Succession planning Strategic HR
management look like at Deloitte?
Future of Work
The Human Capital Trends Report distinguishes a world of disruptive digital business
models, augmented workforces, fl attened organisations and an ongoing shift to
team-based work practices. Organisations are challenging their leaders to step up and
show the way forward. CEOs are being pressured to take a position on social issues;
C-suite executives are being asked to work more collaboratively across functions; line
leaders must learn to operate in networks of teams. But the Human Capital Trends
research shows that while organisations expect new leadership capabilities, they are still
largely promoting traditional models and mind-sets. They should be developing skills and
measuring leadership in ways that help leaders effectively navigate greater ambiguity,
take charge of rapid change, and engage with external and internal stakeholders.
New leadership challenges include:
New technologies;
Pace of change;
Changing demographics and employee expectations;
Changing customer expectations; and
Social context.
Using insight such as this means Deloitte remains future focussed and continues to
manage organisational risk – ensuring strategies are in place to meet the leadership
needs required to successfully run the fi rm now and in the future.
If you’re in
HR and
you’re not
thinking
about
succession
planning
then bad
on you
To widen the pool for talent at
exec level he also invests time
following potential candidates
as they journey through their
careers, both internally and
externally. However, he cautions
against relying too much on
online data when it comes to
people. Much more valuable are
the “stories you hear” from
people who have worked with
them: “Being the ultimate
leader is about the decisions
they make, their vision, how
they bring things forward and
how they remain consistent
in an ever-changing world.
You don’t learn that from a
LinkedIn profile.”
Evidence-based
decisions
Making decisions based on
evidence is crucial to good
business practice today, which
is why data analysis is fast
becoming core to every
discipline, not least HR.
Analysing data in sophisticated
ways can help in succession
planning by, for example,
mapping the core competences
necessary for success against
your future strategy and
identifying which candidates
have these from tools like
psychometric tests.
However, Sharron Pamplin,
partner for HR at Deloitte,
states that when it comes to
recruiting a leader you can’t rely
on a spreadsheet.
“You must balance the need
for the process to be disciplined
and data driven but also people
centred,” she says. “You have to
ensure the individuals are at the
heart of the experience. We can
forget sometimes that this is
about people and be too led by
the data. An organisation can
end up being dispassionate if
too data driven.”
In her opinion one of the
most powerful contributions
HR can make is creating
opportunities for the executives
and the board to get to know
key people in the business in a
“more human way”. Establishing
a ‘two-way dialogue’ means
understanding them as a
person, their ambitions, their
motivations and their interests.
This clearly helps when
appointing a CEO but Pamplin
believes that the most successful
businesses in the future will be
those that lessen the importance
of the CEO and move towards a
model of having ‘talent pools’ at
the top. As we’ve seen with the
‘disappearing’ CEOs of
2019, the top job is a precarious
place to be and Pamplin argues
that some of the risk, damage
and expense can be mitigated
this way.
“We’re experiencing
unprecedented change,” she
says. “Different skills and
capabilities are required. We’re
moving away from this being
delivered by one or two people
at the top. We are moving to
develop a cadre of talent who
can fulfil any number of key
value-creating roles. It’s
definitely not just about the
CEO anymore.” HR
Talent pool diversity
Pirri feels strongly that HR has a
responsibility to foster diversity
via succession planning. This
can be challenging because
of the lack of diversity in the
CEO talent pool, but research
suggests that companies
are not doing enough to seek
out diverse candidates. In
the Center for Executive
Succession’s research almost
20% of respondents reported
that their firms are ‘doing
nothing’ to boost the diversity
of the CEO talent pool.
Pirri, by contrast, is active
when it comes to presenting a
diverse pool of candidates to
choose senior executive talent
from. He’s a big believer that
you can find the right diverse
talent “if you really want to”.
Pirri recently led the
recruitment of a CFO that
resulted in the appointment of a
female – a highly unusual feat in
the hotel industry. He admits he
had to work hard to find good
diverse candidates and initially
presented a shortlist of 20 men
and four women, which was
then narrowed down to two
women and four men.
hrmagazine.co.uk February 2020 HR 27
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