Adopting 4-D Development

Finally, consider using the ST _A RS framework as a basis for selecting and developing people in your organization. This should be part of a broader, four-dimensional approach to highpotential talent development. The four dimensions are:

1. Managerial functions

2. Geographic regions

3. Career crossroads

4. ST _A RS business situations

Leading companies work hard to broaden the experience of their high-potential people along dimensions 1 and 2: exposure to diverse management functions (for example, marketing, operations, human resources, and finance) and to international experience (through overseas placements). Increasingly, companies are also managing leadership development along a third dimension ”preparing managers for critical crossroads in their professional lives. As Ram Charan and his colleagues have noted, managers face critical breakpoints as they move from being first-time managers to managers of managers and all the way up to enterprise managers. ^[1] As they move from one level to another, the rules and skill requirements change in significant ways.

The fourth dimension of high-potential leadership development, breadth of exposure to different ST _A RS business situations, should be directly addressed in succession and development planning. Do you want to develop different horses for different courses ”for example, specialists in turnarounds and start-ups? Or do you want to develop people who can hunt and farm in a wide range of business situations? If the former, you should select specialists with the right inclinations and give them increasing responsibilities in those specific situations. If the latter, then your future general managers should get experience with a spectrum of business situations, and you should coach them in how to succeed in each.

A related issue is how best to bring in new people from outside the organization. Suppose you are planning to hire a high-potential person away from a competitor. Which of the four ST _A RS situations would be most likely to set up that person to fail? The answer is realignment , because the new leader is put in the position of trying to convince people with whom he once competed that they are not as good as they think they are. It would be surprising if the new leader were not resented, and insiders who thought they should have gotten the job will be sharpening their knives. Without the right attention and support, the likelihood that this person will fail is high.

ACCELERATION CHECKLIST

1. Which of the four ST _A RS situations are you facing ” start-up, turnaround , realignment, or sustaining success?

2. What are the implications for the challenges and opportunities you are likely to confront and for how you should approach accelerating your transition?

3. What are the implications for your learning agenda? Do you only need to understand the technical side of the business, or is it critical that you understand culture and politics as well?

4. Which of your skills and strengths are likely to be most valuable in your new situation and which have the potential to get you into trouble?

5. What is the prevailing frame of mind? What psychological transformations do you need to make and how will you bring them about?

6. Should your early focus be on offense or defense?

7. When you dig deeper, what is the mix of types of situations that you are managing? Which portions of your unit are in start-up, turnaround, realignment, and sustaining-success modes? What are the implications for how you should manage and reward the people who work for you?

^[1] See Ram Charan, Stephen Drotter, and James Noel, The Leadership Pipeline: How to Build the Leadership-Powered Company (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2001).