Succession Planning is the process of identifying and developing potential future leaders or senior managers, as well as individuals to fill other business or critical positions, either in the short- or the long-term. [Source: Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development]. Implementing Succession Planning can: Minimise business risk Allow you to more accurately plan for the future Ensure that your organisation has the capability to deliver against a vision and strategy Build organisational resilience, sustainability and business continuity Pinpoint development needs Identify career progression paths so you retain your strongest talent. For many organisations, they need to demonstrate to stakeholders that they are proactively managing the people-risk element in their businesses.  This is particularly true in the Private Equity arena where organisations can change ownership and the new owners insist that a stable management team and organisation is in place.…

There are three simple principles that underpin the new approach to continuous performance management - Conversations, Feedback and Cadence.…

It is common to use ratings in 360-degree feedback questions as it provides a short cut for people to prove a lot of feedback across many different subjects, quickly and easily.  In other blog posts, we've looked at making sure the right scales are included in your 360 degree feedback assessment. Certainly within performance management, there has been a shift away from ratings (see our blog post here).  The trend for written feedback continues and while it's common to have a few open ended questions in 360-degree feedback projects, often they are little more than 'start, stop, continue' (which we don't rate much!).  How can we ask better open-ended questions and get better feedback?…

It is well documented that over the last three to four years there has been a movement away from a traditional annual, ratings-based performance appraisal process.  The current direction of travel is towards a more agile, conversation-based and individual approach to managing performance, also known as Continuous Performance Management (CPM). This movement is picking up speed: 79% of executives rate it a high priority, up from 71% three years ago, with 38% calling the movement “very important.” (Deloitte University Press)…

If you already have a competency framework that has been in place for more than a couple of years, it may be in need of a strategic review and see how it's working for your business. So before we get into the details,  it’s worth making it clear what a competency framework is. Put simply, it is a set of standards, of criteria, that describes how people go about doing their jobs. A competency framework contains behaviours, approaches, attitudes and ways of looking at things, that set out what ‘really good’ looks like in your company. Your job description, targets and objectives describe WHAT you do, the competency framework describes HOW you might do it. A competency framework will underpin lots of different work and people management processes, including appraisal, training and development and promotion. It provides a common language for us to talk about our managers about these things- how well we’re doing, where our strengths are, what we need to develop further. It provides a fairer and more consistent platform for making decisions about people and how to get the best out of everyone. A good first step is to look at how and where your competencies are used and where they can be reinforced.  …