Blog
Succession programs and the new generations of leaders
29/12/2023 by Alberto Pezeiro
One of the major responsibilities of Training and Development (T&D) professionals and senior leadership in an organization is to identify and prepare employees to fill leadership positions that arise over time, in a fluid and continuous process.
The lack of investment and proactivity in training future leaders can lead, among other losses, to delays in filling leadership positions and the need for external selection processes, with all the costs and risks involved in training and adapting market professionals to the company's culture and processes.
For a period in the late 1990s, I was responsible for Latin America in the Corporate T&D area at GE, at the time the company with the highest market value in the world. My main responsibility was the governance, in Latin America, of global leadership training programs: Entry-Level Programs and Experienced-Level Programs.
In 2004, drawing on all the lessons learned from those years of experience, I created SETA: a company that is now a benchmark in corporate education and has helped thousands of professionals and companies achieve prominence and excellence in the market.
In the first article in this series, I described a mental model for creating T&D programs that cater to professionals at all stages of their careers. In this edition, I will discuss strategies for prospecting new leaders and creating a succession structure that meets the company's long-term needs.
The different levels of identification of future leaders
In general, the process of prospecting future leaders can be divided as follows:
Immediate successors:
These are professionals who are capable of assuming a given position if, tomorrow, the current leader needs to be replaced. It should be noted here that immediate successors are not always the most suitable leaders for the position in the long term, but rather those who are best able to take over the position immediately, should the need arise.
These are professionals who have extensive knowledge of the field, participate effectively in medium- and long-term planning, and are respected by their peers. They are also usually active participants in leadership development programs and have management skills and business knowledge.
As part of their preparation, they are often tested by taking on positions with greater responsibility and replacing their immediate superiors in temporary situations (travel or vacations).
In some situations, these professionals have gaps in their knowledge or behavior that make them unsuitable as leaders in the medium and long term.
These gaps can be addressed with individualized coaching programs, leadership training, and, eventually, opportunities in other areas where they can continue to grow within the organization.
Short-Term Successors:
These are professionals with the right profile for the position, who have been systematically prepared by the organization to take on leadership roles within two to three years.
They are not yet ready to fill the position immediately, often because they lack the seniority required for the role or some specific knowledge. However, they possess most of the skills and behaviors desired for the position.
These professionals have been honed over the past few years in advanced leadership development programs, participating in rotations to learn about new areas of the organization, leading transformational projects, and being exposed to the management experience of other professionals.
At GE, we used Experienced Level Programs, lasting two years, to prepare a significant portion of these professionals, who underwent an accelerated learning program and were divided by area of development:
- HRLP (Human Resources Leadership Program), for training HR Leaders;
IMLP (Information Management Leadership Program), for training leaders in the field of information technology;
ECLP (Experienced Comercial Leadership Program), for training leaders in the commercial area;
CAS (Corporate Audit Staff), auditor training program aimed primarily at professionals in the areas of finance, risk, and auditing.
This is the group of professionals being prepared to occupy leadership positions within 5 to 10 years, who possess certain important skills (solid academic background, computer skills, and knowledge of other languages, for example) and the potential to develop new skills quickly.
They also undergo accelerated development programs, rotating through different areas of the organization and participating in process improvement projects.
These programs develop skills in teamwork, facilitation, influence, communication, agile mindset, operational excellence, and project development, while simultaneously driving improvement and innovation initiatives.
In many organizations, the training of these professionals is called a "Trainee Program," with an average duration of two years and rotations through different areas of the organization every six to twelve months. In many of them, this program is usually a natural continuation of development programs that began with interns.
GE's Entry Level Programs in the 1990s corresponded to these long-term leadership training initiatives, divided into the following areas of development:
- OMLP (Operations Management Leadership Program) – for training technical professionals focused on conducting industrial operations;
- TSLP (Technical Sales Leadership Program) – for training technical professionals with a focus on sales and customer relations
- FMP (Financial Management Program) – for the training of professionals in the financial sector.
- CLP (Commercial Leadership Program) – for the training of professionals in the commercial field
The importance of mentoring programs
One of the most important figures in this process of preparing and training current and future leaders is the Mentor.
This is the professional who will help apply the knowledge acquired in the professional environment, helping to accelerate development and avoiding some pitfalls that may appear along the way. Mentors can also assist with behavioral issues, especially with regard to alignment with the organization's values.
It is very useful for any company to have a formal mentoring program, not only because it helps develop current and future leaders, but also because it is a very effective form of self-development for the mentors themselves.
Inclusion and Diversity
Leadership T&D programs are a great opportunity to increase diversity within the organization, mainly through specific actions in the recruitment and selection process and in the training of these professionals, who need to feel respected, included, and valued for their ability to contribute.
At GE, there are initiatives such as Women Leadership, aimed at ensuring that women in the organization have equal opportunities to compete for leadership positions, as well as creating a community of supporters for the cause, with people willing to contribute to ensuring the initiative's progress and serving as inspiration for the inclusion of other minorities within the organization.
Indicators
A very effective indicator for measuring the degree of development of future leaders and assisting in succession planning is the percentage of immediate, short-term, and long-term replacements currently identified.
For example, imagine that there are currently 100 leadership positions identified. After a series of HR interviews with these 100 leaders, it was concluded that there are:
- 50 immediate successors identified
70 short-term successors identified
30 long-term successors identified
(50 + 70 + 30) / (3 x 100) = 50%
It is up to the organization's HR department, together with senior leadership, to work using the tools available to increase this percentage over the years.
Many professionals ask me if the target for this indicator should be 100%. My answer is that we should work toward getting as close to 100% as possible, but there are times when it is necessary to bring in people from outside the organization, and perhaps 100% is not a realistic or desirable goal.
At GE, this figure is around 95%, which is the result of good governance by HR and senior leadership, as well as the initiatives listed above.
In conclusion...
It is up to HR and Organizational Development professionals to consider all available processes and tools to increase the percentage of positions with identified replacements and, above all, how to govern them.
Leadership Development Programs (LDPs), performance evaluation processes, promotions, job rotation between departments, and formal mentoring and coaching programs are some of the tools available to these professionals.
However, most importantly, senior leadership must treat this issue as strategic and essential to the future of the business, requiring all leaders in the organization to be involved in this process. If prospecting and training leaders are a priority on the agenda of all areas of the company, not just HR, the chances of success are high.
