and you did not plan for succession management. It often happens in few organizations. What is the solution?

You have two options in this regard. Either you must have lined up next leader ready for taking up the roles and responsibilities or you may intend to hire an expert outside the company. Hiring still takes time. The option would be to keep the person second in command to take over the reins of leadership and ensure smooth functioning of the organization.

What is Leadership Pipeline?

Leadership pipeline is all about keeping your employees ready through constant training and grooming to face any kind of organizational eventuality arising out of the resignation of key persons. You cannot take people for granted that they would stick to your organization for a longer time. People may leave organization either due to discomfort in the current organization or due to the availability of better prospects elsewhere. Leadership pipeline helps in keeping your bench strength ready for future. It helps in bracing up the challenges. Precisely, leadership pipeline is all about seamless and systematic supply of leadership talent within the organization.

If you already have an experienced person ready to assume the roles and responsibilities with the sudden resignation of a key person, it sounds like smooth transition. As the employee has already been groomed and is well aware of the organizational culture and climate and the value system, it would be easier and better for the company. It may be also a reason that a known devil is better than an unknown angel. When you hire an outside expert whom you consider as expert sometimes might find to be misfit later on. Thus lining up the leaders within the organization pipeline is the best alternative.

Merits of Leadership Pipeline:
There are several advantages with leadership pipeline. The employees know their current career opportunities within the organization and plan accordingly. If they find that they have bright prospects they will still continue working harder by being loyal to their organization. However, if they find that their career opportunities are bleak they may look for better pastures elsewhere.
Leadership pipeline clearly charts out the career opportunities for the employees and ensures seamless supply of staff within the organization. It also ensures talent management and succession planning and management. It serves as a diagnostic tool and clearly spots if there are any mismatches between individual capabilities and their level of leadership.
Organizationally it is beneficial to diversify the risk by not keeping all eggs in one basket. It helps boost the morale of current employees and keep companies afloat forever. Top brass within the organizations does not have to worry too much about storm as they have fully geared up for any eventualities. It helps in meeting the strategic objectives. It paves the way for seamless succession planning.

How to Spot Leadership Talent?

Based on the performance appraisals and the kind of challenges the employees encountered successfully, you can easily spot the leadership talent having potential to assume leadership levels. Look for the people who are passionate to excel as leaders. It is the passion that drives the real leaders. Passion enhances performance. Passion takes people to the tipping point. Succinctly look for people with spark and groom them.

How Do You Build Your Leadership Pipeline?

"Leadership - it takes one to know one, show one, and grow one" - John C. Maxwell
• Building leadership pipeline is a continuous process rather than an event. Crafting leaders should be a regular process. As you keep your financial reserves ready, you need to keep your precious human reserves ready to tide over crisis, if any.
• Stephen J. Drotter and Ram Charan in ‘Building leaders at every level – A leadership pipeline’ outlines six passages in leadership pipeline. They are managing self to managing others – managing others to managing managers – managing managers to managing a function – functional manager to business manager – business manager to group manager – group manager to enterprise manager. This process helps your employees in evolving as leaders over a period of time.
• Devise plans and processes to nurture leadership talent within the organization.
• Encourage the existing potential leadership talent to interact with the global leaders as it sheds their inhibitions and hesitations, if any.
• Conduct leadership development workshops, sessions regularly through internal leaders who can share their expertise and experiences with others. Especially at the recessionary period, it is a step in the direction where you can cut down the cost of hiring outside experts, trainers and consultants. It helps in interaction and enlightenment of employees. It removes barriers between various levels of management and builds bridges for the organizational excellence and effectiveness. The senior executives are also engaged in a right way in the name of training the leadership talent.
• Groom the right employees based on their competencies and capabilities who have leadership flair.
Conclusion:
"Leaders who tend only to business often end up losing the people and the business But Leaders who tend to the people usually build up the people - and the business" - John C. Maxwell
Keeping the currently corporate complexities in the 21st century, it is essential to keep leaders lined up without clogging the pipeline. As we keep supply chain ready we need to keep systematic and seamless supply of leadership material ready to face any kind of organizational eventualities.
The End

References:

Author’s Blog: http://profmsr.blogspot.com
’How to Build the Leadership-Powered Company’ By Ram Charan, Stephen Drotter, and James Noel
‘Building leaders at every level – A leadership pipeline’ by Stephen J. Drotter and Ram Charan.
“The Leadership Pipeline“. How to Build the Leadership Powered Company,
Charan, Ram / Drotter, Stephen / Noel, James