Category Archives: Organizational Development

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Doing Succession Planning? Find Your Internal Experts

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When you do succession planning for your organization, start by asking yourself some critical questions as you begin the process of finding your internal subject matter experts. By identifying some initial information, you will ensure that you are talking to the right people and asking the right questions as you collect valuable information that allows your company to thrive beyond the work lives of the experts under your roof.

We’ve all heard of people who have been laid off during downsizing or have retired after 30 years of service only to be called back to their desks under a lucrative independent contract because, when they left, they took critical information or skills with them. With a proactive succession management plan in place on an ongoing basis, companies can save themselves the costs of these valuable contracts and your retired employees can move to Hawaii, even if they are less enriched by the generosity of the company that found it could not go on smoothly without them.

Finding Your Critical SMEs Before They Leave

To find your critical SMEs, ask these questions: What is it that makes your business hum? is it your great products? Your incredible customer service? Your patented product that is nearly impossible to reverse engineer? The personalities of the core founders? The people who understand your financials? The person who does your data analysis?

When you can identify what keeps your customers coming back for more, you will have isolated the knowledge, skills and attitudes that need to be preserved. It’s not as easy as it sounds, but not as difficult as you might think, either.

Rest assured that it is not just one product, one person, or one department that holds the key to your company’s value in the marketplace. The essence of what makes your company hum is a combination of the people, processes and information that come together as your distinctive brand.

Look Beyond Your Secret Sauce

Think of the fast food hamburger. People may come to the drive-up to get a tasty burger with “sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles, onions on a sesame seed bun”. But they may be able to get an equally tasty burger across the street. What is it that keeps them coming back to your drive-up?

Perhaps it is the smiling servers, clean restrooms, dependable quality of the food and the utensils that make the whole experience reliably enjoyable. So while you need to make sure you have the recipe for the burger, you also need to be talking to maintenance about their cleaning schedule, human resources about their customer service training, public relations about the promotions and vendor management about the paper products and bakery suppliers.

Do Succession Planning In An Organized Way

While this is a simple and obvious example, when you extend it to what is probably your much more complicated business, it will help you think through all the important aspects of your organization when you are doing a 360 degree succession plan – one that leaves no stone unturned. The best way to drill down and find your internal experts is to look at your organizational matrix and analyze it by functional area.

Who does what? Who else, if anyone, can do it? What do your knowledge workers know?

You may find it is that quiet guy in the corner who has been turning out reports and talking on the phone to your customers who you may have to call back out of retirement because, in his absence, people really notice what he did.

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Organizational Survival: Why to Work with Your Subject Matter Experts Now

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Inside each organization resides all the knowledge needed to run it well and profitably.

The expertise inside each organization is the foundation of the business. The product knowledge, the R&D capability, the customer service structure, the manufacturing ability and logistical support are the individual building blocks that make up the foundation of expertise upon which your business is built. It is what makes your company unique and special. In business lingo, it is your competitive advantage. That expertise is not easily replaced.

In order to thrive, your business needs to have the “lottery ticket” contingency covered. It is important to know the people within your organization who, if they won the lottery and retired to Hawaii tomorrow, would leave a serious and gaping hole in your company’s ability to develop, produce and deliver products to your customers. Those are the subject matter experts who can offer something to your internal training programs that very few other people can provide.

Find those people and begin to work with them today, because they are critical to your corporate survival.

Defining Your Critical Training Programs

Companies would not develop or allocate finite budget resources to a training program this is not important. So, let’s start by agreeing that all types of training are important to maximize the profitability of your enterprise. However, for the purpose of finding your all-important subject matter experts – the people you need to be talking to today – let’s divide training programs into three categories:

1. Non-essential

2. Essential

3. Critical

Non-essential training programs are those that develop people in a way that improves their performance. Without those programs, your business can continue to survive. It may not be as successful or profitable, your products and customer service may not be as flawless as they could be, but you have a sufficient product and viable customer service without that new class you brought in house for your executives called “Learning to Lead with Confidence in a Global Healthcare Environment” (Just made that up so if you provide such a course, no offense. If no such course exists, it would be quite valuable, don’t you think?). Often these training programs can be provided by any competent supplier that specializes in such general areas of soft skills and management optimization.

Essential training programs are those that are required for you to do business. These training programs include things like software training that is provider specific like the training your employees need to use your new hospital electronic records system. Other examples of essential training include compliance training so your employees can operate within the laws and regulations issued by the FDA and OSHA, for example. These training programs are necessary and not optional, but can usually be provided by an outside provider with a little customization for your company.

Critical training programs are those that are specific and essential to your particular organization. These training programs impart the knowledge that is key to a particular company’s survival. Critical training programs teach your employees your secret sauce, whether it is how you make your pills or how much ketchup goes into your Funburger. The secret to your individual business’s survival is finding the people who have this information and downloading what they know into your company’s knowledge base before they win the lottery. Sometimes these people are not just people with scientific knowledge, but they may very well be the people who drive the spirit of innovation or the ones who know how to work successfully to cooperate with customers and product advocates that make your company a star. Whoever they are, whatever they are doing, when you find the people who make your company’s individual difference to your customers, the people who understand the value and distinction your organization brings to your customers, those are the subject matter experts you need to be talking to.

Working With Your SME

After you’ve identified the subject matter experts who can provide the critical information that your organization needs to survive, you need to plan to work effectively with them to capture it. Because your subject matter expert is critical to your organization, that person is also very busy.

When working with your SME, you need to manage your time and schedule to keep your meetings with them targeted and productive. If you don’t have a training project manager, you need to be one. During your interviews, stick to your agenda and, afterwards, make sure you have a review process in place so that your SME approves the information you are collecting.

By identifying your critical subject matter experts and working efficiently with them to capture their unique knowledge, your company will not just survive, but thrive, as you will be building on the solid foundation in which you’ve already invested.

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Three Things Your Subject Matter Experts Can Do For Your Training Programs

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You want to make sure your training is solid and rises to the next level. Tap into the best knowledge bank in your organization, your subject matter expert.

Subject matter experts (SMEs) are the people inside your organization who hold the unique knowledge, skills and attitudes that keep your customers coming back for more. They hold the keys to your competitive advantage that is the unique value and distinction that your company offers in the marketplace. SMEs are your company’s entrée into your industry.

For that reason, your SMEs are essential to building critical training programs. (See last week’s blog for the distinction among non-essential, essential and critical training) SMEs are the people who know what goes into your unique, probably patented, products. They are also the people who have established irreplaceable relationships with your top customers and make sure the organization hums by promoting a company culture that values employees and innovation. SMEs an be found in all corners of your organization, so whether you are designing a safety program, a manufacturing module or a leadership retreat, make sure to consult closely with the people who are getting it right, right now.

What kinds of information are you looking for when talking with your SME? Three things. They know your past, understand your competitive advantage in the present marketplace, and have the insight to understand your organization’s needs into the future. They can:

1. Ground your training: Your employees already talk your industry’s language to a greater or lesser extent. Your training needs to ground them in the history of how and why you do what you do today. An organization’s SMEs have a grasp on what has been tried, failed and succeeded, or they wouldn’t be there today. Make sure you download some history from them so your training tells a complete story by providing context, and also helps your employees avoid past mistakes.

Your company has already tread the hard road. Preserve those lessons for the future to avoid the curse of “those who don’t know history are doomed to repeat it.” That history resides with your SMEs.

2. Instill best practices. Because your SME already intimately knows your business, they are the best place to start to make sure your employees are getting the full and correct story the first time. When you are building training with your internal experts, you will be forging ahead from your first interaction.

Your employees have a lot to learn from your SMEs. Make sure your training leaves employees with an “Ah-ha!” that shows they are coming up the learning curve. That additional knowledge resides with your SMEs.

3. Find the dragons. Your SMEs got where they are in your company because they are not just a leading light inside your organization, but because they are a leading light in their field. True players can read the tea leaves, not because they are omniscient, but because they are highly skilled in a specialized area and can connect the dots that the layperson does not see. Every business wants to know where the opportunities and threats lie in the industry. Your SME can ensure your training materials see around the corners and build that competency into your future leaders, as well.

Keep your company on the cutting edge by giving your employees vision into an uncertain future. If dragons go there, your SME knows it.

In this highly competitive environment, no matter your industry, your competitive advantage is your best friend and that best friend is your SME. Tap into their knowledge to communicate your company’s value and distinction to your employees. Make sure your training includes the unique solutions that keep your company competitive.

As Grandma used to say, “Don’t hide your light under a bushel basket.” Your SMEs are lighting your organization’s path. Consult with them.

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Will Your Organization Survive Your Succession Plan?

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To my readers: Lately, I’ve been split between writing about either training or healthcare. This blog currently switches between topics until I build a second website. Thank you for your viewership during the transition.

I used the term “succession planning” a few weeks ago when I wrote about preserving the knowledge of the baby boomers who are retiring.

A colleague said he found my use of the term “succession planning” confusing. He said I was talking about “generational knowledge transfer”, not “succession planning.” That led me to get more specific about describing the role knowledge management and generational knowledge transfer play in an organization’s survival.

When we think of succession planning, what jumps to our minds first? People! Specifically, who will replace the current leadership? Who will replace all the valuable people who keep the place running smoothly and deliver value to the customers? Those are the people for whom you need to find acceptable replacements, and those positions need to be in your succession plan.

However, the emphasis in the blogs has not been about the people but rather the content of what constitutes success in those positions – whether it is the knowledge, skills or attitudes of the current successful occupants of those roles. Specifically, we’ve been discussing what needs to be preserved, not who needs to be prepared, and therein lies the difference.

So I did a little (emphasis on little) reading on Succession Planning.

Dr. Marshall Goldsmith is one of the leading lights in this field. In an article in Harvard Business Review in 2009, “4 Tips for Efficient Succession Planning”, Dr. Goldsmith discusses work he has done with the former CLO of three major companies. They say, on average, “executives give their succession planning a grade of C+ and they give their execution of succession plans a grade of D.” The reason? Plans don’t develop anyone.

Defining Terms

Let’s see if we can find some acceptable definitions of succession planning. I am feeling lazy, so I will turn to Wikipedia for a definition.

Succession Planning: A process for identifying and developing internal people with the potential to fill key business leadership positions in the company. Succession planning increases the availability of experienced and capable employees that are prepared to assume these roles as they become available.

As I dig down into this Wikipedia entry, I find the golden egg. Here it is: Over the years, organizations have changed their approach to succession planning. What used to be a rigid, confidential process of hand-picking executives to be company successors is now becoming a more fluid, transparent practice that identifies high-potential leaders and incorporates development programs preparing them for top positions.

The entry goes on to say today’s succession planning is part of a holistic strategy called “talent management”.

It’s the talent management where the knowledge transfer takes place.

Holistic Strategy

In its actual definition, succession planning is a term used to describe identifying and preparing people to fill critical positions in an organization. Who’s ready? Now? Later?

…which, of course (!), brings me to a joke that someone told me recently.

Stuffing the Three Envelopes

A new CEO was put in place. Upon the transfer of responsibility, the new CEO asked his retiring predecessor, “What do I do if things become difficult? Where do I turn?”

The old CEO confidently told the new one, “Hey, don’t worry about anything. I have placed three envelopes in your top desk drawer numbered one, two and three. If you run into trouble, open the first envelope and it has clear instructions for what to do. If you run into trouble a second time, open the second, and so on.”

Whew. The new guy felt pretty confident knowing the answers were in his desk.

So, after about six months, the new guy ran into his first intractable problem. After sweating it out and doing all the logical things he knew to do to steer the company out of trouble, he decided to open his top desk drawer and seek wisdom. He opened the first envelope. It simply said, “Blame your predecessor.”

The new CEO enumerated his predecessor’s shortcoming to his staff, employees and the board of directors.

Worked like a charm.

Another year goes by…second intractable problem…same route of traditional problem solving to no avail. He goes for the second envelope. It says, ‘Blame the economy.”

He creates a slide show that describes in painful detail the sad state of the global economy and particularly how it has impacted their industry. He presents his data to the board.

Works like a charm again.

Third intractable problem…falls back on everything he learned in B-school…can’t solve the problem. Goes for the third envelope. It says, “Make three envelopes.”

Ba-dum-bum.

In the holistic world of talent management, I am suggesting that great succession planning stuffs the envelopes.