10 SUCCESSION PLANNING Tips for talent spotting


What role can learning and development take in identifying leaders of the future? Six experts off er their insights on succession planning. Interviews by Allie Dickinson


Sue Lovegrove Managing director, SML Training and Consultancy To identify future leaders, it is important to look at the strategic direction of a company and the sorts of things that are going to challenge future leaders. In this day and age, you can only realistically predict two years ahead – and the competencies and qualities that will be needed in the future may be diff erent from that which are needed today. The main thing is to identify


the core personal characteristics and then develop them in order to deliver business goals. Leadership programmes must be based on anticipated needs for the next two years – not on what’s needed right now.


Piers Lea CEO, LINE Communications In a world where everything is changing, you are looking for people who are essentially problem-solvers at heart to come through into leadership. Choosing the right people is about assessing and matching competence with the future needs of the business.


Tim Hawkes


Managing director, Unlimited Potential The economic


downturn has had a major impact on


leadership and talent management. Some


Clockwise from top left: Mark Jacobs; Chris Cherry; Gary Fraser; Piers Lea; and Sue Lovegrove


organisations are doing nothing, some are reactive and some have implemented leadership development and succession planning, which is defi nitely the best route.


Companies that invest in talent management are more likely to keep people who have the capacity to deliver in diffi cult times. It’s not about trying to upskill your


leaders; it’s about teaching them to be more


human, and


that’s where the future of talent management lies. As


long as it


is targeted, appropriate


and high quality, it doesn’t


have to be expensive. Tim Hawkes:


‘companies need to teach their leaders


how to be more human’


Mark Jacobs Director, Mdina Partnership Gone are the days when learning and development was just a good thing to do; it is a vital investment and a lot of companies have to juggle that investment against return. Most organisations are talking about cultural change in relation to succession planning but, if that’s true, the question has to be: “What have you done in order to facilitate that change?”


Chris Cherry Executive director, strategy and business development, Learning and Skills Improvement Service You can show people ways to demonstrate leadership, but you can’t train someone to be a leader. It’s about having a vision and a clear destination, a sense of what needs to be done and then making it happen. It’s also about accountability and taking responsibility for a task, action, project or organisation. The learning and development


part of that is to help people to see what tools they have to work with and to enable them to use them eff ectively. It’s about situational


awareness and knowing which tool to use for the job in diff erent situations, rather than saying to someone: “You will be a leader if you do the following things.”


Gary Fraser Leadership development manager, Durham Constabulary Police offi cers usually have contact with the public at times of greatest need, so they are the people the public look to in terms of leadership. Ultimately, leadership is about


developing emotional intelligence and self-awareness. Leaders need to be authentic and


inspire confi dence and do the right thing even on a diffi cult day. That’s the hallmark of a good leader. We test these qualities to some degree within the recruitment and selection process, but those that are stronger in these areas than others do come to the fore immediately.


All six experts will share their knowledge and skills at the World of Learning Conference and Exhibition on 2-3 October, where topics include using coaching to deliver business objectives and developing leaders of the future. www.learnevents.com


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