A high degree of managerial mobility between companies is not necessarily a negative thing, as long as it is managed for the sake of developing leadership. If you’re considering such a strategy, consider the following: Build familiarity, capabilities, and a bench of key managerial skills.
Managing mobility for leadership development
Managing managerial mobility is a critical component of leadership development. It allows up-and-coming managers to sharpen their general management and leadership skills in different environments, while ensuring that they do not repeat mistakes they made in previous assignments. However, mobility can have unforeseen consequences, and it should be carefully managed. For example, it can be costly and cause disruption to operations. Further, employees who stay in one place for too long can feel demoralized. In addition, mobility can become an end in itself, making it a bloated expense that ends up hurting the organization.
While senior management should understand the benefits of talent mobility, they must also encourage it as a strategic value function. To achieve this, mobility teams must develop compelling business cases for their initiatives, incorporating storytelling as a key component. Ultimately, mobility can serve as a fuel for the war for talent.
It is important to understand that employees have their own career goals. However, they may not be able to express them clearly. In such cases, managers must ask questions to understand the goals of their employees and then communicate those goals. Mentors also need to make sure they listen to their protégés and re-communicate their goals to employees. Managers may not be naturally good at this, so training is an important part of management development.
A change in business strategy or organizational objectives can also dictate the needs of the firm. For instance, UnitedHealth Group has recently made a strategic shift toward organic growth. To accomplish this, the firm has begun developing more talent internally through between-business mobility. In addition, assessing the talent pipeline can reveal that there are gaps in specific capabilities in the company. Then, geographic mobility or a shift in function can address those gaps.
Career pathing is another important aspect of managing managerial mobility. In some cases, it helps reveal hidden talent and attract new talent. By giving employees the opportunity to move up in the organization, managers can improve employee retention. They will also be able to engage in new learning opportunities and improve their skills in new areas.
To maximize the impact of mobility programs, a company must establish a transparent internal marketplace that allows for a thorough assessment of each candidate. This will ensure that candidates are selected based on their skills and the business need, as well as affordability for the business units. However, despite the importance of transparency, such processes often fail to function as intended, and individual decisions can lead to inefficient outcomes.
The goal of a management development program is to develop managers over time, creating a pool of talented managers ready to take on senior leadership positions. It can also help retain high-potential employees. Furthermore, it can improve the organization’s global footprint and increase its international competitiveness.
Building familiarity and capabilities
The disadvantage of a high degree of managerial mobility is that it reduces the chances of building familiarity and capabilities within an organisation. This is because the level of shared experiences and frames of reference is much lower and trust bases are less developed.
Building a leadership bench with key managerial skills
As organizations struggle to keep pace with change and adapt to new market dynamics, building a leadership bench is a top priority for talent management and HR leaders. These functions help drive business transformation and operational excellence. While traditional succession management processes typically fill the leadership pipeline, many progressive organizations have adopted a more holistic approach. These organizations plan for future leadership needs by aligning their talent development strategy with their organizational strategy. Furthermore, they design succession processes and high-potential programs to ensure that they have a pipeline of future leaders. This approach ensures that the talent pool is prepared for future needs and provides two times as many leaders as traditional supply-driven succession planning does.
Organizations should continually review their role descriptions to ensure they have a bench full of key managerial skills. Many organizations focus on roles in R&D and high-tech, but don’t pay attention to key management roles. The growth of a company’s business strategy is often reflected in the size and scope of managerial positions. Increasingly, the roles in emerging markets will require specific skills. The advantage of this approach is that it minimizes the trial-and-error process of building a global management team. Furthermore, it allows companies to partner with managers from international markets and domestic markets.
While building a leadership bench with key managerial skills is important, it is a challenge for a multinational company with a large number of locations. Global assignments and cross-border task forces are a great way to challenge good managers while developing them further. In addition, these assignments are often awarded as “horizontal” “promotions” – and can be viewed as a positive. In the United States, few multinational companies can match the strength of the bench strength of Unilever or Nestle. Japanese multinationals are further behind.
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