Next Generation Next Destination

RESEARCH ON “FAMILY NARRATIVES” CAN HELP ORGANIZATIONS THRIVE TOO.

Dr. Marshall Duke, a psychologist at Emory University found that children who know a lot about their families, especially the ups and downs rather than all good or all bad, tend to do better when they face challenges. Those with the most self- confidence have a strong “inter-generational self” and know they belong to something bigger than themselves. The research was related in a recent New York Times article.

Communicating effectively means more than talking through problems. Talking also means telling a positive personal or family story. When facing challenges they add a new chapter to their story that illustrates them overcoming the difficulty. The stories become traditions and what I might call a “family brand.”

Can you see how this same approach can help organizations thrive, keep their brands alive and strong and connect them to their community of stakeholders?  Please share your thoughts.

Phyllis Weiss Haserot   www.pdcounsel.com

INTERVIEW WITH PHYLLIS WEISS HASEROT on COACH WORLD TV

Enjoy and gain some insights on inter-generational challenges, including the need for knowledge transfer and leadership transfer between and across the generations.

Let me know what you think. I welcome comments, questions and all feedback.

Phyllis Weiss Haserot    www.pdcounsel.com 

 

 

 

Coach World TV with Terry Yoffe, Featuring Phyllis Weiss Haserot ... Coach World TV with Terry Yoffe (Phyllis Weiss Haserot - 09/10/12) www.youtube.com/watch?v=rfwYtuF10Zg

 

THE BUSINESS CASE: #GENERATIONAL DIVERSITY No.1

True diversity includes diversity of thought, style background and experience. We cannot have that in today world without age or generational diversity. Most organizations, media and forums only focus on dealing with gender, race/ethnicity, disability and sexual orientation differences, yet true diversity is much more, and generational worldviews influence many of the more traditional aspects of diversity.

Professor Martin Davidson of the University of Virginia Darden School of Business and the school’s Diversity Director said in a talk to Darden alumni that he thinks generational diversity is the aspect of diversity that needs the most focus because of the critical need for knowledge transfer. I would add to the business case that: many institutions fear age discrimination lawsuits; and they need to enhance their ability to attract, retain, communicate with and work with clients and customers of different generations. Let’s be clear – generational diversity and inter-generational relations are a serious and critical business issue and shape our work and personal lives.

 

EXCUSES TO AVOID SUCCESSION PLANNING

It’s not a secret that the majority of organizations are not doing succession planning and certainly not doing it below the highest levels though they give a lot of lip service as to how important it is. Many of those that do some sort of succession planning hold the process and the chosen successors close to the vest.

Why do organizations closely guard their succession plans? Several surveys cited in an article on Human Resources Executive Online indicate that the reasons are often based on internal forces as much as external ones.

So the reasoning behind the lack of succession planning is complicated. An article from HRE Online discusses a variety of rationales, including lack of transparency. These exist in companies of all sizes and at all levels, not just the C-Suite. The “secrecy” may be attributed to:

• Business competition and not wanting external competitors to know their plans.
• There may not be an actual succession plan.
• They fear those not on the list of candidates may become disengaged and disgruntled.
• Fear that another division in the company may poach the designated successor for its team.
• Circumstances may change affecting strategy and who is best to implement it.
• Top leaders may want to retain the flexibility to change the list of candidates.

Organizations grapple with not only whether or not to make the process transparent, but also if they should let the high potential candidates know they are being considered. The risk of telling them is they may get to feel entitled and others may feel disenfranchised and that they are not getting development attention. Whether or not the candidates are told of their status, the criteria for choosing successors should be specific, performance-based and widely communicated throughout the organization.

Phyllis Weiss Haserot     www.pdcounsel.com

 

PROFESSIONAL PARTNERSHIP TRANSITIONING PREDICAMENTS

My guest blogger for this post is Brannon Poe, CPA of Poe Group Advisors in Charleston, SC, who advises accounting practices on practice management and selling their practices and author of Accountant’s Flight Plan.

There are two dilemmas that rattle the human skull: How do you hang on to

someone who won't stay? And how do you get rid of someone who won't go?

Danny DeVito, in The War of the Roses

When it comes to practice sales, timing is everything. It’s rare for practice partners to have the same exit timetable. Tensions mount when one partner wants out and the remaining partner either doesn’t want to buy the business or sell to a third party. If partners are the same age, the odds for a smooth dissolution are improved, but even a couple of years’ difference can strain a sale. 

In a small practice, the process of selling or retiring is complicated for both the senior and junior partner in question. Motivations are completely opposed. The senior partner is ready to move on, while the junior member is often very resistant—understandably apprehensive about the changes this will mean for the business’s operation and his or her livelihood. Change is rarely welcome, and taking on a new outside partner can be a frightening prospect, as is the possibility of running the practice without the senior partner. Finding the right replacement partner is far easier said than done—just ask any departing partner who has tried to please an objection-filled remaining partner! Sometimes the junior partner is empowered by this naysayer role, and any perceived previous injustices seem to rise to the surface as negotiations move forward.

Making someone a partner is a significant step, one that shouldn’t be taken lightly. If you feel that partnership is the right path for your practice, great care should be given to selecting an attorney who can help structure your partnership agreement. This contract should clearly address exit strategies by any one or a group of partners. Excellent legal advice at this juncture is one of the best investments you’ll ever make.

Spend some time and money on your partnership agreement and make sure the lawyer you use has significant experience in this area. You’ll be glad you did.

Brannon Poe, CPA

www.poegroupadvisors.com

The above is an excerpt from Accountant’s Flight Plan, Best Practices for Today’s Firms.

 

MANAGING THE RISK OF MID-LEVEL SCARCITY - Suggestions

I ended the last post saying once again organizations have to play catch up, figure out how to replace the mid-level talent and engage them in fostering the younger talent, many of whom are eager to leapfrog them. There is no quick fix, but here are some thoughts on aligning management of the risks discussed in the earlier post and talent management.

• When hiring, really think fit and attitude before skills on a resume. You’ve probably heard that “culture eats strategy for breakfast.”
• Hire people who buy into an articulated belief system that includes instilling the good behavior and belief system and the professional development of young talent.
• Make that an explicit part of the job description and reward system. Some of the large accounting firms as well as “best place to work” companies do this.
• Facilitate dialogues among the different generations to avoid/eliminate friction when mid-level Gen Xers are asked to supervise and mentor Gen Y/Millennials and Boomers to do the same for Gen Xers.
• Avoid decimating or sharply reducing mid-level personnel during economic downturns. Instead, selectively offer reduced schedules at reduced pay to minimize lay-offs of valued talent and maintain a consistent competency level during economic cycles. Clients hate turnover and want to see familiar faces.
• Cross-train people to take on other roles when their work slows, including training and coaching junior staff.

Firms must figure out how to better manage the risk of talent and skills shortages. The past record has been far from stellar. Ability to maintain high professional standards in serving, and thereby retaining, clients is at stake. That’s too big a risk to warrant inaction, especially since change happens faster than ever.

Please share you thoughts in the comments section.

Phyllis Weiss Haserot    www.pdcounsel.com

 

 

PROFESSIONALISM THREATENED BY MID-LEVEL SCARCITY: LLOYD’S SAYS #2 RISK IS TALENT AND SKILLS SHORTAGE

A Human Resource Executive editorial reported that Lloyd’s ranked talent and skills shortages the #2 risk facing businesses as of 2011, up from #22 in 2009. This was a finding of a study of 500 C-suite and board level executives, which also found that that “talent and skill shortages” was one of only two risks that “respondents felt insufficiently prepared for.”

I thought of this when reading Adam Bryant’s interview in his Openers column in the New York Times Sunday Business section (February19, 2011) with Steve Stoute, the CEO of ad agency Translation LLC.  In it Stoute talks about the importance of mid-level talent to fostering young talent  “Any organization is not going to move forward unless mid-tier management helps foster young talent to become better.”  Stoute tasks mid-level talent with the responsibility for both their own behavior (making sure they buy into the belief system of the organization) and that of young talent. These mid-levels are mostly Gen Xers.

Agreed. But one of the problems as I see it as each recession economy turns around is that the mid-tier has been severely reduced in many organizations (e.g., law, financial services, accounting and many more) through massive lay-offs when the recession hit and lingered. That means many firms have senior and junior professionals and staff but are missing a lot of the heavy-lifting Gen X mid-levels who would be experienced and able to lead projects and people and prepare to step into the Baby Boomers’ shoes. This much smaller generation has evolved and shed its “slacker” label to now be working, on average, 10 more hours per week than they were 3 years ago, according to a study by the Center for Work-Life Policy, a think tank. This applies to those who have jobs, of course.

The population of financial advisors and planners has aged with a sparse Gen X cohort, worrisome for the firms and succession planning.

As need for talent and skills heats up with a recovering economy, needed capabilities may not exist in those forced to the sidelines in the last 4 years unless they have been using their unemployment time to acquire desirable skills – probably along with more education debt.

Once again organizations have to play catch up, figure out how to replace the mid-level talent and engage them in fostering younger talent, who are eager to leapfrog them. Ability to maintain high professional standards in serving, and thereby retaining, clients is at stake.

Phyllis Weiss Haserot     www.pdcounsel.com

 

DELAYED RETIREMENT NOT AN ANSWER TO KNOWLEDGE TRANSITION

In MetLife's Emerging Retirement Model Study, 74% of executives surveyed cited knowledge drain as a greater concern than delayed retirement. Looking ahead 5 years, 70% selected knowledge drain as the greater concern; 30% chose delayed retirement as the greater worry. Clearly the fact that workers are delaying retirement because of the recession or just the desire to keep working is not seen as a solution to the need for knowledge transfer to younger generations in order to retain crucial knowledge within the organization.

Other surveys consistently show that succession planning and transitioning is a concern but relatively little is being done either on the planning or succession management fronts. Do executives suspect that little action will be taken in the foreseeable future to address these needs? What explains the inertia?

Phyllis Weiss Haserot    www.pdcounsel.com 

NEW REPORT ON SUCCESSION AND TRANSITIONING PLANNING

I want to alert those of you concerned with these vital issues that Managing Partner Magazine's new report Transition and Succession Planning for Law Firms is now available. I provided much of the background for Part I and an article and two sidebars for Part II – the case study section.

Below is a brief overview. A full executive summary and table of contents can be found here.

Firms are facing a leadership dilemma - Quite simply, the large ‘baby-boomer’ generation is nearing retirement, and many will soon leave their firms. With this demographic phenomenon looming on the horizon, firms are faced with a situation in which much of the next generation is either unwilling or not suitably trained to take over the demanding responsibilities of leading their businesses.

If your firm fails to implement succession strategies now you may well find yourself with a leadership gap in just a few years. And what will start as an internal problem can soon escalate to a business disruption and disadvantage as your firm loses vital knowledge and the means to continue to effectively serve your clients. Rather you want the means to impress your clients with the kind of long-term thinking that protects business interests.

The report considers numerous issues including:
- The impact of generations X and Y on the practice of law in the 21st century. What does senior management need to know to ensure a smooth transition to the next generation?
- The retirement of the baby-boomer generation. What ongoing risks does this pose to a law firm’s business stability?
- The current preparedness of the younger generation to take the reins of their businesses. Do they even want to follow in the retirees’ footsteps?
- To what extent has the recession turned an ongoing succession challenge into a potential crisis, as numbers of lawyers, support staff and resources have been cut?
- What are the potential professional development and human resources solutions?
- What role can technology – and particularly Web 2.0 tools – play in addressing the succession challenge?
- And whose responsibility is succession planning anyway?

This important new report includes highly practical case studies from firms in the U.S and UK who have successfully implemented succession planning, including Weightmans LLP; Mills & Reeve LLP; Eversheds; Optim Legal; Macpherson & Kelley Lawyers; and Borden Ladner Gervais.

For more information, contact  melam@ark-group.com.

Phyllis Weiss Haserot     www.pdcounsel.com

BRAIN DRAIN: EMPLOYERS DON'T GET IT!

A MetLife study on employers' attitudes about the forecast brain drain when older (Boomer) workers retire was the subject of an Employee Benefits News editor's letter in the February issue. The findings indicate that employers are not taking it seriously yet. Here are some findings:

*   97% of those employers that said they were concerned about the brain drain haven't calculated the cost of knowledge transfer to younger employees. (Are they hoping that the problem will disappear because workers will hang on longer and longer?)

*   When ranking factors that would keep older workers around long enough to accomplish knowledge transfer, employers placed little value on creating an inviting, positive workplace culture and other benefits.

*   MetLife found that only 24% of the employers think their workers enjoy the mental stimulation of work.

*   Responses in the study indicsate that only 12% of employers believe workers wanting to maintain social contact with colleagues is an important motivation to keep working.

*   Only 5% of employers said their workers appreciate feeling needed for an assignment.

So why keep working? Employers seem to think the only important motivation is money but studies throught this decade have indicated that is not so. The intellectual stimulation and social contact with colleagues as well as feeling valued and making a difference have been reported as significant reasons to keep working by workers themselves.

Employers need to turn serious attention to the coming brain drain and knowledge transfer using the following options or others they come up with: mentoring, coaching, enhanced training, developing succession plans, and exploring phased retirement scenarios as well as making the workplace a conducive place for pursuing organizational and individual goals.

Phyllis Weiss Haserot       www.pdcounsel.com