The Perfect Fit

Succession Planning Is Serious Business

As I mentioned in a previous post "Succession Planning Is Essential For Growth And Stability", succession planning is not just for the owners and principals of an organization.  It should apply to every position in a company that has direct reports . . . why?  Succession planning is additionally beneficial because it addresses most companies' other major concern, employee retention.

When asking employees what they like most about their jobs, it's surprising how often the answer isn't "money".  In fact, we've all heard it and most of us agree with the statement "it's not all about money".  Well then, what is it about?  It's about professional growth (through mentoring, education and training), being treated with respect, being allowed to contribute and being recognized for that contribution.  Succession planning can (and should) support every one of those activities.

As Guido M.J. de Kong says hin his article "Building Your Bench Strength":

"Selecting and developing future managers is a crucial task -- and a big concern for many companies, particularly for leadership roles. In a study by the Corporate Leadership Council, 72% of companies predict they'll have an increasing number of leadership vacancies over the next three to five years. At the same time, 76% are "less than confident" in their abilities to adequately staff these positions.

Requirements for success:

Companies that create an effective succession management process:

• Quickly anticipate and fill succession gaps

• Identify employees with high management potential and actively plan their careers and development to build "bench strength"

• Align their "people strategy" with their "business strategy." As a company grows and its strategy evolves, its leadership needs can change significantly. To meet needs like these, companies must regularly discuss their talent recruitment and development practices.

• When organizations meet these requirements, they create the kind of leadership and management capacity that delivers sustainable business results. They also reduce the range in performance in key roles, minimize attrition among top performers, and promote a high internal hiring rate."

When a company aligns "business strategy" with "people strategy", both the people and the business win.  It seems like such a simple notion, one has to wonder why companies don't spend more time thinking about succession planning and implementing it in their culture. 

There are many other terms for succession planning, all of which indicate the obvious common sense benefits to the practice.  Phrases like "workforce planning", "leadership development", "leadership training" and "talent management" are all excellent action phrases. 

Companies should be hiring candidates for leadership roles that have the capability and desire to grow, take on additional responsibilities and support the company's growth and success.  Assuming that most employers understand that, why don't they make more of an effort to train and retain star performers?  "It's too expensive" is the most frequent response.

When you compare the cost of conferences, or seminars or graduate level coursework with the cost of hiring new employees, training and education become extremely cost effective.  Existing employees understand their clients' expectations along with their companies.  There is value in cultural knowledge.  There is value in stability and steady growth.  Training leads to retention.

As an executive in your organization, are you doing everything you can to deliver (or at lead be an advocate for) ongoing training and education?  Why not?

New St. Louis Search: VP, New Business Development, Marketing #10077

General Description:
We need a seasoned account person to lead Fortune 500 brand clients.  The position entails strategic development and oversight, supervision of  tactical execution and significant client contact in support of those efforts.  Be a new business "hunter": Identify new client opportunities, develop relationships and "close" new business opportunities.  Represent the clients’ needs and goals to the agency and facilitate execution of smart, strategically driven tactical solutions, delivering spectacular results.  The position is a career opportunity to work with world-class brands and all the responsibility, and resulting professional and personal satisfaction that goes with it.  The tactical execution for our client involves a focus on new media marketing, with  print, collateral, events, and direct marketing.

Primary Responsibilities:

• Be “the face of the agency” and represent it with an enthusiastic, out-going personality, detail orientation and ability to consistently build and grow loyal client relationships.
• Identify new business opportunities and develop relationships that lead to new business for our client.
• Lead clients’ planning and discovery meetings.  Be responsible for proposal and final creative brief writing for presentation to and review by the client.  
• Ensure that proper and consistent communication is maintained within the project team and the client, maximizing client results and agency profitability.
• Responsibilities include proper documentation of client need, budget negotiation and acceptance, internal/external resource planning, deadline management, and resolving the “issues of the day”.
• Ensure that deliverables coincide with project scope, plan, budget, strategy and goals.
• Maintain and grow project revenue from existing accounts by identifying new business opportunities and assisting in new business development initiatives.
• Develop an annual "outbound" marketing plan for our client and manage the tactical execution of that plan.

Experience:
A Degree and at least seven years of current advertising or marketing communications experience is required,  preferably with a creatively-driven agency (an appreciation for great creative and a proven ability to sell it is essential) working with national consumer brands.   You must have expertise in online marketing and experience with social marketing.  We want experience dealing with client principals, negotiating agency fees, strategic development and tactical execution across a wide spectrum of outlets as mentioned above.  We need someone who’s ambitious, articulate and entrepreneurial and who commands the clients’ respect, with the result of developing long term, loyal client relationships. We need a team player and leader who also knows how to have fun while handling significant responsibility.  This is a new business development position.

Compensation:
The compensation will be custom designed for the premier candidate and will include a salary with an opportunity for a performance bonus.  The package is augmented with medical insurance 401K, flexible vacation/PTO policy and tuition assistance.  Employees are supported and treated with loyalty and respect.  The office is an exciting and fun place to work. 

About Our Client:
Our client is one of the fastest growing “boutique” (read unique personality) agencies in the region.  The Agency has an attitude and personality that inspires their workers to demand clever winning strategies, executed with elegance and enthusiasm at the highest standards of quality.  This is not a typical place to work.  There is passion about client success in the air.  The Agency’s loyalty to their workers is impressive.  There is spirit of cooperation among co-workers, that you don’t find in every agency!  Our client needs this Director of Client Services now!  EOE 

Interested parties should apply by uploading a resume to our website, and sending an email of introduction directly to  Bob.  If you have friends and/or colleagues who you respect and believe to be qualified for this position, we'd appreciate your referral.

"What Are Your Salary Expectations"?

I received a LinkedIn message this morning asking a question that frequently comes up . . .

"My position was recently terminated and now I'm going online to apply for positions and all of the positions ask what salary I''m looking for or what did I make before? How can they ask those questions before they've even met me? And it seems if i don't answer those questions NOW I can't even get a meeting. Is there anything to do to avoid doing that as I feel like it prices me out of the job before I've even been in the running."

I don't like it when companies ask that question, but I do understand it.  Employers have to have some idea of previous compensation, because it can frame your expectations (and need) for future employment.  We all realize that "it's not all about money", but if there's a significant discrepancy between your past income and the value of a particular position, you're going to be screened out.

The general perception is that if you're not making as much as you did previously, you're not going to be content, and you're going to jump to another job that pays more as soon as you find it.  That concern will limit an employer's interest and willingness to invest in your training for the future.

I tell my clients not to ask the question about salary expectations, and my candidates not to answer it.  The real question is what's the position worth, given the amount of responsibility and the level of experience needed.  The skill set required also will influence the positions value and resulting compensation.  At the same time, I think it's fair for a company to know what you've made in the past . . . just not what you want to make in the future.

Frankly, one solution to this issue is to spend less time with online "job boards".  They are not very efficient for senior level people, whose time would be better spent networking, and making more of an effort to target specific companies and "communities".  The big job boards (as opposed to more niche sites) are not perceived to have the best candidates, because those candidates are not "passive" . . . they're looking for a job.  The resulting perception can be that they're "never happy" where that are (the grass is always greener . . . ), or that they "aren't loyal".  LinkedIn is different . . . and valuable.

Clever Introductions Still Win Employment

In case any of you missed this in AdFreak last week, I thought it was worth sharing.  It's a historic fact that those who approach an agency or creative entity with a clever, innovative or unusual approach, get attention.  Here's a recent example:

Vanity Googling helps copywriter land a job

Alec Brownstein was another copywriter/director in need of a job when he decided to take advantage of human nature—or at least, the nature of people who like to Google themselves. Brownstein bought up Google keywords like David Droga, Tony Granger, Gerry Graf, Ian Reichenthal and Scott Vitrone, and when those folks Googled themselves, a message from Brownstein popped up asking for a job. The price was 10 cents a click. For a grand total of $6, Brownstein got four interviews, landed a job at Y&R, won a Clio and got some press. Another great example of knowing your audience.

—Posted by Rebecca Cullers

Succession Planning Is Essential For Growth And Stability

Over the years, many of my searches have revolved around "succession planning".  Generally, this meant helping privately held businesses define the requirements of a successor to lead the company to continued success and growth.  After the role was defined, I was engaged to identify and help hire the ideal candidate for that role.

Succession planning is absolutely essential for the growth and stability of every company, not just large, publicly held firms with a huge number of employees, but also small to medium sized privately held firms.  Succession planning is not only essential for the orderly transition of a retiring owner or CEO, but for every role in a firm that has direct reports.

Susann Heathfield defines succession planning like this:

"Succession planning is a process whereby an organization ensures that employees are recruited and developed to fill each key role within the company. Through your succession planning process, you recruit superior employees, develop their knowledge, skills, and abilities, and prepare them for advancement or promotion into ever more challenging roles.
Through your succession planning process, you also retain superior employees because they appreciate the time, attention, and development that you are investing in them. To effectively do succession planning in your organization, you must identify the organization’s long term goals. You must hire superior staff.
You need to identify and understand the developmental needs of your employees. You must ensure that all key employees understand their career paths and the roles they are being developed to fill. You need to focus resources on key employee retention. You need to be aware of employment trends in your area to know the roles you will have a difficult time filling externally."

I'm going to start with succession planning for principals or owners, then follow up with another blog regarding the other positions in every company.  To make a broad generalization, privately held companies don't start succession planning early enough.  Take a look at a previous post, "Succession Planning or Getting Out Alive?"