RPO and Talent Management Blog by Ochre House | Ochre Talk

I came across a blog post on Harvard Business Review the other day which spurred me into writing a piece on leadership succession.

An “identified patient“ is a psychological term referring to a family member — often a child or a teenager — who gets scapegoated for behaviour that is actually just a predictable response to dealing with an unhealthy family. In this sense, Tony Hayward is BP’s identified patient.

BP is a great example of an organisation in the grips of a leadership crisis because it has suddenly found itself with an “Identified patient”. Whether this is because of leadership failure or because the US administration “wants some blood” is a point for debate. However, it is clear that few organisations are immune from this potential risk. This therefore poses some interesting questions for those in charge of planning succession.

Typically, leadership succession processes are designed to fulfil three objectives:

Build a “talent pipeline” that is full of the capabilities required in the future organisation
       – Plan for future leaders in specific roles
       – Be ready for a sudden change in plan

It’s this final objective that organisations are frequently poorly prepared for. Whilst BP is one example, the Saga at ITV  last year just underlines the point.

My observation is that whilst strategic leadership planning seems to happen relatively smoothly, scenario planning for shorter term changes tends to be overlooked. So a question for you all? If you had an unidentified patient in your organisation, would you have an answer?

Talent has traditionally been viewed as the few at the top of the organisation, but increasingly organisations are taking a more holistic view. In this article I discussed how organisations are investing in the ‘vital many’ rather than the ‘chosen few’. Why?
Read full post

Being a fan of global explorers and tales of great expeditions, I am always on the look out for commentary or articles that refer to such leadership but in a business context.  I found this article briefly captured the essence of Shackleton’s leadership during the great Antarctic “survival” of 1914-16.  I found it specifically pertinent as I read so much about how to retain staff over the coming months.
Read full post

I supported England against Wales in the 6 Nations rugby championship on Saturday and saw a once great team now down on its luck and playing with very little confidence. And it struck me that our rugby team share a lot of challenges with business today.  
Read full post

Over the past months an urgency has developed in the area of pipelining for senior talent with many of Europe’s leading businesses. And I don’t mean debating it (which has happened for years), I mean suddenly realising that without new, best-fit talent at the top level over the coming year, the business will not compete.  So what has caused this immediate change in strategy with regard to senior talent and what has led “pipelining” to the fore at this point in Q1 and Q2  2010?
Read full post