Situation: To accommodate future growth, a company has to build its management infrastructure and has developed an organizational chart to guide this process. Should preference  be given to existing personnel who are qualified and have expressed an interest in the new positions or should leadership wait until they identify exceptional outside talent for the new positions? How do you build the right organization?

Advice from the CEOs:

• Move forward with internal talent that have been identified. The company and management know these people and the “ideal” outsider may also come with “less than ideal” baggage.
• Create a 90-day plan with specific broad objectives for those who will be offered the open positions. Let them know that the assignments are conditional upon their ability to achieve their objectives during the 90-day period. Provide coaching, and cross-departmental training to give them the best chance to succeed.
• For one position, there are two individuals who have expressed an interest in the decision. How should the CEO choose between these individuals?
  • Move forward with the individual who is considered the best choice, but offer training and support for the second individual so that there is a ready candidate for new positions that may open, or a natural successor should the position in question open up for any reason.
• The company has a very flat organization chart. Individual employees work on several projects, with a different manager for each, simultaneously. What is the best way to evaluate individuals in this situation?
  • Use a 360 peer-to-peer and peer-to-boss approach to gather feedback for performance appraisals. There are a number of web-based systems available. This will provide an objective source of feedback to support performance appraisals and reviews.

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