Although over 40% of companies don't have a CEO succession plan, those that do have learned that success happens when there is a commitment from the corner office to grow leadership talent in-house. Mentoring and providing performance feedback to the best performers develops the leadership capability necessary for sustained profitable growth.
At Dell, Inc., Chairman Michael S. Dell and CEO Kevin B. Rollins submitted to 360-degree assessments in the hope of inspiring their executives to do the same. Pay is now determined in part by how well a manager does at nurturing people.
As a result, David Marmonti, a manager who went through Dell's new Leadership Edge program, has rearranged the way he does his job. He now spends 30% to 35% of his time on people and personally mentors many more managers. "Once we understood the type of leaders and numbers we would need, we looked inside our business and said, 'Do we have what we need to get there?' says Marmonti. He continues to have a coach and gets regular feedback on his own performance.
Executive coaches can tell managers the things that everybody else is afraid to say.
Source: BusinessWeek, October 10, 2005