Grow Your Own Leaders How to Identify, Develop, and Retain Leadership Talent

by Byham, William C.; Smith, Audrey B.; Paese, Matthew J.

• ISBN13: 9780130093981
• ISBN10: 013009398X
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2002-02-19
• Publisher: Pearson FT Press

Summary

Today's enterprises face a profound leadership crisis - and the speed of business has far outstripped conventional executive development systems. InGrow Your Own Leaders, three world-renowned experts introduce an entirely new approach for identifying tomorrow's leaders within your own organization, accelerating their development, and deploying them immediately, to address new challenges wherever they emerge.

Author Biography

WILLIAM C. BYHAM, Ph.D. is Chairman and CEO of Development Dimensions International (DDI), a leading-edge Human Resources consultancy that specializes in the identification and development of leadership talent. He co-founded DDI in 1970, and has worked with hundreds of the world's largest organizations relative to executive assessment, executive development, and succession management. His work on executive succession has been featured in Fortune, the Los Angeles Times, and many other leading publications.

Byham is co-author of Zapp! The Lightning of Empowerment, a groundbreaking book on empowerment that has sold more than 4.5 million copies since its 1988 publication. He has co-authored 18 other books, including seminal books on the assessment center method, which established the effectiveness of assessment centers as a method of executive selection and development-needs diagnosis. His best-selling business book HeroZ—Empower Yourself, Your Co-Workers, and Your Company offers step-by-step techniques for making meaningful decisions, measuring progress, and working effectively in teams.

AUDREY B. SMITH, Ph.D. is consulting vice president of the Staffing and Assessment Consulting group and Executive Succession Management group at DDI. In this role, she directs the activities of consulting teams that deliver executive development and succession management consulting services and leadership assessment center technology. Her work has focused on the design, implementation, and validation of Acceleration Pool systems; selection systems, including executive team reengineering applications; development assessment; and executive coaching. She has worked with many clients throughout the world, including General Motors, Northern Telecom, BMW, PPG Industries, the U.S. Postal Service, Steelcase, Whirlpool, the United Nations, United Airlines, Toyota, and Unisys Corporation. Before joining DDI, Dr. Smith worked for Rockwell International as a training and management development specialist.

MATTHEW J. PAESE, Ph.D. is manager and practice leader of DDI's Executive Development practice and is responsible for designing executive coaching, selection, development, and succession management systems that align with clients' strategic objectives. He has designed executive selection and development systems for General Motors, Steelcase, and Cisco Systems; and has consulted on executive succession throughout the pharmaceutical, health care, manufacturing, financial, and service industries. He formerly served as an internal HR consultant for the Anheuser-Busch Companies.

Table of Contents

Introduction	i
I. Leadership Talent: Crisis and Proposed Solution
The Growing Leadership Shortage: Building the Case for Acceleration Pools	3	(12)
Acceleration Pools: The Basics	15	(18)
Seventeen Reasons Acceleration Pools Work	33	(16)
Acceleration Pools: Fundamental Questions and Rationale	49	(12)
II. Identifying High Potentials
Identifying High Potentials	61	(24)
III. Understanding Organizational Talent
Defining the Executive of the Future	85	(40)
Diagnosing Strengths and Development Needs	125	(34)
Understanding and Prioritizing Development Needs	159	(16)
IV. Strategies for Accelerating Development
Development Options	175	(12)
Growth Through Assignments	187	(20)
Growth Through Short-Term Experiences	207	(12)
Growth Through Training/Executive Education	219	(22)
Growth Through Professional Coaching	241	(24)
V. Ensuring Acceleration Pool Success: Key Processes, Roles/Accountabilities, Meetings, and Other Mechanics
Key Partners: Supporting Growth	265	(18)
Optimizing Your Talent Review Discussion	283	(28)
The Role of the CEO and Measures of Acceleration Pool Success	311	(16)
Getting Started	327	(18)
References	345	(6)
Glossary	351	(8)
Acknowledgments	359	(4)
About Development Dimensions International	363	(2)
About the Authors	365	(4)
Other Books from DDI	369	(2)
Index	371

Excerpts

Introduction Today, more and more organizations face a shortage of leaders at both the executive and general management levels. This shortage is driven by a variety of factors, including rapid growth, a dramatic rise in retirements, poaching of key people by competitors, and the difficulty of retaining talented people. And it's happening at a time when leadership is increasingly important to an organization's success. To contend with this reality, organizations essentially have three options: 1) intensify their efforts to hire hard-to-find, increasingly expensive people from outside their organization; 2) do nothing and likely experience a competitive decline, which could lead to being acquired or going out of business; or 3) tap into the quality people already in their organization, thus growing and keeping their own leaders. The third option is, of course, the most desirable. By finding effective ways to grow their own leaders, companies can make sure they have the executive talent they need in an increasingly competitive world. They can reduce the time and resources that they devote to attracting outside talent. And, they can improve their ability to retain their best and brightest employees. In today's opportunity-rich economy, talented leaders enjoy a myriad of alternatives. Research has shown that a primary reason people leave companies is lack of personal growth and job challenge opportunities (Axel, 1998; SHRM, 1997 as cited in AMA, 1997). By growing your own leaders, you give high-potential people the chance to pick up new skills and knowledge and take on new responsibilities. You give them clear opportunities to reach for bigger and better things, and in so doing you give them a solid reason to stay with your organization. The benefits of being able to grow your own leaders are clear. Nevertheless, many organizations try to do so by using traditional "climb the corporate ladder" approaches and replacement-planning programs--systems that are increasingly out of place in a fast-paced, ever-changing leadership environment. In this book we provide a more systematic and targeted method for identifying and developing high-potential individuals. We call this approach the Acceleration PoolSM. Compared to traditional approaches, it is: Faster and simpler, requiring less paperwork and management time (e.g., eliminating the yearly replacement-planning forms that have long plagued managers). More accurate in terms of getting the right person in the right job at the right time to meet organizational needs. More developmental, with improved diagnoses of development needs, a sharper focus on building skills and knowledge, and better support for change and growth. Fairer by providing greater integrity and transparency, minimizing "old boy network" influences, and creating more diversity by encompassing high-potential people wherever they are in the organization. More closely linked to business plans and strategy. The focus is on the development of leaders who can run the organization as it will be, not necessarily as it is now. More involving. Participants decide whether they want to join the Acceleration Pool, share in the responsibility for creating and executing their development plans, and are consulted relative to their assignments. More flexible because it can accommodate late bloomers, work-life conflict considerations, and people from outside the organization who are coming into middle- and senior-management positions. More contemporary in its approach to retaining top talent. It provides the job challenges that top talent crave as well as the appropriate support. Top talent feel they are growing in terms of skills and responsibilities. More tailored to specific organizational situations and needs. It is not a "