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Why Your Best Leaders Aren’t Always in the Leadership Pipeline

February 19, 2025/in Leadership Development, Senior Leader Development, Succession Planning, Talent Management/by Edith Onderick-Harvey

And How to Find Them

If you think your next great leader is already sitting in your official pipeline, you might want to think again. Many of the best leaders aren’t the ones raising their hands—they’re the ones quietly holding everything together while others take the credit.

As a matter of fact, your next great leader is probably stuck under a bad boss—or already thinking about leaving.

The Hidden Truth: Visibility ≠ Leadership

Most companies assume that leadership potential follows a predictable path: Identify high-performers, put them in training programs, promote them, and watch them thrive. Except, reality says otherwise. The people who look like leaders—charismatic, confident, outspoken—aren’t always the ones making the biggest impact.

Meanwhile, the true leaders—those who influence, motivate, and solve real problems—are often overlooked because they don’t fit the traditional mold.  They are often focused on getting things done rather than looking good doing it.

The Fix: Find the Real Leaders Before They Leave

To build a strong leadership bench, stop confusing visibility with impact. Just because someone speaks up in meetings doesn’t mean they’re leading.  I once worked with a client who had an entire Director group go to their boss’ boss to discuss their manager’s toxic leadership. This group of high performers was ready to quit. Their boss’ boss, an SVP, was stunned to hear this.  He couldn’t reconcile the behavior he saw in the executive team’s interactions with this high potential leader with what this team was sharing. This leader was visible. Their impact was toxic.

 Instead, start identifying:

  • Trusted Advisors – Who do people go to when they need help? They may or may not be the most experienced person on the team. They may actually be the newest person on the team. Look for people providing different types of help. Sometimes its knowledge or skills that comes from experience. Other times, it’s the ability to bring a different perspective. In some situations, it’s the advice on how to handle a conflict or difficult customer situations.
  • Crisis Stabilizers – Who holds the team together when things go sideways? Who is the person who always seems to be part of the solution rather than the problem? We had this person on a highly visible transformation at a hospital. He was not the person leading the executive briefings or saying the most in the meetings. However, when we had serious challenges, we turned to him for his measured, calm reasoning.
  • System Thinkers – Who’s already improving processes and solving problems without being asked? There are always people who look at how things are done and asks ‘why?’ while also increasing efficiency and effectiveness, not just for themselves, but for the entire team.

By shifting focus from the obvious candidates to the real influencers, companies can build a stronger, more resilient leadership pipeline.

https://nextbridgeconsulting.com/wp-content/uploads/Talent-Pipeline_symbolic.jpg 674 1200 Edith Onderick-Harvey https://nextbridgeconsulting.com/wp-content/uploads/Logo-w_Align.Design.Lead_.png Edith Onderick-Harvey2025-02-19 22:13:232025-02-20 00:22:39Why Your Best Leaders Aren’t Always in the Leadership Pipeline

Is Your Leadership Pipeline a Myth? How to Fix It

February 6, 2025/in Career Development, Career Growth, Developing for Growth, Leadership Development, Senior Leader Development, Talent Management, Uncategorized/by James Harvey

High-Potential Employees Don’t Become Great Leaders All on Their Own

Many organizations believe they have a leadership pipeline. They don’t. What they actually have is a group of highly skilled people with no clear path to leadership readiness. These future executives aren’t being coached, challenged, or given real authority. And then we’re shocked when, three years later, they jump ship for a company that will actually develop them.

Provocative Point: A “leadership pipeline” that consists of hope and good intentions isn’t a pipeline—it’s wishful thinking. If you don’t have a structured system for preparing leaders, you’re just waiting for talent to either sink or leave.

Solution: Create a proactive leadership development track that gives high-potential employees early exposure to complex decision-making, strategic thinking, and executive-level mentorship. Make 2025 the year you stop assumingtalent will grow into leadership and start actively shaping the next generation of executives.

https://nextbridgeconsulting.com/wp-content/uploads/Leader-Dev_People_Mult_Paths.jpg 1780 2289 James Harvey https://nextbridgeconsulting.com/wp-content/uploads/Logo-w_Align.Design.Lead_.png James Harvey2025-02-06 18:43:592025-02-06 20:52:27Is Your Leadership Pipeline a Myth? How to Fix It

From Plateau to Peak: How to Elevate Talent Through Coaching

October 30, 2024/in Career Growth, Coaching, Leadership Development, Talent Management/by Edith Onderick-Harvey

Great Leaders Aren’t Born, They’re Coached

Leadership performance gaps are costly, affecting everything from team morale to organizational outcomes. Effective coaching can bridge these gaps, creating leaders who are not only skilled but also attuned to the nuances of impactful management. Achieving lasting improvement, however, goes beyond simple check-ins or basic feedback. High-quality coaching requires a strategic approach that deeply engages leaders in their growth journey.

Start with a Comprehensive Skills and Needs Assessment

An accurate assessment is the foundation for successful coaching. It goes beyond typical feedback, requiring tools that can pinpoint specific areas for growth, from strategic thinking to interpersonal skills. By using methods like 360-degree feedback, leaders gain insights that reveal blind spots they may not otherwise recognize, while also uncovering strengths they can leverage more fully.

Why it matters: For a skills assessment to be effective, it must be carefully tailored, incorporating insights from diverse perspectives. This approach yields a comprehensive picture of each leader’s performance, allowing for a targeted focus on high-impact areas. When conducted thoroughly, these assessments form a clear roadmap for where to begin the coaching journey.

Set Clear, Measurable Goals for Coaching

The value of coaching is magnified when goals are aligned with organizational priorities and structured to be measurable. Short-term goals create momentum, while long-term objectives ensure ongoing development. Both types of goals are crucial for translating a leader’s growth into tangible results within the organization.

Why it matters: Establishing detailed metrics, like behavior-based KPIs, can transform coaching from a conversation into a results-driven initiative. Metrics serve as guideposts, helping leaders focus their efforts on specific behaviors that directly influence their team and business outcomes. Setting these types of goals requires not only an understanding of performance but also a keen awareness of each leader’s unique strengths and challenges, enabling a structured path forward.

Regularly Evaluate Progress and Adapt the Coaching Plan

Leadership coaching is a dynamic process that benefits from regular evaluations. These check-ins provide insight into how well leaders are progressing and allow for real-time adjustments to the coaching plan. By incorporating periodic feedback from the leader’s team, organizations can uncover new insights into how the leader’s development impacts their team.

Why it matters: Data-driven tools, such as behavioral analytics, offer a way to objectively track performance. These tools can reveal growth in areas that are typically hard to measure, like decision-making speed and conflict resolution skills. This continuous feedback loop enables leaders to adapt, maintaining a steady focus on growth even as they tackle the day-to-day challenges of leadership.


The bottom line: Closing the leadership performance gap is part of a strategic talent development process that requires a structured, intentional approach. By starting with a robust assessment, setting concrete goals, and regularly evaluating progress, organizations can elevate their leadership teams to new levels of effectiveness. With the right coaching foundation, leaders don’t just bridge performance gaps—they build the skills that position their teams and organizations for long-term success.

https://nextbridgeconsulting.com/wp-content/uploads/Coaching-Two-Men-scaled.jpg 1708 2560 Edith Onderick-Harvey https://nextbridgeconsulting.com/wp-content/uploads/Logo-w_Align.Design.Lead_.png Edith Onderick-Harvey2024-10-30 18:02:112024-10-30 19:40:00From Plateau to Peak: How to Elevate Talent Through Coaching
program for leaders

Mentorship vs. Sponsorship: How to Choose the Right Approach for Your Team

October 16, 2024/in Career Development, Developing for Growth, Leadership, Mentoring, Personal and Professional Goals, Sponsorship, Succession Planning, Talent Management, Uncategorized/by James Harvey

Advice is Nice, But Access is Better

If you’re lumping mentorship and sponsorship together, you’re missing the point. Sure, both are about developing talent, but they serve very different purposes—and the truth is, your leaders need both. Here’s the difference: a mentor offers advice, while a sponsor puts their reputation on the line to open doors for you. In short, mentorship teaches you how to swim; sponsorship throws you into the deep end and says, “I’ll vouch for you.” So, which does your team need?

Understanding when to use mentorship versus sponsorship—or when to use both—is critical to empowering the next generation of leaders in your organization. Let’s break it down.

Mentorship: When Guidance is Key

Mentorship is the ideal approach when a leader’s focus is on personal growth and development. It’s about offering advice, sharing experiences, and helping someone navigate new challenges. Mentorship is a long-term relationship that’s designed to foster personal and professional growth. Mentors do not need to come from the individual’s direct reporting line or even be in the same part of the company.  The best mentors are often those leaders with different experiences and perspectives.  For example, a CFO could be a great mentor for an operations leader.

When to use it:

  • When Developing New Skills or Navigating a Career Transition
    Senior leaders may use mentorship when a high-potential employee needs to develop specific skills, such as leadership, communication, or technical expertise. This is especially helpful when the employee is transitioning to a new role or department and needs guidance to succeed. A mentor provides insights based on their own experiences and helps navigate challenges the mentee may not have faced before.

Example: A rising manager moving into a more strategic role might need a mentor to guide them effectively making decisions and how to think more long-term.

  • When Fostering Long-Term Personal Development
    Mentorship is also useful when focusing on long-term growth. It’s less about immediate results and more about helping the mentee build confidence, emotional intelligence, and resilience. Leaders might employ mentorship when the goal is to cultivate deeper self-awareness and soft skills, which are essential for success over the long run.

Example: A senior leader mentors a team lead who shows potential but lacks confidence. Over time, the mentor helps the mentee recognize their successes and develop and effective leadership style.

Sponsorship: When You Need to Push Them Forward

Sponsorship is more action-oriented than mentorship and focuses on promoting someone’s career advancement by actively creating opportunities for them. Sponsors advocate for their protégés, ensuring they get high-profile assignments, promotions, or visibility with decision-makers.  Offering to sponsor up and coming talent should be expected of all leaders.

When to use it:

  • When Promoting High-Potential Talent
    Senior leaders use sponsorship when they recognize an individual who is ready for the next level but needs visibility or access to decision-makers. Sponsors will advocate for their protégé in critical meetings, recommend them for high-stakes projects, and push them toward promotions.

Example: A senior executive nominates a rising star for a company-wide leadership development program that includes work on an important business project.  This type of sponsorship ensures they get the visibility they need with top management to be considered for an executive role.

  • When Opening Doors to New Opportunities
    Sponsorship is crucial when someone needs that final push into a leadership role. This is particularly important when diverse or underrepresented talent needs a boost to overcome systemic barriers. Sponsors advocate on their behalf, using their influence to create career-defining opportunities.

Example: A senior leader advocates for a highly capable woman of color to take on a high-profile project that will position her as a candidate for a VP role, directly leveraging their influence to ensure she’s given the opportunity.

Sponsorship shouldn’t start just in time for someone to join the highest ranks in the organization.  Sponsorship is important for early career talent, as well.  Too often talent misses opportunities because they don’t realize the importance of sponsorship.  Part of developing talent is to help them understand that career development often goes beyond having the right skills and capabilities. It’s also important to network and develop relationships this allow them to engage with potential sponsors throughout their careers.

Creating the Right Mix: When Both Mentorship and Sponsorship are Needed

Some situations call for both mentorship and sponsorship, as leaders often need development in multiple areas at once. Here’s where a mix of both approaches can be especially powerful:

When to use both:

  • When Preparing an Emerging Leader for a Bigger Role
    A senior leader may first mentor an emerging leader to develop the necessary skills for a higher position, and then transition into a sponsorship role by advocating for their promotion once they’re ready. This combination ensures the individual is both prepared and promoted.

Example: A director mentors a high-potential manager on strategy and leadership for several months. Once the manager demonstrates readiness, the director shifts into a sponsorship role, recommending them for a director position in an upcoming reorganization.

  • When Supporting Underrepresented Talent in Leadership
    For underrepresented groups in leadership, combining mentorship and sponsorship is particularly powerful. Mentorship offers the necessary development, while sponsorship helps break through barriers and biases by creating opportunities for advancement.

Example: A senior executive mentors a high-potential LGBTQ+ manager, helping them navigate the complexities of leadership. Later, the executive sponsors the manager for a C-suite opportunity, using their influence to overcome potential biases in the selection process.

Conclusion: Choose the Right Approach for the Right Moment

The key takeaway is that both mentorship and sponsorship play critical roles in leadership development, but they are not interchangeable. Mentorship is about growth, guidance, and long-term development, while sponsorship is about advocacy and career advancement. The most successful organizations know when to use each—or when to combine both approaches—to empower their future leaders and drive organizational success.

https://nextbridgeconsulting.com/wp-content/uploads/businessmen-talking-seated-on-armchair-indoors-picture-id1186185277.jpg 683 1024 James Harvey https://nextbridgeconsulting.com/wp-content/uploads/Logo-w_Align.Design.Lead_.png James Harvey2024-10-16 14:36:522024-10-17 14:05:37Mentorship vs. Sponsorship: How to Choose the Right Approach for Your Team

Building Resilience in Organizational Structures

October 2, 2024/in Leading Change, Organizational Design, Strategy, Succession Planning, Talent Management, Uncategorized/by Edith Onderick-Harvey

Because Fighting Fires Isn’t a Sustainable Strategy

 

Let’s face it: crises are no longer the exception—they’re the rule. As a matter of fact, we should stop treating them like crises. Whether it’s market disruptions, supply chain issues, or your top talent walking out the door, the ability to bounce back is what separates the winners from the also-rans. But here’s the kicker: you can’t build resilience by waiting for disruption to strike. You need to bake it into your organization from the start.

So, how do you create resilient teams and processes that won’t buckle at the first sign of trouble? Hint: It’s not about having a Plan B—it’s about designing your entire structure to pivot on a dime. Think about redundancy, flexibility, and decision-making.

Build redundancy into your teams

No, this doesn’t mean stockpiling talent like canned goods for a rainy day. It’s about cross-training your people so when one person’s out, another can step in without missing a beat. A resilient team doesn’t depend on one rock star—it’s a well-oiled machine that can keep humming, no matter what.

  • Example: Backup leadership roles– Identify and train high potential talent who can step up during a crisis. At a minimum, the head of departments or functions that are strategically critical  should have a designated “second-in-command” who’s familiar with the strategic vision and decision-making process and can step in when needed. There’s a secondary benefit to this, too. The second in command becomes succession ready.
  • Example: Skill-sharing initiatives– Create an internal skill-sharing program where team members regularly teach each other their core responsibilities. This ensures knowledge transfer and reduces the impact of key person dependency.

Design processes that flex, not snap

Rigid processes work until they don’t. Disruption hits, and suddenly, the entire workflow comes to a screeching halt. Instead, create processes that allow for flexibility—ones that can be scaled up, down, or sideways based on real-time needs. Think of your processes like bamboo: strong but bendy.

  • Example: Scalable project management– Adopt agile project management methods, such as sprints or Kanban boards, that allow teams to quickly pivot priorities or reallocate resources as needed without losing momentum.
  • Example: Adaptive resource allocation– Implement a flexible resource allocation system that allows teams to shift budget, personnel, or time toward high-priority projects during times of crisis, without waiting for formal approval cycles. Small organizations do this out of necessity. For example, one of my clients has significant events they need to deliver for during a couple of months each year. They can’t add staff for these events and they are important to their client relationships.  Flexible resourcing allows them to bring all hands-on deck during that cycle while still serving other client needs.
  • Example: Modular workflows– Develop modular workflows that can be quickly adjusted or restructured based on changing conditions, ensuring that only the affected parts of a process need to be altered, rather than the entire system.

Build decision-making power at every level

If your team has to run every decision up the flagpole during a crisis, you’re already toast. Resilient organizations empower employees at all levels to make decisions quickly. Trust your people to act in the best interests of the company—after all, you hired them for a reason, right?

  • Example: Decentralized decision-making– Roll out a decision-rights matrix that clearly outlines what decisions can be made at each level, especially in high-pressure situations. Differentiate the decisions to be made – strategic big bet decisions that are infrequent and significant, cross-functional decisions, and high frequency/low risk decisions that can be delegated. Push down decisions as far as possible while weighing risk and frequency.  This reduces bottlenecks and encourages quicker, more informed decisions.
  • Example: Crisis-response training– Hold scenario-based training sessions where leaders and their teams are tasked with making rapid decisions during simulated disruption.  Provide feedback and make it a fun competition. This builds confidence in decentralized decision-making and improves response times.

Resilience isn’t just about survival. It’s about thriving when everyone else is scrambling. And if you’re not building it into your organizational structure now, well, good luck “winging it” the next time the market goes sideways.

https://nextbridgeconsulting.com/wp-content/uploads/Variation-of-man-arranging-org-structure-virtually-scaled.jpg 1707 2560 Edith Onderick-Harvey https://nextbridgeconsulting.com/wp-content/uploads/Logo-w_Align.Design.Lead_.png Edith Onderick-Harvey2024-10-02 14:58:012024-10-30 18:03:03Building Resilience in Organizational Structures

Developing Your Next Generation of Leaders

September 10, 2024/in Career Development, Career Growth, Culture, Leadership Development, Succession Planning, Talent Management, Uncategorized/by Edith Onderick-Harvey

5 questions every executive team should be asking themselves

Look around your leadership team. Are you seeing the future? If not, it might be time for a little refresh. Here’s the uncomfortable truth: the leaders of tomorrow may not look like the leaders of today. And, no, we’re not just talking about diversity (although that’s an important piece). We’re talking about mindset, adaptability, and that elusive quality: resilience.

1. Identify Your Rising Stars (Before They Burn Out)
You know those high-potential folks in your org who are constantly “doing a little bit extra”? Yeah, the ones who might combust if they don’t take a vacation? They’re your next-gen leaders. But before you start piling on more responsibilities, give them the development opportunities they need to succeed without burning out. Leadership is about more than hard work; it’s about working smart, too.

Question: How do we currently identify high-potential employees, and are we doing enough to ensure their development without overwhelming them?

  • Encourage your management team to conduct regular talent assessments focusing on both performance and potential.
  • Ask managers to track burnout risks by monitoring workload and offering tailored support before it’s too late.
  • Implement succession planning that allows future leaders to shadow more senior roles without adding excessive pressure.

2. Give Them Real Challenges (Not Just Busy Work)
Handing future leaders token assignments is like giving a firefighter a garden hose. It’s cute, but it’s not going to solve anything. If you want them to grow, give them meaty, real-world challenges that test their problem-solving abilities and leadership potential. Sink-or-swim might sound harsh, but in a world of constant disruption, they need to be ready for the deep end.

Question: What significant, high-stakes projects can we hand over to emerging leaders that will stretch their abilities and prepare them for greater responsibility?

  • Assign future leaders critical projects with real impact, allowing them to grow through hands-on experience.
  • Set up mentorship programs where senior leaders guide next-gen leaders through complex problems.
  • Use failure as a learning opportunity by openly discussing the lessons from missteps instead of punishing them.

3. Coaching, Not Micromanaging
Nobody became a great leader by being spoon-fed. Leaders grow through challenge, reflection, and yes, failure. What they don’t grow from is a boss breathing down their necks about every decision. Shift your focus to coaching rather than micromanaging. Help them learn how to think strategically, navigate tricky waters, and make decisions that align with long-term goals.

Question: How can we shift from micromanaging tasks to fostering strategic thinking and decision-making in our up-and-coming leaders?

  • Promote a culture where managers ask powerful questions rather than providing all the answers, helping future leaders think critically.
  • Encourage regular one-on-one coaching sessions focused on growth, feedback, and leadership challenges rather than daily operations.
  • Introduce self-reflection exercises for future leaders to assess their decisions and outcomes, reinforcing autonomy and learning.

4. Encourage Cross-Functional Exposure

If you want a well-rounded leader, you need to throw them into situations where they’re not the expert. Let them sink their teeth into projects outside their usual domain—because real leadership isn’t just about knowing your lane; it’s about driving the whole highway. Cross-functional exposure builds broader strategic thinking and breaks down organizational silos.

Question: How can we create opportunities for our future leaders to work across different departments and gain a broader understanding of the business?

  • Rotate rising stars through key departments so they gain a 360-degree view of the organization’s operations and culture.
  • Assign future leaders to cross-functional task forces or project teams that require them to collaborate beyond their usual scope.
  • Encourage participation in cross-functional strategy discussions, giving them a seat at the table where broader business issues are tackled.

5. Provide Continuous Learning Opportunities

Your future leaders should never stop learning. Invest in their development through ongoing training that goes beyond the basics. Leadership isn’t static, and neither should be their education. Whether it’s executive coaching, leadership programs, or industry conferences, giving them the tools to learn and adapt is non-negotiable.

Question: Are we investing enough in our leaders’ learning and development to keep them at the forefront of emerging industry trends and leadership practices?

  • Create personalized learning plans for future leaders that combine formal training, mentorship, and real-world experience.
  • Offer leadership development programs focused on emerging skills like emotional intelligence, digital transformation, and adaptive leadership.
  • Provide access to external conferences, courses, and networks that broaden their knowledge base and expand their industry insights.

 

These thought-provoking questions can push your management team to take concrete steps toward developing the next generation of leaders, while ensuring rising stars are exposed to broader experiences and continuous learning—critical for their long-term growth and organizational success.

The future isn’t going to wait for your leadership team to catch up. Start building the pipeline today—because that bright-eyed manager you’re half-ignoring? They could be the very one most capable of steering your company through a big transformation before you know it.

https://nextbridgeconsulting.com/wp-content/uploads/Connection_collaboration.jpg 576 1024 Edith Onderick-Harvey https://nextbridgeconsulting.com/wp-content/uploads/Logo-w_Align.Design.Lead_.png Edith Onderick-Harvey2024-09-10 19:11:502024-09-10 19:12:13Developing Your Next Generation of Leaders

Does Your Onboarding Experience Still Work, Post-Covid?

September 14, 2020/in Change Leadership, Hiring Process, Leadership, Leading Change, Talent Management, Virtual Leadership, Workplace culture/by Edith Onderick-Harvey

How are You Onboarding (or Re-boarding) Post-Covid?

One of the challenges of having so many people working virtually is creating and keeping a vibrant culture that helps everyone feel connected and driven by a shared purpose.

Among the earliest experiences our people have with the culture is during on-boarding.  Working in the COVD and post-COVID environment, onboarding needs to be different.  By assessing what works and what doesn’t in your onboarding, you can design an experience that’s adapted to a virtual environment and reinforces culture and connections.

Late last year – pre-pandemic – we helped a client design an onboarding process.  The design focused on making the process a more powerful tool for creating culture in a dispersed team that had grown 200% in the previous 18 months. While few companies are experiencing that kind of growth now, the lessons are relevant in today’s environment, too.

This biotech’s culture was a key differentiator for them in terms of how they achieved results and how they attracted high-caliber talent in the market.  Facing a period of unprecedented growth with geographically dispersed offices and remote employees, they were seeing a higher attrition rate, especially among employees who had been with the company for a short period of time.  They were concerned that they were not creating an effective new-hire experience. After creating a highly experiential new-hire orientation program, our client believed there was still something missing for their recently added team members — the onboarding experience onto the new hire’s team.

The first phase of our work together was to assess:
  • how onboarding was approached across the various functions/departments within the company
  • the perception of how effective onboarding was
  • how well it aligned with their corporate onboarding and overall talent strategy.
We conducted interviews with functional leaders and focus groups with recently hired team members. Our findings indicated:
  • A much more consistent and robust functional onboarding experience was needed
  • The process needed to be scalable and adaptable
  • We needed to develop resources that could be accessed by a dispersed workforce during onboarding and beyond.

During phase two, the client wanted to introduce gamification technology to deliver onboarding, manager support, and other HR practices. Our challenge was to create a functional onboarding design that worked within this platform. We knew this approach had to be highly interactive, feel personal, and provide information in bite-sized chunks across multiple formats.

The design of the functional onboarding included:

  • Video welcomes received prior to start dates
  • Visual tours of departments and office spaces
  • Videos describing each department’s purpose and responsibilities
  • A manager toolkit to lead conversations with new team member within 2-3 days of start and at Day 14.
  • Day 14 online check-in for the team member to complete
  • Gamified introduction to the company culture and how it looks in our department
Through this process, we were able to design a solution that would: 
  • Create a unique and engaging new-hire experience that more effectively integrates new hires into the culture and their specific teams.
  • Utilize technology to enhance the onboarding experience for all team members – HQ-based, field-based and remote
  • Allow for adaptability and scalability as changes impact the organization
Covid19 has changed the business reality of virtually every organization.  A winning culture attracts and integrates top talent and, post-Covid, that requires a new onboarding process that leverages technology while creating a highly personalized connection to the organization.

 

Top HR and Talent organizations, not only recognize the need for a vibrant new onboarding process, they are spending the time to assess and design a powerful experience for all internal clients.

https://nextbridgeconsulting.com/wp-content/uploads/Logo-w_Align.Design.Lead_.png 0 0 Edith Onderick-Harvey https://nextbridgeconsulting.com/wp-content/uploads/Logo-w_Align.Design.Lead_.png Edith Onderick-Harvey2020-09-14 13:55:202021-01-05 14:30:36Does Your Onboarding Experience Still Work, Post-Covid?

Growth by Design

November 13, 2018/in Change Leadership, Culture, Hiring Process, Innovation, Leadership, Leading Change, Organizational Performance, Strategy, Succession Planning, Talent Management, Vision/by Edith Onderick-Harvey

I was having a conversation with a CEO earlier this week. The business is very successful and healthy. But like most CEO’s, he is concerned with growth and what’s next for his company. During our conversation, we talked about taking a step back, what I sometimes call taking in the view from the balcony. This view allows you to see how the different aspects of the business and organization are working together (or against each other) to achieve today’s results. And begs the question… how effectively will our current structure and processes spur that next phase of growth? Taking this view helps you to create growth by design, making it easier to align and integrate purposefully. And it prepares the organization to take that next step.

Growth by Design is our framework for helping clients build an organization that can propel them to the next level. It has three core components.

  • It’s starts with compelling clarity, ensuring alignment of the vision, mission, goals and culture. Every leader and every employee should know at all times exactly what their priorities are and how they fit with the strategy and goals of the organization. A how they both serve the mission.
  • Second, you need to leverage the critical drivers – understanding and instilling the growth imperative, making change agility part of your company’s DNA, and ensuring you have the talent to innovate and execute.
  • Third, the organization needs to build adaptive structures and processes– both business and human resources/talent processes and structures — that meet today’s needs but also prepare the organization for what’s next.

Asking the right questions and finding the best answers will help even the most challenged CEOs and senior teams cut through the fog. Building a compelling strategy for what lies ahead… begins by design.

https://nextbridgeconsulting.com/wp-content/uploads/0-4.png 250 533 Edith Onderick-Harvey https://nextbridgeconsulting.com/wp-content/uploads/Logo-w_Align.Design.Lead_.png Edith Onderick-Harvey2018-11-13 01:32:082024-10-30 18:10:21Growth by Design

How Do I Get to the Next Level?

November 30, 2016/in Career Development, Career Growth, Performance Management, Personal and Professional Goals, Talent Management, Uncategorized/by nextbridgeconsulting

I woke up the other morning and the calendar said it was December.  December!
How can it already by the end of the year? This realization made me think about the goals I had set at the beginning of the year and where I stood against those goals. I asked myself, ‘How can I take my performance to the next level?” At this time of year, especially in companies that have end-year check-ins as part of their performance management process, you and your people may have this same question.

What do I need to do to get to the next level?

When our people ask this question, they are usually looking for us to help them navigate the performance of career development waters and give them the answer for where they should be taking their performance or career. When asked this question, use the GOAL Development Conversation Framework to guide the conversation.

First, determine the individual’s Goals. Review where the individual is in his or her current role. Are they ready for a move? What are the individual’s personal and career goals?

Second, gain the individual’s Observations on what he or she does well, areas of interest and development needs. Ask for examples.

Third, add your Assessment and the assessment of others, if you know them for a fact. If your team member is interested in moving to another role, what skills and competencies does someone need to be successful in that role? How does this person compare to that profile right now? What do they need to develop? How does it align (or not align) with their interests?

Finally, create a Learning plan. What more do you or your team member need to learn about the role in which he or she is interested? What skills or competencies do they need to develop? How do they need to better showcase strengths?

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Worried about retention? Some news about millennials

June 29, 2016/in Organizational Performance, Talent, Talent Management, Uncategorized/by nextbridgeconsulting
Millennials and careers

 A recent article from Reuters provided some insights into why millennials quit their jobs and just how many of them plan on doing so in the next 2-4 years. First, the numbers:

  • Sixty percent of millennials, those people who are 22-32, have changed jobs 1-4 times in the past 5 years, according to State Street Global Advisors. Could be some of the younger millennials in the survey population were moving from part-time or ‘I needed a job’ jobs, but that numbers should give you pause.
  • If given the choice, 44% would leave their job in the next two years and 66% expect to change their employers in the next 4 years. Not would if they could. They expect to change.

Why? As we’ve all heard, millennials want work that aligns with their values. Old news.  What was interesting is how important it is even to those who are what they call ‘senior millennials’ — those with high-level job titles. Sixty-one percent of them say they’ve chosen not to undertake a task at work because it conflicts with their values. So much for work is not personal.

However, this article points out that isn’t the whole story. Turns out money does matter. A woman quoted in the article only chose to change to a career she thought she would like better when she figured out it was lucrative in the market where she lives. It also notes how often millennials are developing additional revenue streams outside of their jobs. Sounds pretty entrepreneurial to me.

What can you do to keep your millennials around.  Most likely, they will leave you at some point but you can probably extend that timeframe by focusing on three things:
  • Know what your millennials, as individuals, value and integrate that into their work.
  • Give them the opportunity to generate business ideas and be entrepreneurial. Their doing it on the side.  Why not as part of their regular job?
  • Don’t think that all of this takes the place of money.  They want financial rewards for their effort.  What may be different from others is that the rewards need to be aligned with their values, how they are making a difference and the ability to be entrepreneurial at work.
Cheers!
Edith
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