Translate this blog
Thursday, June 28, 2012
Monday, June 25, 2012
Sink or Swim? Your Company’s Titanic Opportunity
Sink
or Swim? Your Company’s Titanic Opportunity
Recently,
a medium-sized company hit the proverbial ice berg. The chief executive
abruptly announced that he was taking a position with another company. At his
staff meeting he outlined what the processes should be for finding his
replacement. He outlined that the Board of Directors should appoint an interim
CEO, and they should form a search committee, it should take a few months to
identify suitable candidates and a new CEO should be in place in about 5
months. He assured the staff that their positions should be safe and they
probably have nothing to worry about. The only definite was that the incumbent
would be leaving the scene in a couple of weeks. At the very next staff meeting
while the incumbent was house-hunting, the staff openly discussed who could be
a potential replacement. What’s wrong with this picture? Answer 1: Most
everything . Answer 2: No succession planning.
Succession
plans are essential for an organization to thrive in BOTH times of success and
times of turmoil. Succession plans are often viewed with a jaundiced eye by
some who regard them as threats to their jobs. That could indeed be true. If
someone has been in training to fill in for you, then indeed you are no longer
irreplaceable. Conversely (and far more likely), having a back-up person can
free you up to take a more senior position, added responsibilities, and handle
more projects. It simply works both ways.
In situations where the soon- to-be-empty position
is not straightforward, having a procedure in place will do a great deal for
having all stakeholders informed of the navigational route.
It
only takes one iceberg to sink a potential business organization. In the
instance above, the continued smooth operation of the organization relies upon
stable leadership. They are not going to sink, but the crew is going to
flounder around for a bit and climb into their life boats until a new captain
is at the helm.
Tuesday, June 5, 2012
Is your training program keeping up with organizational growth?
My recent article on evolving training programs in Lab Manager Magazine: http://www.labmanager.com/?articles.view/articleNo/7769/article/Evolving%20Training%20Programs
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)