“Bench strength” is defined as “the capability of members of an organization’s staff to move into positions of greater responsibility when required.” Let’s face it – senior and middle management/leadership can move on from an organization at any point for a variety of reasons, including retirement, a new external position, or an unexpected illness or the illness of a loved one. This means organizations should always be grooming and developing more junior individuals to take on additional responsibilities, particularly leadership ones.
Bringing urgency to the need for organizations to coach and train top performers to assume more senior roles is the fact that Baby Boomers, who make up such a large percentage of the work force, are already starting to retire and the majority of the youngest of the Baby Boomers will likely be retired by the end of this decade. And, they’ll be taking years of expertise and experience with them! Effective, respected leaders and managers aren’t developed overnight; therefore, it’s critical that organizations take succession planning steps now to position themselves well for the latter part of this decade and the next.
Our experience supporting a variety of organizations with professional development and coaching opportunities for their staff has taught us that cultivating more junior staff to become managers, and developing middle managers to become senior leaders or part of the C-Suite, is not a process that can be rushed. That’s why both for-profit and non-profit organizations need to plan years in advance and create a multi-year, multi-faceted succession plan.
Why You Need Multiple Plays: One Size Doesn’t Fit All or Address All Needs
Of course, each employee whom an organization wants to groom for a higher level position responds uniquely to different activities and approaches to providing them with knowledge and experience to be the best possible manager or leader. That’s why it’s important for an organization to provide a diverse mix of coaching, training, and learning opportunities for its future leaders. Plus, each type of learning, coaching, and training opportunity has unique features and strengths related to hitting home a particular message or providing a certain learning opportunity – so combined, a diverse set of professional development activities will ensure your organization can bring home the trophy when it comes to developing bench strength!
Important Tactics to Include In Your Succession Plan
So what employee professional development tactics should your organization employ to make sure you don’t find yourself suddenly lacking in bench strength? To hit a grand slam and bring all top performers on the bases home, we believe your top talent should be groomed for future manager and leadership roles thru:
- Individual coaching – ideally this would include both coaching by the employee in-question’s manager, as well as by an external leadership/executive coach. Read our “Why You Want to Take Steps Now to Ensure 2020 Success” blog post to learn more about the benefits of coaching.
- Group coaching – individuals tend to learn and participate more when they can interact with others who have the same questions and concerns they do – in this case, fellow future managers and senior leaders. The benefit to hiring an outside organization like Bercume Associates, who facilitates group coaching sessions on a variety of management and leadership topics, is that coaching participants often feel freer to share thoughts and ask questions of external trainers and facilitators vs. internal ones.
- Management and leadership training – history and experience has shown that there are certain skill sets and knowledge that are fundamental to being an effective manager or leader, such as those outlined on our “Talent Development Services” page.
- Assessments – these can help identify skills gaps related to an individual employee or among a group of employees and can help to inform future coaching and training needs. Learn about the benefits of assessments by reading our “How to Prevent Your Organization from Being Towed under By the Un-Ebbing Tight Labor Market Wave” blog post.
Emerging Leaders Program: Developing & Retaining Future Leaders
In addition to the above tactics for developing a heavy-hitter leadership bench, why not reward and support retention and engagement of your highest potential employees by nominating one or several to attend our special fall 2020 “Emerging Leaders” Program? This program will position your future leaders for greater success by providing foundational leadership skills and competencies to build your bench strength in the following areas:
- Vision and Strategy
- Decision Making and Problem Solving Skills
- Leadership Presence, Emotional Intelligence and Influencing Others
- Developing and Leading Highly Effective Teams
Our new program combines group training/coaching, one-on-one/individual coaching, and guest presentations by leadership experts, plus hands-on experience – providing your high potential future leaders with the foundational skills and competencies to succeed as leaders in your organization. Learn more about the outline and logistics for our fall 2020 Program.
Contact Us Today For Help Preparing Your Organization for Tomorrow
Now is the time to start grooming your high potential “rookies” to be star leadership players to fill the shoes of knowledgeable and skilled Baby Boomers who will continue to vacate their roles at your organization. Contact us today to discuss how we can help you groom top performers to be admired and effective team captains of the future!