How can succession planning help to find leaders who are the right cultural fit for your business?

There is a vast number of leadership candidates available in a wide range of professional industries in the modern-day, many of whom are highly qualified to propel businesses of all sizes to new heights.

While this provides corporations with a number of fantastic opportunities to grow and develop their operations, it is crucially important that a prospective leader fits the exact cultural context of a business along with what it is trying to achieve long term. Failing to consider this may cost significant revenue and lead to the breakdown of key client relationships.

According to a report by E&S, those in leadership roles are responsible for motivating a change in human behaviour towards more sustainable practices. While this may be true, in the modern age, there is so much more required of the typical leader for them to help a business succeed.

When it comes to identifying and recruiting the right people, an effective succession planning strategy will serve to single out the candidates who are the right fit for the company, and are able to meet and exceed specific goals. Here are two effective methods to incorporate into a modern succession plan to assist in discovering the leaders who are a cultural match:

1) Review the business’ ethos and long term goals as part of succession planning

Every business in each professional sector will work towards differing long term goals and projections. One thing that remains consistent, however, is that every company will have a blueprint as to how they want to operate, whether that be socially, environmentally, morally, or anything else.

Taking the time to conduct a thorough review of the cultural context of the company along with exactly how it is to be run as part of a succession planning strategy will open up avenues for improved ways to operate to come to fruition. This will also give current executives a clear idea of the values they require from prospective candidates throughout the entire recruitment process.

Similarly, from a performance and financial perspective, the right leader must be able to come in and hit the ground running in order to match long term objectives set with careful consideration.

Without this, the disparity in expected progression and real-time results may be damaging for the future of the company. It is therefore imperative that a succession planning strategy incorporates specific targets in order to identify the most suitable candidates.

2) Liaise with current and outgoing executive employees

It is no secret that the departure of a senior member of staff can cause a business to falter in several areas due to a lack of preparation. To combat this, companies should be actively taking the time to talk to current executives and ascertain exactly how they have managed to maintain operations and secure progression for so long. Internally, these employees will be the ones who have the best knowledge of the business and its culture inside and out, and this should be taken advantage of.

Where possible, the leaders who have contributed to the success of a company should play a direct role in constructing and perfecting the succession planning strategy for the business, along with helping to identify and place a suitable candidate for the position. This way, leaders can rest assured that the best available candidate will be the one who can take the company forward.

Summary

There is no quick fix to finding and replacing outgoing leaders with the candidates who are the right cultural fit. However, prioritising the development of an accurate and innovative succession planning strategy will go a long way in ensuring that a company in any professional sector is in the most influential position to find the leaders of the future.

At G&E Partners, we specialise in constructing succession planning strategies to suit global clients across several esteemed market sectors. For help sourcing top talent, contact us today.

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