Friday, July 8, 2011

Succession Management

"History offers many examples of how to choose leaders. It has been the last man standing after a duel, the eloquent visionary able to incite throngs of followers to action, or the person with the most votes after a popular election. Although sometimes difficult or resulting in unpalatable leaders, these selection methods are instantly recognizable."

E.L. Hatfield
Occasional Paper Number Seventeen

"There is no more important human capital issue confronting the federal government than the methods and systems for selecting, developing, and managing its executive leaders."

Patricia W. Ingraham
Strengthening Senior Leadership

"If we fail to get the workforce issue right, our overall attempt to position the (intelligence) community for the future will fall short."

Vice Admiral L.E. Jacoby
Revitalizing and Reshaping the Workforce

A defensible succession plan will feature:
  • Defined leader competencies, linked to mission/strategy and leadership positions.
  • An established iterative methodology for identification and review of critical leadership positions.
  • A managed process for development of future leaders-using both experience and training.
  • Institutionalized procedures for assessing current performance and future potential.
  • Formalization of the professional, requiring technical and leadership development.
  • An established mechanism for issue resolution.
  • A published implementation plan, including a communication strategy.
The full text of FINDING LEADERS - Preparing the Intelligence Community for Succession Management can be found HERE.

3 comments:

  1. Captain Lambert,

    I am afraid that these methods of selecting leaders had not been observed recently, I do believe that the possibility of a flim-flam man or snake oil salesman as folks used to refer to them could find themselves in position of power. Could that really happen?

    Very Respectfully,
    Navyman834

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  2. http://seanheritage.blogspot.com/ has this topic as his current blog posting. I especially like his point about advocating for those leaders who should succeed an incumbent C.O.

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  3. I worked for Jake at DIA and knew him for many years before that. I am now out of government and probably would not return if you held a gun to my head. I would say his prediction about the future of the community has come true.

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