Situation: The CEO is moving a key employee from head of engineering to a more customer development focus. To support this, she will have to bring in or promote another employee to fill the position of leader/supervisor/manager of the engineering group. The CEO seeks advice on the best way to approach finding a replacement for this key job. How do you replace a key position?
Advice from the CEOs:
• First, it is necessary to develop a timeline for finding and transitioning the replacement. Realistically, count on 6 months to find a replacement and transition the responsibilities to a new person.
• Keep in mind that anybody you find or promote will be different from the individual who currently occupies the position, and will not handle their new responsibilities the same way as the current individual. Their motivation and their approach to their new responsibilities will be different, at least at the outset, and they will not handle their responsibilities the same way that the current individual does.
• Seek an individual, either currently within the company or an outside hire with strengths that, over time, will add significant value to the organization. Prepare for this by brainstorming and developing a profile of the ideal candidate.
• If you have qualified candidates, the ideal person will come from within the organization. This has the added advantage of demonstrating to other employees that they, also, may become candidates for future positions to grow both their skills and income.
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Is It Better to Develop Internal Resources or Hire? Four Views
Situation: A key employee will be leaving for at least 5-6 months on maternity leave. This individual is a top performer, and will be welcomed back following maternity leave should she wish to return. However, her absence will leave the company short of resources. Is it better to develop internal resources during her absence or hire a new resource?
Advice from the CEOs:
- The company’s HR strategy should complement its strategic plan as well as the CEO’s feel for market conditions.
- If the strategy for the next year is to grow, then plan accordingly and commit to either bringing on someone new or to aggressively growing the talent already within the firm.
- If the strategy is to hedge bets due to lack of clarity as to where the market is headed, then plan accordingly and act more conservatively.
- Assess the availability of resources within the company.
- Are there internal candidates who can fill the gap created by this employee’s leave? If so, then start training and developing these resources. They will be valuable as the company grows.
- What is the company’s current workload vs. the capacity of current staff? If there is any excess capacity that can fill the gap, short-term, then use this as an opportunity to develop this excess capacity.
- If the company has excess capacity, and is unsure about market movement six months out, develop internal capacity first.
- This provides both additional flexibility and time to assess signs of market movement before making an investment in additional talent.
- Plan to revisit the situation in 3 months and make another decision.
- Keep a close eye on the market for developments, and have rapid action back-up strategies in place to respond to market conditions.
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How Do You Manage the Company’s Growth? Seven Solutions
Situation: A CEO is contemplating the company’s growth over the next year. One key manager is leaving, an aggressive target has been set for the year, and the company needs to fund this growth from planned cash flow. The biggest question is whether the existing team can handle this growth. How do you manage the company’s growth?
Advice from the CEOs:
- All managers reach the limit of their abilities sooner or later. It happens on different timetables to different people. The critical question is how well does the team learn along the way?
- It’s important to recognize first, what you don’t know, and second, to decide how to cover this deficiency.
- The deficit can be filled through team learning, hiring someone with the need expertise, or bringing in a consultant with the needed skills.
- If there are too many meetings, are they all necessary? Do they accomplish what needs to be done? Or might they be part of a routine or habit that needs review.
- Beware the standing meeting.
- Analyze the company’s infrastructure. Look at strengths and weaknesses of all departments. Determine the resources necessary to fill in the gaps.
- Look at things that are being done now that perhaps shouldn’t be done.
- Alternatively, are there things you are not being done that should be done?
- What risks is the company assuming through current management behavior?
- Don’t accept problems brought to the CEO for remedy without an alternative of some kind from the individual raising the problem.
- The CEO can’t do it all; that’s why there’s a management team.
- Choose with care those issues delegated to a peer or subordinate for solution.
- Another CEO told of an issue where he delegated a critical project to the wrong person and the job wasn’t done.
- Confidence must be established for effective delegation.
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