Future Leaders or Replacement Leaders?

Future leader or replacement leader? This is an important concept I've come to realize most organizations (aka company owners/leaders) don't get.

Remember: our bottom line is succession planning. We want ready, capable leaders in the pipeline so that when succession occurs naturally (or unnaturally, maybe someone has an accident or an illness,) you will not panic because you know that you have someone in the pipeline (preferably more than one someone) who can step up to the challenge.

When you are preparing future leaders, you need to have an eye towards the future of your business. You don't want replacement leaders; you want future leaders. Think of it like this: Let's say your dishwasher spews water all over your kitchen floor, requiring it to be replaced. You think to yourself, Now is a great time to upgrade my cracked ceramic to luxury vinyl plank, right? Wrong. The insurance company dictates that your home will be fixed to the condition it was in at the time of the leak. In other words - you are stuck in time. Similarly, when you are talking about the future success of your organization, you don't want a replica of what you already have. You want leaders who will ensure your company adapts to the future.

Here are three practices to help you identify the future and the employees that will get you there.

The first is to look to your industry association. They spend millions of dollars a year to have their finger on the pulse of what is happening in your industry, and they should have identified where the industry as a whole is going. For instance, if the construction industry is moving to 3D-printed homes - what skills will be required to seize that future when it arrives? Who should you recruit now so that you have future leaders with the right skills? Given the speed at which business moves these days, you will not have time to catch up.

Secondly, look at the job descriptions of key roles in your organization. Have they been updated recently? Most job descriptions I look at, inside companies that we work with, are not up to date. The first thing I do is give the job description back to the person currently doing the job and ask them to bring it up to date. If someone is in a job long enough, say three years or five years, the job grows, people adapt and take on new skills and new responsibilities, but nobody thinks to go back and look at the job description!  While they are updating the job description, also ask the incumbent to identify what future skills will be needed. It's probable that you won't find these skills today, but you will be able to interview for someone who is thinking ahead, will experiment, and who would rather learn something new than do the same job over and over again.

The third tip for securing future leaders is: In interviews, ask potential future leaders, How do you see this role evolving in three years? Ask this question whether you are hiring from outside your organization or you're looking to promote someone who is already in your company.  If they have future-leader potential, they have thought it through. They should have their thumb on the pulse of the industry and know what the role should be focusing on. So ask people, what is the future of this role? What should we be looking at as an organization? How would you help us get there? What tools or resources would you need to help us to get there?

Succession planning is a forward-thinking process that ensures you have a pipeline of ready and capable leaders. These three practices can help to ensure you are preparing your company with future leaders, not replacement leaders.