Cornerstone Blog

Have you identified the need to fill a critical executive level position…one that will play a key role in facilitating your strategic business objectives? In a highly competitive and dynamic business environment, selecting an executive with the appropriate skills who will contribute as a key team member is crucial. However, finding and recruiting senior level talent is becoming increasingly difficult. 

Given the high cost of a poor hiring decision and the importance and timing of finding the right person, many organizations choose to engage an Executive Search Firm. As a specialized branch of management consulting, Executive Search Firms are experts in assisting clients with the critical and challenging task of bringing top executives into an organization.  

Unfortunately, many organizations fail to properly qualify Executive Search Firms, often with disastrous results. An under-qualified executive could be hired, or a critical position could go unfilled. In both cases, the bottom line will be impacted…either through lost revenue, or the inability to achieve strategic business objectives.  

The following list of questions (and answers) has been developed to assist in the identification and selection of an appropriate Executive Search Firm. A firm/consultant’s responses will allow you to effectively assess their experience, competence and potential to achieve a successful outcome. 

1. What are your firm’s industry focuses – who are some of your current clients?

This determining factor allows an organization to assess a firm’s market and functional knowledge relevant to their specific situation and need.  One must have confidence that the consultant knows where to look for the top talent, and how to engage and recruit them.  This knowledge usually comes from conducting similar searches and understanding the nuances of your particular market.  Confidence that your selected consultant knows the territory will support a cohesive and functional client/consultant relationship throughout the course of the project.

2. Who will be doing the work; how is your firm structured?

Given the consultative nature of search, it is critical to determine how involved and engaged the lead consultant will be during the course of the project. Will the consultant who sells or ‘pitches’ the assignment do the majority of the work?  Is the research and candidate development conducted in-house, or outsourced to a third party?  Does the firm have the appropriate project management and communication tools to ensure timely and accurate feedback?  Who, exactly, will be accountable for your specific project?  It is critical that your choice will be engaged and hands on.

3. How many searches does the consultant handle simultaneously?

Here is a good question to ask as a follow up to the previous discussion.  A consultant handling six or seven projects at one time is average. Once it gets above that number, quality will drop. You need to be comfortable that your project is going to receive the time and attention needed to be a success.  

4. What percentages of searches are successfully completed? Is there a guarantee should the placement fail?

The industry average for completing projects is between 65% and 70%. This is partially a result of cases when specifications and/or business conditions change, organizations restructure, or the skill set you seek does not exist.  While there are many variables that can affect this number, a reliable number should be in the 75% – 90% range.  The key here is to be wary of the firm that tells you that they have a 100% completion rate. This is not realistic!

Most firms offer at least a one-year guarantee to replace a candidate who does not work out for reasons that should have been foreseen (i.e. excluding illness etc.).

5. What are the timing and key milestones of the process?

In most cases, executive level searches take between 90 and 150 days to complete.  Most professional and competent firms/consultants will be able to provide you a well defined and detailed outline of their process and timeline. Typically, you should expect a detailed progress review, including a list of pre-screened and qualified candidate backgrounds between weeks four and six, and begin to see candidates face-to-face between weeks six and eight.  

Note: Since the Covid pandemic, all early-stage and many late-stage intervierws are conducted on line..

6. What are the firms current “off limits,” i.e., where is a firm blocked from recruiting candidates based on existing client relationships?

This is a critical question to ask either large firms with specialty practice groups, or smaller firms focused on specific functions or market sectors.  Firms typically cannot recruit from an existing client for one to two years after an assignment. If a large number of target companies (those where the majority of potential candidates are currently employed) are blocked, your ability to access a strong candidate pool could be severely limited.  

You must also ensure that there is agreement with your chosen firm as to the length of time they may not recruit from your organization. Be careful not to let the fox into the henhouse!

7. How is candidate quality assured? 

The lead consultant needs to have a clear understanding of the performance metrics and evaluation tools that will be used by you and your organization to judge candidates. It is important to have confidence in their abilities to understand both your organization’s culture and the scope and requirements of the position to be filled. 

The search consultant must function as your agent in the market to both engage and recruit the best available talent. They must have the ability to recruit the best candidate for the job, not the best candidate looking for a job. 

8. How and when are references conducted?

This has continually been a key issue and one that is fraught with pitfalls.  Consultants must be able to reach beyond just career history and focus references on discussing competency, character and potential. References should be sequenced into the process. We recommend that at least two are completed before you decide on a final candidate. This will go a long way in eliminating the possibility of costly and potentially embarrassing problems later in the process!  Final references should be checked with a combination of supervisors, peers, and subordinates, and with individuals other than those provided by the candidate. Keep in mind that while you may want to do ‘backdoor’ references yourself, in order to protect a candidate’s privacy, all references should be coordinated through your search consultant.

9. What is the search firm’s role in candidate negotiations and closing?

This is a crucial step, one in which a professional search consultant should be both comfortable and experienced.  He/she must be able to effectively negotiate and communicate with both parties to achieve successful outcomes.

10. What are the fees and expenses?

Retained search firms typically bill between 30% and 33% of a candidate’s first-year total cash compensation, paid in three equal installments over the first three months of a search.  Most firms bill you for all expenses directly attributable to conducting the search, and some firm’s bill for non-itemized, or communication expenses.  Upon request, firms may agree to a flat fee, or a discount based on volume of work.  In some cases, firms will tie the timing of their invoices to their successfully attaining specific stage gates during the search process, including linking a portion of the professional fee to the completion of the assignment.

11. Is the search firm accredited, are a member of an Industry Association?

There are several key industry associations for retained Executive Search Firms, the most visible and important being the AESC (Association of Executive Search and Development Consultants). AESC members comprise an elite group of top-tiered, retained Executive Search Firms.  All members agree to abide by the Association’s Code of Ethics and Professional Practice Guidelines and meet strict membership criteria.  Membership in the AESC is the only form of quality accreditation that exists for retained executive search consulting.

In Conclusion:

Regardless of size and scope, not every firm is perfect for every search. A professional search consultant, whether a member of a firm or a sole practitioner, must provide your organization with the tools, resources, and information to make a knowledge-based decision for the recruitment of superior talent. In order to have the confidence necessary to identify and recruit the best available talent to your team, I encourage all current and potential users of retained executive search, (regardless of pre-established relationships), to evaluate and interview face-to-face a minimum of two firms, prior to making a final selection.

Reliable and non-biased information on search firms (locations, practice specialties, scope of services, etc.) is available at the Association of Executive Search Consultants  www.aesc.org 

We also invite you to learn more about Cornerstone International Group’s Retained Executive Search services.

What once were considered ground rules in both job seeking and recruiting are changing rapidly. As the pace picks up again, both candidates and employers need to examine post-Covid job expectations and recognize that new opportunities have entered the mix. Here are some examples.

1. Should you take the opportunity to change industries?

Sometimes a well-qualified candidate, who is clearly ready to assume greater responsibility, is reticent to change industries or deviate from a traditional career path.

Today there are more compelling reasons than ever for changing industries. These include accelerating your professional development, broadening your skills, adding interesting and accomplished people to your network, increasing employment opportunities going forward, accessing the global world, challenging yourself, and finding greater engagement via pursuit of something you are more passionate about.

Changing industries may benefit a candidate in the following ways:

Allow for More Rapid Professional Growth

Changing industries may allow the candidate to take on more responsibility as a manager and grow his or her salary more quickly than staying in one sector.

Unleash Innovation Potential

When you change industries, you see the possibilities for innovations. Post Covid brings greater expectations Your mind broadens and you can create something new by combining different skills that you have developed from different places. There are many individuals who have found great success by moving from one vertical to another because cross-pollination can lead to greater creativity.

Increase Your Network

When you have moved industries, you will have different connections from different backgrounds. This will increase your reach and help you grow in your future. When you have a good network, you can use it for building a business, for hiring good people, or for finding new opportunities for yourself.

If a candidate has spent significant time in one industry, they may not realize how well their experiences and skills may translate elsewhere. Not every industry is the same. Some industries and companies will value certain skills more highly than others.

Some verticals organize themselves differently and a candidate may be happier in some circumstances than in others. It’s not that the grass is always greener. It’s that we tend to thrive better in a garden than in a forest.

2. Should you consider embarking on a new career?

Over the last decades, having multiple careers within a lifetime has become increasingly common, not just in the U.S. but also in Europe. With technology giving us the ability to work from anywhere (and COVID demonstrating to everyone that this is possible) even more people are now considering a working life that spans multiple careers.

Understanding that you need not follow a single career path can open up new vistas. Creative thinkers have discovered the antidote to boredom, burnout, job insecurity, and many other workplace woes may be “The Slash Effect.”  This is when you move successfully from one career to another, and maybe even to another. You may know of lawyers who became entrepreneurs, journalists who became marketing executives, doctors who became venture capitalists, or CEOs who became teachers. I even know of a pharmaceutical marketer/HR executive/company founder/executive recruiter.

A few things that may help you prepare for your next “slash”:

Use your current career to help you cultivate the skills required for your next one.

Take opportunities provided by your current employer to expand your skills set, be curious about what other departments in your company do and consider taking classes in areas that interest you.

Think about investing

Many people are interested in the investing world regardless of their career. Investing can give you the freedom to pursue other careers smoothly. When you invest, your money works for you so you can work on other things that interest you and you create capital that you can use to start a business.

But understand that if you’ve got household obligations or a family depending on you to be there physically and emotionally, the timing might not be right today. That doesn’t mean that you can’t make plans for a second career later in life. If that’s the case, understand and establish expectancies to work, leisure, finance and health.

We’re looking at business use of social media. Last week, we decided that many companies which invest in online marketing plans for most social media are missing the boat.  Let’s back up and start by defining what we are talking about.

Business Marketing in general takes one of two forms. For Business-to-Consumer (B2C) your target is the individual buyer. For Business-to-Business (B2B), your target is the buying influencer – often a group of influencers for big-ticket items.

Social media comes in a thousand shapes but is similarly distinguishable. Most is group or community-based (Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest) bringing together in some cases hundreds of millions of people sharing the same interests. As we pointed out last week, hoping to attract these people with a business message is fishing in the wrong pool.

To direct a business campaign to a broad social audience you have to start by dropping the sell. Community-minded social media adherents can be very zealous and will damn-and-blast any commercial intent. So, marketing overly to the FB crowd is a no-no. Be more collegial. Think support, not sell. Grab the customer’s attention, not her wallet.

Thoughtful customer support programs in community media can be extremely successful. But that wasn’t your goal. You still haven’t found the answer to finding a way to access these gazillions of people in marketing terms that will bring them into your funnel. That way is with LinkedIn.

LI was created from the beginning for professional networking. It has 346 million male and 360 million female users worldwide. Security is stricter and your content therefore safer – FB reportedly has over 90 million fake user profiles.

LI was originally structured as a high-end job database and the powers of its algos are extraordinary. With Boolean Search – AND, OR, NOT – and some search experience, you probably can find the only left-handed shepherd in Patagonia under 30 and with a Yale degree.

The other big attraction of LI to business marketing campaigns is its own multiplicity of media tools. You can pin-point paid ad campaigns as narrowly or broadly as you wish. You can build your stature as an industry leader by sharing news and content on your company page.

There are four different sections (Company Pages, Showcase Pages, LinkedIn Groups, and LinkedIn Advertising), each of which are cornerstones to the successful use of LinkedIn for Business. I would suggest you start with HubSpot’s excellent intro LinkedIn for your Business.

If you are an STM demolition and construction company, in a local market, should your marketing investment include Facebook and Twitter? 

If you think that is a mismatch, join the group. Yet, MGI Construction Company sees sales out there in Twitter’s 24 million followers. Or they don’t really and it’s just an example of what might be called social media sprawl – a vast, amorphous blob of robotic posts hopefully spinning around out there in anonymity.

Re-thinking business social media is long overdue. Most businesses have misunderstood it for years. There ARE brilliant ways to use marketing and sales promotion on the Internet but most firms don’t wait to find out. They see only numbers.  Managers who once used to commit huge budgets on the basis of a few thousand paid subscribers, take one look at Facebook’s 2.8 billion monthly users and say “We’ve got to be there.”

Actually, you don’t.

Business is a massive user of online – nearly 80% of all companies share content on social media.  Most of it is labelled B2C or business-to-consumer. Business-to-business (B2B) marketing is another story. How many Twitter followers want to buy a Caterpillar earth-mover?

Funding B2B marketing campaigns on most social media is described by a (male) friend of mine as being like peeing down your pant leg. All it gives you is a warm feeling. (The big exception is LinkedIn which we’ll come back to.)

Despite this inability to identify potential buyers of business products in consumer social media, firms have poured billions into the attempt.  Finally, the light has gone on. Marketers, who exist for conversions, realize they are competing in a quite foreign market that values community.

This week, a series of articles by MarketingProfs describes social media investment as a triumph of hope over hard evidence.

• In the real world, what keeps marketing alive is data. Last year, 67% of B2B managers admitted they can’t quantitatively measure their social media impact (although they are planning to spend more next year…..!)
• Another survey shows that social media engagement is a consequence, not a cause, of brand affinity. They followed you because they already liked you.
• In one survey of companies which claimed excellent customer service, only 8% of their customers agreed with that assessment.

So, as it becomes increasingly clear that much B2B marketing is wasted on most social media, where should that money be spent? The answer has been there all the time: Customer service.

Using social media in customer care instead of social media marketing turns the photo from negative to positive. It is about community, not conversion. You are valuing the consumer, not the product. You are aligned with the community experience, not the sale.

Does that not sound a lot more promising than this admission from an SM marketer at Arby’s:

It’s difficult to tie what we’re doing in social with hard metrics around sales or store visits … However, when we take a deeper look into the quantitative results and look at the sentiment and passion intensity of the comments [on our Instagram posts], we’re driving significant positive conversations around our brand.”

“Positive conversations”? Try this metric at the next executive marketing meeting and see how excited the boss gets.

So, the focus switch to the customer experience shows the B2B world a real way how to profit intelligently from the vastness of consumer social media. But what about the original marketing  challenge? Is there a door to social media that will show ways not just to pat your customers on the back, but actually get them to the top of your funnel?

Yes indeed. I said we’d get back to LinkedIn. But it will have to be next week.

Happy Trails.

A friend of mine who writes an excellent financial newsletter always signs off with a quote from Warren Buffet:

Price is what you pay.  Value is what you get”.

Tony Tiberius came to mind as I read a recent article published by HuntScanlon, a North American publisher in the executive search and leadership niche. The article reviews the best value in executive recruiting and right there – Myth #2 of four Myths – is the old price shibboleth: 

Executive search firms are pricey and provide low return on investment

It is there in every discussion on recruiting. And it is both erroneous and irrelevant because, as Mr. Buffet points out, price is a false metric.

First, a little background.

If you engage a firm to fill a position, you choose between two dominant systems in managerial or executive recruiting. (i.e. excluding low-level, job-board “classifieds”). They are known as Contingency Search and Retained Search

Contingency Search firms work on the TIATWASIIS approach (throw-it-at-the-wall-and-see-if-it-sticks). They select candidates based on a review of available profiles and they only get paid when you accept one. There can be many contingency firms “helping” you on the same mandate.  You do a lot of reading and assuming.

The work of the Retained Search firm is exclusive to you. They get involved. They ask a lot of questions. They want to know exactly what kind of person you think you want and exactly what kind of person they think is most likely to be above average in your environment.

They do the reading and research and assessing. You get a list that only contains the names of people meeting the criteria.

Now, getting back to Mr. Buffett.

The price paid to the contingency recruiter that wins the Resume Lottery is usually – but not always – the lesser of the two.  Not really surprising. A lot less work has been done on your behalf at a considerably lower skill level.

But the differential in value of the work accomplished is huge for these reasons

• The retained search firm has worked exclusively to meet your specific requirement
• That obligation has remained until you are satisfied you have the best person
• You have accessed a much wider talent pool. Your recruiter has not been limited to those looking for work; they know who might consider switching to join you.
• Your regular workload has been, as a rule, not that greatly affected.

The relative value between the two types of recruiting is greatly affected by the talent need.  The more critical the sought-after contribution, the greater the value of the search process undertaken.

Having to replace someone hired as a line manager in a medium-sized company is money and time wasted but will not summon an emergency meeting of the Board.

Finding undiscovered limitations in a C-level hire can go all the way to the bottom line. At a minimum estimated cost of 2.5 times comp, you soon hit a million plus and we haven’t mentioned reputational risk.

In other words, justifying the selection of either a contingency or retained search for a senior position solely on the basis of cost is, to put it politely, looking through the wrong end of the telescope, Less politely, it is dumb.  

By the way, here are all four of the recruiting myths:

Myth No. 1: Anyone can execute an executive search by using a job board.

Myth No. 2: Executive search firms are pricey and provide low return on investment.

Myth No. 3: Internal talent acquisition teams can produce the same caliber candidates as an executive search firm

Myth No. 4: A contingent search firm offers the same value as a retained search firm.

And here, one last time, is Warren Buffet.

“Price is what you pay.  Value is what you get”.

Game, Set. Match.

It’s known as Miles Law, and it’s attributed to Rufus Edward Miles, a Federal administrator who served as an assistant secretary under three U.S. presidents. It states: “where you stand depends on where you sit.”

The phrase acknowledges that where we stand in the perspectives that affect our opinions or decisions, comes from where we have been sitting in life. Our upbringing, education, network of friends and life experiences shape the bias of where we stand at any given moment in time.

We are all subject to bias in our opinions and preferences.  It may be wishful thinking to believe you do not.   What is much more to the point is to accept that you are susceptible to bias and know where you may be biased. This awareness allows you to discount it in an honest assessment of your options.  Here’s how:

Gaining Objectivity

Own your bias. Be honest with where you have been sitting and why you stand where you do. 

Examine your bias rationally. List other perspectives than your current conclusions. 

Expand your network to include people with whom you disagree. Then engage in reasoned but not emotional conversation. 

Evaluate your perspective. What are the reasons to continue or change your presumptions? 

Adjust your presumptions. Shift where you stand in spite of where you have been sitting. 

Identify the criteria that are essential to an objective decision. What are the important factors in the outcome of your decision? 

Weight the criteria. Each criterion does not have the same importance. Use a simple 1 to 5 scale. 

Measure each option in light of your weighted criteria. Score each option according to your numbers for each criterion. 

Make your best decision. What helps the most people and hurts the least people? 

Leadership Debrief

It’s okay to have bias. We all do. Just acknowledge that where you stand influences opinions, conclusions, and decisions.

According to Gallup, “Organizations that are the best in engaging their employees achieve earnings-per-share growth that is more than four times that of their competitors. Compared with business units in the bottom quartile, those in the top quartile of engagement realize substantially better customer engagement, higher productivity, better retention, fewer accidents, and 21% higher profitability. Engaged workers also report better health outcomes.”

Those were the findings of a Gallup poll in 2018.  The advantages of the “engaged worker” were known long before that but perhaps not as boldly quantified. Since then, the competitive benefits of engagement, diversity and inclusion have become the bedrock of leadership teaching and practice.

The AESC (Association of Executive Search and Leadership Consultants) recently interviewed John Amaechi, OBE, an organizational psychologist, author, Board Director, and thought leader on the relationship between diversity and inclusion and organizational competitiveness. Amaechi identifies a direct link between engagement and leadership. 

“The social and political upheaval, upended supply chains and accelerating digital disruption in 2020 have left many organizations rethinking what they need in their leaders,” Amaechi says. “Before the craziness ensued, leaders were decent resource managers. They were decent at giving one appraisal a year, but they weren’t motivational.

“Now we’re in a scenario where workers have been humanized. Workplaces have had to realize that their people are human beings with fear, anxiety, worry. Now they realize that whatever gulf there was between the need for brilliant leadership and the quality of it has now doubled, and inclusion is a part of that picture.”

Building Inclusive Leaders

If diversity and inclusion can be taught, is it also possible to identify inclusive leaders? Amaechi points to several qualities that can signal if leaders are likely to be inclusive.

Socialized leadership motivation: “This is the idea that you want power, but you want power in order to utilize it on behalf of your team, as opposed to an individualized or personalized power motivation where you want power, because power is good.”

Self-confidence versus bravado: “Inclusive leaders are self-confident, but at the same time realize that they have to have a confidence that is exhibited in a way that doesn’t turn people away or make them think they are absolutely invulnerable.”

Emotional stability: “Inclusive leaders are the kind of leaders who have a predictable response, who don’t fly off the handle one day and then come in and schmooze the next day; are stoic one day and the next day, they are bubbly. Inclusion requires that people have a predictability.”

Coming Out On Top

COVID-19 forced leaders to pivot and organizations to adapt, and the disruption isn’t over. Even before the pandemic, digital transformation and the pace of change required a fresh look at leadership. Amaechi notes that one of the jobs of search and leadership consulting is to help clients think about talent differently.

As Peter Drucker has stated: “the greatest danger in time of turbulence is not the turbulence.  It is acting with yesterday’s logic.”

As Amaechi sees it, the role of an executive search and development consultant — AESC members such as Cornerstone – is to help leaders realize that what makes you comfortable is not what will make you win.

“People talk about wanting to win,” Amaechi says, “but really what they mean is they want to not lose whilst being as comfortable as possible. And that’s not the same thing.

“Emotionally literate, intellectually curious leaders will prevail. Leaders who aren’t bound by tradition. Leaders who are willing to be personally inconvenienced for the benefit, for the ease of passage of those junior to them will prevail. Leaders who act as heat shields for disruption and then take much of the pain rather than distribute it through, that leader is going to prevail.”

We are still in the midst of challenging times, and Amaechi cautions, “Organizations that are poorly led by homogenous groups of people, whether they be homogenous demographically, or just homogenous thinkers, will fail. And as a society, we can’t afford that. So, hiring diverse people, making sure that leaders with diverse skills find that opportunity and flourish is for the benefit of us all.”

For more insight into the challenges of leadership today, read more AESC articles here

(Ed Note: This article first appeared in Forbes, for whom George is a regular contributor. He is also an alumnus of Coca Cola where he formed a deep respect for CEO Neville Isdell and his leadership ability. George looks back on those qualities here)

If decisions have to go through you, you’re the choke point at the bottom of the funnel, controlling the flow. 

Conversely, if you provide clear direction, resources, bounded authority, and accountability, enabling others to make decisions, you turn the funnel into a megaphone, amplifying your influence and impact. It’s one of the fundamental differences between early-stage entrepreneurs and successful leaders of larger, more complex enterprises.

Coca-Cola’s Neville Isdell was a decision-enabler. As described in The Keys To Level Four Delegation, Neville led by giving people:

1. Direction as to the desired objectives and results so everyone understood his intent.
2. Resources – The human, financial, technical, and operational resources they needed to succeed.
3. Bounded Authority to make tactical decisions within the strategic boundaries and guidelines all had agreed to.
4. Accountability – Standards of performance, time expectations, positive and negative consequences of success and failure for those held to account.

It’s counter-intuitive, but clear direction, boundaries and guidelines free people up to act. Knowing what you can’t do lets you spend more time thinking about what you can do.

Coca-Cola’s people knew they couldn’t mess with the core pillars of Coca-Cola. No-one tried to change the secret formula. (Except once with New Coke. But that’s a different story.) Global package changes were big deals. But people had tremendous flexibility with local advertising, promotions, and execution, enabling the tactical capacity to adjust quickly and decisively.

Isdell deliberately spent more time enabling others’ decisions than in making decisions himself.

Steps You Can Take

Direction

Start by aligning people, plans, and practices around a shared purpose. Your shared purpose is a combination of your mission (why,) vision (what,) and values and guiding principles (how.) One of the most important guiding principles goes to the core nature of the enterprise: design, produce, deliver, or service.

Core Framework

Your overarching strategy and strategic priorities flow from this, directing each group within the organization to:

• win by being predominant, superior, or strong,
• not lose by being above average, or good enough/scaled, or
• not do or out-source.

This gives them a clear picture of their desired objectives, results, and interdependencies with other groups so everyone understands your intent.

Resources

Strategic and priority choices are theoretically elegant and practically useless until they have resources behind them. Make human, financial, technical and operational resource choices in line with each group’s priority:

• Predominance requires top 1% resources to be the ones shaping the future.
• Superiority requires top 10% resources to be better than anyone else.
• Strong requires top 25% resources to be better than most.
• Above Average requires competitive resources to be generally competitive.
• Good Enough/Scaled is where you save money to fund higher-priority areas, looking only for the minimally viable approach and ways to scale efficiently.
• Not Do or Outsourced may or may not save you cash immediately, but it keeps these areas from distracting leadership.

Bounded Authority

This was where Isdell excelled. When his people made tactical decisions within the agreed strategic boundaries, he was always supportive. They knew they had the authority to make those decisions. Anytime anyone needed to re-look at a strategic boundary, they knew they had to engage with Isdell – who was always open to people influencing decisions he had the authority to make.

Accountability and Consequences

Pick your cliché. “If it doesn’t get measured, it doesn’t get done.” “You get what you inspect.” You’ve probably got your own favorite. The point is you have to measure, track, and assess results so you can adjust.

Set clear standards of performance, time expectations with milestones along the way, and positive and negative consequences of success and failure for the people being called to account. And then follow through.

Planning Process

1. Confirm the shared purpose: mission, vision, values and guiding principles including the nature of the enterprise.
2. Make clear strategic and priority choices in line with that.
3. Deploy resources in line with those strategic priority choices.
4. Clarify the tactical decisions leaders can make on their own and which they need others to endorse.
5. Require those leaders to share and implement rigorous plans to deliver their priorities so all know what’s getting done by when, by whom, with what resources and what interdependencies.
6. In general, track, assess, and modify your overall strategic, organizational and operational processes annually, overall business results quarterly, programs monthly, projects weekly, tasks daily or more frequently in a crisis.

Many companies fail to pay adequate attention to their leadership pipelines and succession planning.

Earlier this month, a study published in the Harvard Business Review came to an astonishing conclusion: the market value wiped out by badly managed CEO and C-suite transitions in the S&P 1500 alone is close to $1 trillion a year.

It is not just large companies at fault.  In the same study, an alarming 69% of private companies in the Middle East did not have a CEO succession contingency plan in place. In the research it was estimated that better succession planning could help market valuations and investor returns to be 20% to 25% higher.

Developing a comprehensive succession planning process for critical roles is key to strengthening your organization’s business continuity.

The authors of the HBR study concluded that an excessive tendency by large companies to hire leaders from outside is one of the biggest problems with succession practices.

This incurs three major kinds of costs: underperformance at companies that hire ill-suited external CEOs, the loss of intellectual capital in the C-suites of the organizations that executives leave behind, and for those companies promoting from within, the lower performance of ill-prepared successors.

The benefit of a succession plan is that your organization will not be caught off guard, even if a top leader leaves to join a competitor or faces personal or health issues or even retires. 

We have observed three key success factors for a vigorous Succession Planning Process

• Effective identification of high potential talents internally for every critical leadership role.
• Robust development and coaching program into preparing those talents to assume the relevant senior role.
• Assessment of those finalist talents at the end of a succession planning program on how they stack up against external top talent.

A Planning Template

Here is how to design an effective Succession Planning Process

1. Design – Decide which roles are critical in designing a succession planning process.
2. Redefine – Interview top leadership and redefine critical role requirements (decide key skills, competencies & traits for each critical role).
3. Identify – Identify High Potential (HiPo) talent internally for each critical role.
4. Develop – Develop technical & behavioral capabilities for the finalist HiPo talents over a pre-agreed time period (period length according to seniority of positions). 
5. Assess – Formal Assessment of the finalists of each critical role following their nurturing period, against job requirements.
6. Compare – Compare the finalists of each role with external top talent.
7. Analyse – Analyse data collected and synthesize final recommendations.
8. Recommend – Recommend final candidate for the critical role to responsible committee.

To discuss how this topic could impact your business, visit Cornerstone International Group (Middle East) or contact the author directly at stelios-pigadiotis@cornerstone-group.com 

Attracting and retaining top performing executives is the true lifeblood of successful organizations, yet identifying and attracting them can be a challenging endeavor.

Top performers, in leadership roles, will deliver about 50% more than the average and will improve their organization’s competitive position. Yet, according to McKinsey, 82% of Fortune 500 executives don’t believe that their companies recruit highly talented people.

There are many reasons organizations do not target A-Level talent: lack of resources, concern about internal pay inequities, lack of managerial confidence, chemistry/fit, etc.  However, organizations of all types, must strive to both attract and retain talent that will improve their competitive position. 

Specifically, organizations must develop and embrace a strategy that supports the hiring of talented executives.  They must live the concept that a rising tide floats all boats…that to win in the market they must accept new ideas, concepts, and recruit and retain top talent.

So how do you find and recruit “A” Talent? 

Speaking from experience as a member of a global executive search group, identifying “A” talent is best accomplished using a disciplined process that must include four tangible measurements.

When incorporated into the executive search process, the following will facilitate an organization’s ability to identify and attract best-in-market talent:

1. Determine Current Organizational Position/Potential

Often, the assumption is made that because candidates have worked for top performing competitors (or academy companies such as GE or P&G), that they are automatically a top talent.

With the cost of a mis-hire being more than 4x annual cash compensation, this can be a costly assumption. Once you have identified potential candidates, but before you contact them, recruiters should speak with knowledgeable sources such as alumni of their company and competitors.

These pre-references will ensure a consistently higher level of candidate quality and help determine fit to the new organization.

2. Ensure a Progressive Career Track

Ensure that the candidate has had progressively more responsibility throughout their career.  Has he/she made the appropriate decisions including agreeing to take on risky and more autonomous roles within their current or prior organizations?   Has he/she stayed in roles long enough to deliver consistent and high-level results?

Have job/company changes been made to further the career in terms of scope and responsibility, or just for more money? Is the candidate a job hopper, never staying with the same company for more than 2-3 years? 

3. Assume that Compensation and Talent are Linked

Compensation levels often reflect the quality of the candidate. This is a basic and irrefutable law of our open market economy. Top talent commands top dollar, and quality candidates are typically compensated at a higher level than their peers.

While there are obvious exceptions, this is true over 80% of the time. For example, a General Manager making $200,000 is more than likely a stronger candidate than a comparably experienced one making $125,000.

Keep in mind that “A” players are well compensated and their respective organizations will fight hard to keep them with rich, comprehensive, and long-term packages. It will typically require a premium to pry them away.

4. Senior Level References

After the initial references mentioned above, subsequent references must be conducted with senior line management highly familiar with the candidate. Most senior level executives will readily agree to be a reference for an “A” talent executive. Because of their rank and experience, they are the most candid and useful references.  

In closing, identifying, attracting, and retaining “A” talent is not an easy task, yet is paramount to the success of almost any organization.  While using these measurements will result in improved talent levels, they are not the only components of an overall recruitment plan.

For ultimate success in the market, management must commit to identify and hire individuals who will challenge them to take the business to the next level. 

Organizations must commit to a strategy of hiring the best person for the job, not the best person looking for a job.

About the Author:

Walter is a Managing Director with Cornerstone International Group, a leading Global Executive Search Firm.  He is a former member of the Americas Council of the AESC. Based in Atlanta and Washington, DC, Walter has over 25 years of retained search experience. He can be reached at walter-baker@cornerstone-group.com