Sell the Executive Team on Open Communication

ancy Hammond's dilemma can be traced back to her apparent failure to educate and sell the executive management group on a key element of a succession plan effort: open dialogue about the potential and readiness of successors. The fact that managers at the executive management review forum expressed surprise about openly discussing high-potential candidates and creating a talent pool is a major red flag.

When an organization contemplates a formal succession plan, one of the first questions that must be addressed is the degree to which managers are willing to share information among themselves as well as with the affected employees. Many organizations are uncomfortable with open dialogue about employee assessments and are even less enthusiastic about providing feedback that may include bad news.

Organizations that practice strong internal communications can benefit from a succession plan. First, executive management review meetings provide an opportunity to constructively challenge employee assessments that are otherwise being made in isolation by managers. A group environment provides multiple perspectives on an employee's strengths and can uncover perceptions based on hearsay or secondhand information. Second, since assessments are being made using a set of established competencies, all employees are being evaluated uniformly against the same benchmarks. Third, when employees receive feedback in the context of a group review, they discover not only how they are viewed within their immediate department but by the entire organization.

The concerns expressed by ECA executives over the presence of a "short list" of high-potential employees are, again, a product of an organization's culture. There is a division among organizations that practice succession planning about the "to tell or not to tell" aspect of the process. Some firms believe that to inform employees of their standing would be damaging because recipients of bad reviews would become demotivated. The other perspective is that employees have the right to know how they are viewed by their organization, as long as the feedback is constructive and they are told what they can do to improve their value to the organization.

Demystifying succession planning will promote its acceptance. A slate of highly talented candidates is simply the result of a comprehensive assessment against a set of accepted competencies used to rate all employees. If employees understand that the same criteria were used for everyone, they will be more likely to accept the process than if they believe covert strategies were used.

Because ECA has invested more than a year of effort in the succession plan process and it is at a critical point, Hammond must close the meeting and schedule another one in the near future to focus on the group's concerns. She also should try to include Professor Kanner in future meetings to provide credibility and generate enthusiasm.

Wayne Brede is the staffing manager for the Minnesota Department of Transportation. He also serves as the executive director of the department's succession plan and has made several national presentations on succession planning in the public sector.