Talent in business that enhances employee productivity has never been more in demand. And getting the right team mix-up could not be harder for executives and managers. Despite Gen Z coming into the workforce and a new wave of talent cropping up, companies are struggling to keep productivity up. The answer to why this is happening is simple – lack of succession planning. Unlike what many newcomers might think, succession planning is not just for executives.

Rather, it affects all parts of an organization and essentially ensures that companies profit from the talent they have nurtured. It is not possible to fill the positions of outgoing managers with external talent. So, companies have to plan for succession and the best way to do that is to use cross-team collaboration to nurture talent and groom the best performers into managerial roles:

4 Ways to Enhance Succession Planning Effectiveness and Boost Business Productivity

Internal Social Networks

• An internal communications network enables businesses to create greater value by enabling different departments to interact with each other.

• For succession planning, sales and even internal process performers who can connect with others and create company dynamics are a strong indicator of where the company should be investing its talent development capital.

• Adobe has several highly popular courses on LinkedIn and Harvard ManageMentor, and also offers financial support to existing employees for independent educational pursuits.

Business talent nurturing starts with enabling prospective managers to lead teams in more ways than traditional management offers. One of the most popular ways to do this now is to develop internal social networks.

An internal communications network enables businesses to create greater value by enabling different departments to interact with each other. What’s more – when you have different teams communicating with one another new opportunities for growing talent come up, This helps in creating a diverse talent pool that ensures long-term market competitiveness.

Furthermore, internal social networks created for dedicated purposes like sales enable more updated and customized upselling and cross-selling to clients. This helps translate internal company culture values directly into delivering a great customer experience and better overall lead conversion.

For succession planning, sales and even internal process performers who can connect with others and create company dynamics are a strong indicator of where the company should be investing its talent development capital.

Real Life Examples: Adobe

Adobe is a premier in the global visual development media and naturally, it offers some great manager development programs to employees. It has several highly popular courses on LinkedIn and Harvard ManageMentor, and also offers financial support to existing employees for independent educational pursuits. It also has an “Accelerate Adobe Life” program for specific development programs which adds to its high internal promotion rate of 33% and 20% annual promotion rate.

Manager Mentorships

• For succession planning, using mentorships and a combination of people science plus external consults for talent development seems like the most popular option.

• The same interaction value extends to their subordinates which also helps nurture talent in the company for filling up mid-level positions when existing managers move upward.

• Spotify is a leading name in music and podcast streaming and part of its market competitiveness hinges on internal leadership development-based succession planning.

Mentorships have always been a part of the equation for business talent development. For succession planning, using mentorships and a combination of people science plus external consults for talent development seems like the most popular option. Manager mentorships also do not need to only relate to mid-line managers looking to move upward. They can also include peer-to-peer and cross-mentorships.

Oftentimes, managers from two distinct departments interact within a shared learning program space, exchanging insights and learning from each other. The same interaction value extends to their subordinates which also helps nurture talent in the company for filling up mid-level positions when existing managers move upward. Here’s a McKinsey quote on talent development and how it may be approached by companies:

McKinsey talent trends research indicates that skills development and the opportunity to apply those skills at work, as well as the chance for advancement, are among the top reasons employees decide to stay at their jobs. A company’s focus on continuous learning can help it engage its workforce and keep pace with change. When done well, continuous learning can address core reasons for productivity loss: when people don’t have the right skills to deliver in their current roles or they lack the skills they need for longer-term success.

Managers further utilize mentorship programs in tandem with internal social networks to create a collaborative and competitive culture of cooperation. Cross-team collaboration offers a lot of succession planning options in this way since it opens up the possibility of inter-disciplinary development made even more essential through organic communication and collaboration channels.

Real Life Examples: Spotify

Spotify is a leading name in music and podcast streaming and part of its market competitiveness hinges on internal leadership development-based succession planning. It also offers multiple self-led training opportunities, virtual coaching, and other options It also puts an emphasis on mentorship with an eye towards talent development based on psychological safety.

Micro-teams and Special Projects

• Focused mentor groups and micro-teams are the way to go for developing succession talent and is a major productivity hack for mid-cap companies.

• One of the biggest reasons why digital transformation failures happen in big businesses is the lack of proper succession planning and specialized talent development.

• Unilever offers a very highly-reputed “Future Leaders Program” for employees with managerial talent. It involves a mix of several training and development paradigms including job rotations, coaching, and mentoring programs.

Creating succession planning with effective talent development is a risky task. While changemakers are undoubtedly a core part of the talent development process, they also come with an associated risk of talent loss.

Oftentimes, if there is not enough competition and networking opportunities retaining emerging talent becomes harder. In such cases, your most talented and capable managers and even employees may leave. This is why focused mentor groups and micro-teams are the way to go for developing succession talent and is a major productivity hack for mid-cap companies.

Communicating and collaborating with other highly enthusiastic and motivated changemakers is a good way to create talent pockets with specialized skills. This also offers the option of leveraging high-performance human capital in emerging business opportunity domains. One of the biggest reasons why digital transformation failures happen in big businesses is the lack of proper succession planning and specialized talent development. Here’s a Fortune article mentioning how C-suite leaders should reorient their managerial decision-making and talent promotions:

“I think it would be a step in the right direction if people were able to cast the net much more widely and do these broad skill assessments to see prospectively who might be good managers,” Weidmann says. A better metric for promoting managers, he says, is to seek out individuals who display strong economic decision-making skills, such as their ability to smartly allocate time and team resources.”

Companies should focus on succession planning and talent development based on the kind of performance changemakers and fast-rising performers put out in micro teams. While this is not s sure shot it does offer a lot more insight into how they would lead a mid-line role if they were promoted. Also, this helps create strong organic links and develops internal professional networks within the company.

Real Life Examples: Unilever

Unilever offers a very highly-reputed “Future Leaders Program” for employees with managerial talent. It involves a mix of several training and development paradigms including job rotations, coaching, and mentoring programs. The varied and sometimes specialized exposure helps develop talent for higher leadership roles across both managerial and executive tiers. Because of its programs, Unilever has enjoyed strong talent retention values and cultivates its best performers internally. Also, many of the company’s senior leaders remain with the company for their entire active careers.

Nurturing Neurodivergence

• Companies should look at quiet contributors who, while not as socially active as changemakers, offer significant talent assets to companies.

• Companies that understand how to get the right mix of talent up to complement managerial styles tend to get more cohesion and harmony.

• Proctor & Gamble has a very widely known “promote from within” policy and it mostly fills its higher ranks from within the company.Many of these professionals have also helmed executive roles in Microsoft, McDonald’s, and Starbucks.

While managerial talent has always hinged on outgoing personalities, in recent times studies have shown that introverted persons often make better administrators and managers. The reason is that they put others before themselves and create a trust-based cross-team collaboration process.

In this regard, companies should look at quiet contributors who, while not as socially active as changemakers, offer significant talent assets to companies. These professionals are often neurodivergent which makes them more reserved than others.

However, their strong professional skills often set them apart, and nurturing their talent for succession planning may offer significant advantages within certain roles and administrative frameworks. Further, companies that understand how to get the right mix of talent up to complement managerial styles tend to get more cohesion and harmony. This is a crucial element of succession planning and offers a very compelling alternative to companies looking to move talent upward. Here’s a Forbes article explaining how extroverted performers sometimes make poor leaders:

Moreover, top performers can struggle to delegate tasks, often trying to do everything themselves instead of empowering their team members, which can lead to their own burnout and inefficiency. When they have trouble trusting their employees and giving them autonomy, they may start to micromanage, which can stifle creativity and initiative.

Real Life Examples: Proctor & Gamble

Proctor & Gamble has a very widely known “promote from within” policy and it mostly fills its higher ranks from within the company. It filters its talent upward via its “P&G Leadership Academy” and the program has given the company a strong talent pool with a steady stream of highly—trained and groomed professionals. Many of these professionals have also helmed executive roles in Microsoft, McDonald’s, and Starbucks.

How Should Your Company Approach its Succession Planning Process?

Succession planning is crucial for the long term success of any company. But getting the right talent up and moving forward is a tricky task. Having the right team communication network creates the ideal test bed and collaboration base for companies. This also ensures that training is hands-on, collaborative and does not sacrifice productivity to develop talent. This is what LEAD.bot bot does best! Here’s how:

LEAD.bot bot is a team engagement platform for big businesses and MNCs on Slack and Teams. It is an all-in-one team development software with features like virtual coffee chats, buddy programs, birthday celebrations & work anniversary celebrations, new hire onboarding programs, and Pulse Surveys.

LEAD.bot bot also offers cutting-edge Organizational Network Analysis (ONA) for large-scale organizations. C-suite execs and mid-level managers benefit greatly in their decision-making from ONA and use its highly actionable insights for building strong connections across their workforce. This enables far more forward-leaning talent development and generates greater organizational interconnectedness! Foster better organizational health, talent development, employee retention, and overall performance with this simple app!

LEAD.bot bot is a product of LEAD.app and we also LEAD.bot’s sister app Sunrize which showcases workplace attendance by graphs right on Slack! Book a demo now!