Many companies take their succession planning and talent management more seriously these days. One challenge I often hear from our customers is that the bench for leaders may not be deep enough for the future. This should send a strong message to the recruiting department and hiring managers throughout the organization. I encourage our people to hire for the job they have today and the leaders they want to have in the future, even when not hiring a manager.

The cub scouts have this great way of rewarding boys for doing good deeds during a cub scout event. They give the boys a brightly colored bead to hang from a leather strip on their belts. The promise of this small prize can turn a wild batch of 7- and 8-year olds into a camp cleaning machine just to earn the beads. Sometimes I wish we had a visible award system for the decisions our people make. 

I can see it now. Every time you make a decision for the business, a bead is added to the jar on your desk. If a manager's employees don't have very many beads then you know that manager is not empowering his/her staff to make progress. Their leadership is in question. You could ask people how many beads they earned in their last position, and how they earned them. It would be quantitative. It would be, let's face it, impossible. This is not practical, but an interesting thought exercise.

Are you hiring people with the right behavior that exhibits past leadership and decision making? (If you don't know how to find their past behavior, I recommend Top Grading by Geoff Smart.) Are you empowering your employees to flex their decision making abilities and deepen your bench of leaders in the organization? Are you building quality successors within the organization? Are you encouraging your team to "earn their beads" today?

Cheers,
Lois