Page 136 - Just Promoted A 12 Month Road Map for Success in Your New Leadership Role

Selecting, Building, and Developing Your Work Team 121

6. Your evaluation of the extent to which staff members have or will
align themselves with you as leader of the function
7. Your prediction of which managers and staff members will choose to
leave on their own during the next year, possibly because they didn’t
get your job or other important positions
8. The organization’s ability to attract talent based on its prestige, com-
pensation, or opportunities
■ Having considered the preceding points, you can assess the organiza-
tion’s needs for key leaders and individual contributors and begin to
determine whether to retain or select new individuals for your manage-
ment team. Using the Team Integrity and Capability Grid tool can be
very helpful.
■ Remember that selecting talent is usually the single most important
thing you can do to create a strong organization.
■ The selection process should begin with a detailed definition of the job,
its requirements, and its key factors necessary for success.
■ You must determine what incumbents and candidates for positions
bring to the position and leadership team when compared to the key
factors necessary for success. Often a difficult decision to make once you
have started in your new position is, “Should I keep everyone?” If you
decide to terminate someone, remember that you have ethical and legal
responsibilities that you should review carefully with legal counsel and
your human resources partner.
■ If you do decide to terminate one or more people, try to preserve their
integrity and self-concept. Whenever possible, provide outplacement
counseling and a generous severance package. Such treatment helps the
people, but it also communicates a lot about you to others.
■ You will not only need to select your leadership team but you will also
need to help the members of your team work well with each other. This
is a second pillar of your team’s effectiveness.
■ Certain factors characterize well-functioning work teams. These factors
can become goals for team-building efforts. You might want to have a
skilled organizational development professional or external consultant
work with you in your team-building efforts.
■ There are situations in which team building is most meaningful. This is
especially true when there has been an absence of teamwork or when the
organization has undergone considerable change.