Succession Planning - Extending Your Network

Submitted by mauzenne on Sun, 09/12/2010 - 19:16.
in

This guidance recommends how to further your succession planning efforts by extending your network to your directs.

Succession planning is something that most managers think happen at the top of their organization. That is, they think it happens at the top if they think of succession planning at all, or if they even know it's done at their firm.

At Manager Tools, though, we know that it happens at all levels at those firms who are especially well managed. And, even if your firm doesn't do it at all, you can apply its principles to make yourself and your team more effective. Think of it this way: if you want to go on vacation and not have to answer mail and be on conference calls and respond to every single issue, you need to think about succession planning. That is, you need to think, who is going to replace me, and how are they going to get ready to do it well?

One of the problems with asking your team to step up is they don't know the people you do. They don't have the connections you do, they don't have the relationships you do, that make things easier for you than for them. (You can actually think of this as part of the goodwill you develop in your job. When you change companies, part of the reason things are harder is because you lose all that goodwill.)

So, we need to extend our network to our directs.


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jib88's picture
Submitted by jib88 on Tue, 09/14/2010 - 12:02.

An example and note about succession at the senior level

My previous director told me once that he was informed by the VP that he was going nowhere in the company unless he had a succession plan in place. You need to take care of this stuff to be more promotable.

While not directly relevant to this cast, I also wanted to note the great book "Succession" by Marshall Goldsmith. It's not exactly relevant to most people (focuses on CEO succession), but I found it fascinating to read how the process is viewed at the top levels of an organization.

-JIB

DrESouza's picture
Submitted by DrESouza on Thu, 09/16/2010 - 16:47.

An Example - Sum of All Fears

Mark and Michael,

Great and simple tip for succession planning.  Thanks.  In my experience bringing along the direct helps them see themselves in the role of manager as much as it helps others to see them as a manager.

Sometimes, you use movie scenes to illustrate your management point.  A couple of weeks ago I watched on TV the movie adaptation of Tom Clancy's nuclear thriller 'Sum of All Fears'.  Listening to this podcast reminded me of the movie.  Morgan Freeman is the CIA director and Ben Affleck the young CIA analyst Jack Ryan.  Jack predicts correctly the succession of leaders in the Kremlin and Morgan Freeman's character Cabot begins to bring Jack to meetings to meet the higher ups.  The movie portrays both the value of extending your direct's network and some of the pitfalls, including having the direct blow it with your boss.  The bonus points for the movie are the scenes were Cabot coaches Ryan on what to say in meetings.

The ending is typical Clancy, over-the-top heroics, but the first part is worth the look.

Ed

 

stephenbooth_uk's picture
Submitted by stephenbooth_uk on Fri, 10/15/2010 - 16:13.

Might this not also help in Steel Cage Death Matches

It occured to me, after reading the shownotes for this, that it may also help in Steel Cage Death Match meetings.  If your boss is the one making the lay off decision then if you don't introduce your directs to them those directs are just some numbers on a spreadsheet.  Numbers are easy to cut.  If your boss knows your directs and knows what they have done then firstly they may give more credance to your claims that your people are worth keeping and secondly it's harder, on a personal/emotional level, to layoff someone who is more than just a number on a spreadsheet, they're a name and face.

In no way a guarantee but in those situations you need every advantage you can get.  It may also help secure your job if it's a situation where whole teams are being cut, a team of faceless and nameless numbers is more likely to get cut than one filled with names and faces.

 Stephen

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