Bench Strength

CHAPTER 6

T

ALENT

D

EVELOPMENT

D

ECISIONS

And so one skilled at employing the military

Takes them by the hand as if leading a single

person.

They cannot hold back.

—S

UN

T

ZU

,

T

HE

A

RT OF

W

AR

This chap ter introduces two key d ecisi ons related to leadership

talent develop ment. The Capston e/Fou ndati on Decision , whic h is

summarized in Figure 6-1, considers those or ganiz ation al condi-

tionsunderwhichitismoreeffectivetoeitherconcentrateordis-

perse your talent developm ent effor ts . The Stream/Pool Decision,

shown in F igure 6-2, provides two ver y differ ent approaches to the

challenge of identif ying and developin g can didat es for leade rship

succession and placement. Together, these two dec ision s prov ide a

useful framewo rk for growing a strong l eader ship b ench.

The Capstone/Foundation Decis ion

Let’s assume th at you’ve ma de the decis ion to pursue a Make Strat-

egy and build yo ur talent ba se largely t hroug h internal develo p-

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94 B

ENCH

S

TRENGTH

ment. Given thi s deci sion, you then nee d to decide whether to

achieve this de velop ment b y focu sing t he bul k your company’s

time and r esour ces on identified high-poten tial l eader s (Cap stone

Strategy), or w hethe r you a re bet ter off dispersing these resources

across the broa der ba se of your leaders hip be nch (F ounda tion

Strategy). The respective advantages and disadva ntage s associated

with the u se of e ach strategy are o utlin ed in F igure 6-1. Let’s c on-

sider each of these options and see what they y ield i n term s of pa y-

offs and pitfal ls.

The Foundation Strategy

You might wish to purs ue the Foundation S trat egy when you are

working w ithin a relative s mall company or division, one that has

no m ore than a fe w hundred managers. In t his case, it becomes

feasible to spread yo ur dev elopm ent ef forts acros s your leade rship

ranks, take the time to work close ly with your execu tive team to

assess each manager’s suitabili ty for promotion, and craft individ-

ual developmen t plan s for e ach ma nager .

An organi zation may a l so de cide to pursue thi s strategy when

it is attempting to employ it s leadersh ip dev elopm ent effor ts as

par t of a culture-cha nge process , by he lping to get managers

aligned a round a comm on set of val ues and corporate strat egy. The

idea here is to have se nior- level executives take the lead in gu iding

those efforts, and by so doing make stro ng sta temen ts about the

kinds of leader ship b ehavio rs th at they mode l and e ndorse.

Pay-Offs Associated with the Foundation Strategy

Going back to th e concept of symbolic me ssage s, in choosing the

Foundation Strategy you send a strong message that your organiza-

tion views its l eader s as having equal potential and wor t h. This

message is very congruent with corporate cultures such as that

found in S outhw est Airlines, which places a l ot of emphasis on

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Figure 6-1. The Capstone or Foundation Decision.

Capstone

Strategy

Foundation

Strategy

Capstone/

Foundation Decision

When to Use It:

•

Resources are limited.

•

No clear “line of sight”

to lower-level leaders.

•

You want to create a

competitive platform for

leadership talent.

Pay-Offs:

•

Leverages limited resources.

•

Supports strong deployment of your best

people.

•

Can counteract the constraining effects o

f

or

g

anizational

p

olitics.

Pitfalls:

•

Can foster “heir apparent” syndrome.

•

Requires a disciplined assessment

process.

•

May cause you to overlook solid

p

erformers.

When to Use It:

•

Resources are ample.

•

You know your talent.

•

Cultural indoctrination

is a key objective.

Pitfalls:

•

Dilutes the focus on your top performers

(retention risk).

•

Requires a large commitment of time &

resources.

•

May devolve into a “sheep dip” program.

Pay-Offs:

•

Supports a message of equal status.

•

Can provide additional exposure and

testing of the broad base.

•

Supports strong values/culture messages.

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