Even with the crummy economy and high unemployment, smart leaders are still concerned about the potential loss of great talent from their companies. Whether you’re running a company, division, department, or a team, you need to plan for your future talent needs. And the sooner, the better.

In this month’s 60-Second Email (TM) , we outline the first steps you need to take for effective succession planning.

And when you’re done reading, let us know your thoughts. What else needs to be considered when doing succession planning? Any examples of succession planning done well? Done poorly? We’d like to know, and so would other readers (would we lie to you?!)

Click here, to get started.

“If an educated work force is the nation’s human capital, business is seeing a lot of subprime these days.”
- from An Educated Workforce, Wall Street Journal, November 23, 2009

Recently the Wall Street Journal invited top CEOs and policy makers to Washington to discuss critical issues facing the United States. According to John Chambers, Chairman and CEO of Cisco Systems, and a Co-Chair of the assembled task force on Education:

“As we [the CEOs] went through the discussion today, it was a unanimous vote that [education] needs to be the top national priority - way above the economy, health care, energy or the environment.”

Given where the economy is these days, and in light of the recent vociferous debates on health care, energy, and the environment, that’s quite a statement.

But unfortunately, it’s not surprising. In the last couple of years, I for one have heard increasing frustration from employers regarding the quality of talent in the labor pool. In a nutshell, many candidates just aren’t prepared for the demands of work these days.

Now, full stop - the recent recession certainly has provided a sudden and unusual increase in the quantity of qualified talent in the labor pool. But this is a one-time blip up. This won’t last forever. (Let’s hope not. If it does, we’ll have more extensive, systemic problems to deal with).

If we take a long-term nation-wide view of succession planning, what are we doing to ensure that the younger, less experienced talent in the labor pool will ultimately be capable and able to replace the more experienced talent that eventually will retire and leave the workforce?

Can we honestly say that a country can remain, in the long run, an economic superpower if it does not lead in the education of its citizens?

Successful global companies will always invest where the best talent is. To do otherwise, is a losing proposition. This is particularly so today when companies are depending on the capability, drive, and versatility of its leaders, managers, and employees.

Consider your own organization as a microcosm of a nation. How long could it remain viable with second-rate talent? How long would customers tolerate it? And where is it currently getting its next generation of great leaders and managers? From inside? From outside? How successful is it in each? And why?

Human beings have this chronic tendency to deal with the urgent at the expense of what may be less urgent but equally, if not more, important. My major concern is that by the time education becomes an urgent national issue (aren’t we there already?), it will be too late to stem the impact. Change will take generations, and our global economy moves at a much faster pace.

Businesses will continue to vote with their feet, and set up operations in regions with work-ready talent. Those people who are skilled and educated will be the most mobile and sought after. They will go where the jobs are. Those who are under-educated and under-skilled will not be mobile and will be left behind. It will be a knowledge-based meritocracy that will yield serious and dire socio-economic consequences.

I welcome your thoughts on what a forward-thinking nation and its business leaders should do to accelerate the education and capability of its citizens. Join the conversation, and post your comments below.

In the last post, I cited the work of Lombardo and Eichinger in discussing the type of experiences that lead to significant personal development.  These experiences have four qualities in common:

1)  You know very little about the experience as you go into it.
2)  You have to make a difference.
3)  You feel a chance of significant failure.
4)  You feel a tremendous amount of pressure.

I realized, however, that I omitted one other piece of the development puzzle, and I also remembered a related story:

I was driving from Montreal, Canada to Portland, Maine to visit a good friend.  It was a late Friday autumn night, and I was driving through the twisting, turning, mountainous, two-lane Kancamagus Highway in the White Mountains of New Hampshire.  As I approached the summit, instantly I was entombed in fog.  Visibility was less than nil.  All I saw was the hood of my car.  Nothing more.  Everything was gray.  I had no color vision, and no sense of depth.  It was unnerving.

And here was the question: Do I stop in order to avoid hitting the potential car or truck in front of me (and still get hit by a car or truck behind me) or do I pull over onto the soft shoulder (and still hit a vehicle that’s also on the shoulder and/or get hit by a vehicle behind and/or accidentally roll down the side of the mountain)?  I chose the latter.

With the car on the shoulder, I literally inched the car forward, always bracing myself for impact should I suddenly strike the car or truck in front.  It was like waiting for the shark in “Jaws” to suddenly leap out of the mist, onto my hood, and into my car.

Eventually the fog dissipated, I could see the pavement, and slowly I resumed my speed and my trip.

I thought of this incident, because it seemed to fit Lombado and Eichenger’s criteria:
1)  I knew very little about this experience as I got into it.  (I had experienced fog before, but not this type of total loss of visual cues.)
2)  I had to make a difference.  (I had to get out safely.)
3)  I felt a chance of significant failure.  (Indeed.)
4)  I felt a tremendous amount of pressure.  (An understatement.)

But I didn’t learn from it because of those criteria.  They just made it stressful.  The two things that ultimately made it a “developmental” experience for me were:
1)  I survived it (not an inconsequential factor).
2)  I learned from it.  I created a rule of thumb from it.  (After that experience, I never traveled the “Kanc” when conditions were conducive for fog.  Listening to weather reports tended to be just a bit helpful in that regard.)  This is the missing piece of the development puzzle.  For stressful, challenging events to be meaningful, and not just stressful, effective leaders and managers deliberately learn from them.  They ask themselves:  “What did I learn here?”

From the conversations and emails I’ve had with colleagues, friends, and clients, it feels like during these “foggy” economic times, many of us are going through experiences that easily fit the 4 criteria:
- Few of us have had experience with these types of economic challenges.
- We need to make a difference (in our jobs and with our families).
- Fear of failure is high.
- And so are stress and pressure levels.

One of the keys to “surviving” these times emotionally, psychologically, and professionally is challenging oneself to learn from them.  What rules of them about your business, your job, your relationship, or yourself are you discovering based on the journey you’ve experienced during the past year and a half?  What have you learned from the turmoil?  Surely you have at least one rule of thumb based on your experiences to-date.  What is it?

At some point, the economic fog will lift, and a more normal journey will resume.  Will you really benefit when it does?  Remember the Buddhist proverb:  “When the student is ready, the teacher will appear.”

And if experience is the best teacher, during these economic times I think we can say class is in full session.

So what are you learning today?

My local dry cleaner’s specialty is breaking buttons. If your shirt has buttons, they will break them.  Their 2-for-1 special is bring in two shirts, we’ll break the buttons of at least one of them.  In by 9:00, broken buttons by 5:00.  Coming in a close second is burning collars.  Don’t have ring-around-the-collar?  No problem; we’ll burn one in for you.  Consider it a shirt tattoo.  Lastly, the icing on the cake is shirt ripping.  Bring us your best, newest shirt, and we’ll make sure to pierce it.  Heck it’s the South; everyone can use some extra ventilation.

Needless to say, I left them.  Switching was easy.  Why?  They were no longer relevant to me, I didn’t care, and I had options.

Today’s Question: What about you?  Are you staying relevant to the people that matter to your career?  If you ask your manager, would he/she switch you for someone else?  What about your company?  Your industry?  Are you staying relevant to them?

Careers are made by being and staying relevant to your boss, your company, and your industry.

Quick Test #1 - Being Relevant to Your Manager:
If your role in your company was no longer needed, would your manager still want to keep you?  Would she fight hard for you because she felt you were incredibly relevant to her success?  Can you connect what you do to your manager’s success?  Do you know how your manager defines her success, what her top 3 goals are?  Find out, and ensure your relevance to your manager.

Quick Test #2 - Being Relevant to Your Company:
Unfortunately, your manager has just been let go.  And a new one is on the way.  The new one has no clue who you are; he comes from the outside.  Will your company underscore to him that you’re critical to the company’s success?  Will he ultimately believe it after a few weeks of seeing your work?  Has your contribution been such that the company would be foolish to let you go?  Is it clear for all to see that you are extremely relevant to the company’s success?  Make sure you are, and maintain your relevance to your company.

Quick Test #3 - Being Relevant to Your Industry:
Your company looks like it may be sold to a competitor.  Or your company seems like it may be on the brink of going under.  If so, will you be sought out by leaders in your field or industry?  Have you created a well deserved reputation within your circle of influence (however big or small) as someone who contributes to their industry or field?  Are you viewed as someone who furthers the knowledge, expertise and capability of others and of organizations?  If not, when will you start?  Being relevant to your manager and company is good, but for extra security, be relevant to your industry.

Today, people can easily outlive the company they work for.  Most people’s careers will involve several, if not numerous, employers.  Some may argue that the key to a long career is possessing the right skills, knowledge, expertise, etc.  These are important, but not sufficient.  The key is using them in a way that you remain continuously relevant to your manager, your company, and your industry.  Think about this past year, and the change we’ve seen.  Now look forward 12 months, and ask yourself:  Will I still be relevant then?  What do I need to do to ensure that?