3rd International HR Conference 2014

Bangladesh Society for

Human Resources Management

Organisation and People Alignment -

Building the Leadership Pipeline for
Sustainable Success
Mr Francis Mok
President
Hong Kong Institute of Human Resource Management

1 February 2014
 Contents
• About HKIHRM

• Leadership Pipeline and Business Success

• Why Leadership Pipelines are Broken or Nonexistent ?

• Best Practices in Developing an Effective Leadership

Pipeline

• Conclusion

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 About HKIHRM
• Established in Feb 1977, the HKIHRM has more than 5,000 members, with
some 600 of whom being corporate members
• Mission: to develop, maintain and enhance professional HR management
standards, and to increase the perceived value and influence of HR profession
• Work target – to enhance professionalism of HR practitioners by
- running a professional membership scheme
- providing professional training
- organising professional standards examinations
- conducting HR-related research and surveys
- providing profession-related, social and economic information
- granting HR Excellence Awards to outstanding HR professionals in Hong Kong
• Collect and reflect members’ views on government policies and practices
• Member of the Asia Pacific Federation of Human Resource Management and
World Federation of People Management Associations

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 About the Speaker
Francis Mok FIHRM (HK)
• President, Hong Kong Institute of Human Resource
Management
• Immediate Past President, Asia Pacific Federation of Human
Resource Management
• 30+ years of experience in managing operations and HR
• Specialised in Organisational Development and Talent
Management
• Served both public utility industry and private enterprises

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Leadership Pipeline and
Business Success
• Leadership talent and potential succession candidates for mission-
critical roles are key to current or future business success
Poses a significant
threat to current or
future business
success
1. Weak bench of leadership talent ready to step into key roles 52%
2. Insufficient bench strength to support business growth and 44%
meet future business demands
3. Shortage of potential succession candidates for mission-critical 42%
roles
4. Lack of effective metrics to measure the success of leadership 33%
talent management
5. Unable to identify early career talent with the highest potential 27%
for leadership growth
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Source: Survey “Building your global leadership pipeline”, Mercer, 2007
 The Leadership Challenge
“Strong leaders at all levels within an organisation are a
requisite for business success. Yet the leadership
pipeline—the internal architecture for growing leaders—
is often broken or nonexistent.”

The Leadership Pipeline:

How to Build the Leadership Powered Company
by Ram Charan, Stephen J Drotter and Jim Noel
2001

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 Why Leadership Pipelines
Are Broken or Nonexistent ?

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Why Leadership Pipelines
are Broken or Nonexistent ?
External Factors Internal Factors
• Demographics shift & • Lack of effective succession
Global talent shortage plan

• Generational shift • Inability to identify the right

quantity and quality of
high-potential talent

• Inability to retain key

leadership talent

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 Demographic Shift &
Global Talent Shortage

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 Demographic Shift
• The working-age population is expected to decline in many
countries.

• In the developed countries, more people, many of whom are in

leadership or managerial role, will reach retirement age but
there is insufficient number of younger generations to succeed
their roles.

• Demographic shift will become more and more an issue to

address for corporations.

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 Global Talent Shortage
• Significant talent shortage trends expected by 2020

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Source: Global Talent Risk – Seven Responses, World Economic Forum, 2011
Global Talent Shortage (con’t)
• Significant talent shortage trends expected by 2020
 In developed countries such as the US, Germany, Canada
and the UK, talent shortage is mainly a result of an
ageing population and people reaching retirement age.
 In the managerial cluster of developing countries, only
some 30% of workforce meet World Economic Forum’s
definition of “talent”, compared to some 70% in
developed countries.

 Only some 70% of technicians (such as an associate

engineer) qualify as talent in BRIC countries (Brazil,
Russia, India and China), compared to some 90% in
developed countries.
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Source: Global Talent Risk – Seven Responses, World Economic Forum, 2011
 Generational Shift

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Generational Shift
• Generational shift involves knowledge transfer and experience
sharing between the older and the younger generations in an
organisation.
• A generational shift fails when there is a conflict of values
between the two generations.

Young think about themselves… Interpreted by the old as…

High demands Impatient

on myself
Ambitious Self-centred
Creative Exaggerated
self-esteem
Optimistic Picky
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 Generational Shift (con’t)
• To achieve a successful generation shift, it is necessary to:

 update knowledge - have a go at company culture

 development paths for all co-workers - without real

opportunities to grow, people move elsewhere

 take care of specialists - appreciate and stimulate specialists

 bring the question up at management level - management

has to deal with the issue of generation shifting

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 Lack of Effective Succession Plan

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Lack of Effective Succession Plan
• Lack of succession plans is seen as one of leadership crises
To what extent do you agree that your organisation has the following
aspects of leadership development in place?

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Source: Paradigm shift: building a new talent management
model to boost growth, Ernst & Young, 2012
 Lack of Effective
Succession Plan (con’t)
• Succession plans’ effectiveness is under doubt

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Source: Global Risk Survey, KPMG International, 2013
 Lack of Effective
Succession Plan (con’t)
• Common reasons for ineffective succession planning:
 Lack management’s commitment and consensus, and
a clearly defined direction

 Regard it as a project rather than an on-going strategic

priority

 Fail to enhance its transparency, resulting in failure to

communicate related expectations or plans to the
potential candidates

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Source: Global Risk Survey, KPMG International, 2013
 Inability to Identify the Right
Quantity and Quality of
High-potential Talent

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 Inability to Identify the Right Quantity
and Quality of High-potential Talent
• Setting qualification metrics for high-potential talent is a
key factor not yet satisfactorily achieved
To what extent do you agree that your organisation has the following
aspects of leadership development in place?

21 Source: Paradigm shift: building a new talent management model to

boost growth, Ernst & Young, 2012
 Inability to Identify the Right Quantity
and Quality of High-potential Talent (con’t)
Reasons:
• Lack of an outstanding employer branding and corporate culture
to attract the target talent
• Failure to identify the critical capabilities / core competencies
for current and future success
- a lack of understanding of the current / future leadership
capabilities
• Focus on current performance rather than management
potential / leadership behaviours
- whether there is a gap between the person who completes
the job and the ideal qualifications that the position requires
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 Inability to Retain
Key Leadership Talent

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Inability to Retain Key
Leadership Talent
• The importance of retaining key employees is well understood.
However, many organisations are not sure if they can keep them.
Turnover of key employees is very costly for our 83%
organisation.

Retaining managerial and professional

employees who are high performers or have 69%
critical skills is a significant challenge

Retention of key talent is a major 65%

concern of senior management right now.

Confident in my organisation’s ability to retain 51%

key talent as the economy improves.
0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

24 Source: Retention of Key Talent and the Role of Rewards,

World at Work, 2012
Inability to Retain Key
Leadership Talent (con’t)
Why potential leaders quit?

• find themselves not prepared/suitable for leadership role

• wait too long to assume leadership role when the
leadership development period prolongs time after time
• have conflicts with corporate goals/stances
• refuse to follow the footsteps of existing leaders if they
have their own perspectives on corporate development

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 Best Practices in Developing
An Effective Leadership Pipeline

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Best Practices in Developing An
Effective Leadership Pipeline
Step 1 : Organisation and People review

a) Identify business priorities, challenges and human capital

implications
b) Identify business scenario (start up, maintenance, growth
<organic or aggressive growth>, consolidation or
diversification)
c) Identify critical capabilities for success
d) Stock-take current capabilities and pool strength

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Best Practices in Developing an
Effective Leadership Pipeline (con’t)
Step 2 : Leadership development strategy and objectives

a) Formulate leadership development strategy - build, buy,

bounce, borrow, bind and boost
b) Identify critical success factors
c) Build a tracking and monitoring system

Step 3 : Selling your leadership development strategy to get

buy in

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Best Practices in Developing an
Effective Leadership Pipeline (con’t)
Step 4 : Crafting and execution of selection and development
a) The assessment centre approach
b) The 10-20-70 principle of development (Formal
learning / Informal learning / Learning on the job)
Step 5 : Regular monitoring and reporting

Step 6 : Celebrating early success

Step 7 : Learn from early success and drawbacks, put them

into the system
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 Leaders can be made,
not necessarily born.

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Thank You