Security Recruiting with Succession Planning in Mind
I just finished reading “Leadership In The Era Of Economic Uncertainty”. It is a timely book written either at the tail end of 2008 or even in the first month or two of 2009.
The book covers a lot of ground but one particular subject that caught my attention was succession planning. The subject made me think of a company that hired an extremely bright and talented CISO in the early part of this decade. This CISO was more talented than anyone this company had ever hired to take care of information security, compliance and risk management.
The CISO delivered and over approximately four years, was promoted four times. This is a great story so far don’t you think? Here is where the story takes a turn though. The CISO was so successful that he was ultimately promoted to the CTO office.
Over four years, with a security staff exceeding 40 security professionals, this CISO never focused on bringing someone up behind him to step into his shoes. When the time came for his promotion to CTO to occur, the company had to go outside the organization to find a new CISO.
This lack of succession planning when doing security recruiting happens too frequently. What prompted me to write about succession planning was a mix of ideas.
- First, I read a good book that brought the subject back to the forefront of my mind.
- Second, I thought of a specific instance in which the lack of a sound succession plan generated personnel challenges that could have been avoided.
- Finally, a conversation I shared with a very bright Director of HR whom I’ve worked with for several years was largely wrapped around the idea of hiring with the future in mind.
The company’s Converged Chief Security Officer was hired in 2008. There is talk today of starting a new security recruiting search to identify a Security Architect to work under the CSO. The HR Director is smart enough to think not only about who we need to recruit to fill the void that exists today but he is also thinking about focusing our security recruiting on identifying and hiring hiring someone who could ultimately step into the shoes of the VP of Security should that person leave or should something happen to him.
This may seem like a simple story on the surface but the implications of getting it wrong are costly. What stands out to me is that employers rarely engage me in succession planning discussions. When a discussion of this nature occurs, it really stands out. When an employer is thinking of the future when they hire in the present, more often than not, they’ll hire based on cost and what they see on a security job candidates’s resume today rathe than focusing on what the candidate’s potential is for the future.
When hiring for the future in the present, employers have to consider whether or not today’s candidate has the raw materials to be groomed and mentored in such a way that they can step up to a bigger role within the organization in the future. When hiring is approached with this strategy in place, with the end in mind rather than just focusing on the here and now, better hires are made and this level of recruiting is strategically more fun for the security recruiter to tackle.
Strategic planning is something all businesses should participate it if they want to improve results. Strategic planning is a process of defining goals or outcomes, then developing a plan of action to reach those outcomes. A review process should be implemented in order to measure results and make course adjustments as needed.
The video link below gives an overview of three components of strategic planning. It is a helpful video for anyone new to strategic planning.
Click on this link: What are the three components of strategic planning?
For additional resources on strategic planning, visit http://www.performancesolutionstech.com/category/strategicplanning/
Summary:
The US Government Accountability Office (GAO) issued a report Feb. 19, 2010 titled Food and Drug Administration: Opportunities Exist to Better Address Management Challenges, which criticized the FDA’s efforts to fully use practices for effective strategic planning and management.
The report highlights five major management challenges the GOA believes could affect FDA’s ability to carry out its mission:
1. recruiting, retraining, and developing its workforce
2. modernizing its information systems
3. coordinating internally and externally
4. communicating with the public
5. keeping up with scientific advances.
The GOA made the following recommendations: Develop a strategic human-capital plan and issue an updated workforce plan; Work to make FDA’s performance measures more results-oriented; Following the creation of more results-oriented sets of performance measures, direct FDA’s centers and offices to track their workload by strategic goals; Direct each of the agency’s main centers and offices to clearly align their program activities to FDA’s strategic goals in documents such as the budget request or center- or office-level documents; Build FDA’s capacity to collect and analyze performance information by expanding training for managers on topics related to performance information.
Article Quote:
“The GAO said that FDA has aligned its three major activities—premarket review, production oversight, and postmarket surveillance—and uses employee performance plans to link individual activities to its strategic goals. However, only four of eight centers and offices that GAO reviewed clearly document alignment of their activities to FDA’s goals, and only two clearly linked their resources to the agency’s goals.”
Link: http://pharmtech.findpharma.com/pharmtech/Regulation/GAO-Report-Criticizes-FDAs-Strategic-Planning-and-/ArticleStandard/Article/detail/663378?contextCategoryId=35097
As mentioned in the recommendations above, strategic planning initiatives must focus on outcomes. You should know the intended outcome before jumping into any action plan. That is not to say that the action plan must remain static. If adjustments to the action plan need to be made, and often they do, then make the necessary changes. Measure progress often because in doing so, you will gain insight into what is working and what may need adjusted. However, the focus should always remain on the intended outcome.
For more on strategic planning, see http://www.performancesolutionstech.com/category/strategicplanning/
Summary:
The higher up a person’s position is in an organization, the harder it is for them to get honest feedback from subordinates. Most people refrain from offering honest, negative feedback because they don’t want to upset or anger their boss. However, choosing the right strategy to offer negative feedback may improve their insights as well as your working relationship.
The first thing to remember is that your feedback should be honest and data-driven because people respond much better to specifics than to generalities. Yet, even the most thought-out and organized feedback can insult your boss and create a defensive response. Before you offer advice, make sure your boss is open to feedback. If you haven’t been invited to offer feedback, then consider asking for it.
Remember, if what you say isn’t critical to the company or your department, and may only serve to jeopardize your working relationship, then you might want to keep quiet. Offering negative feedback is not worth risking your job or your relationship with your boss.
Article Quote:
“Giving your boss feedback, commonly called upward feedback, can be a tricky process to master. However, if offered correctly and thoughtfully, your insight can not only help your boss, but also improve your working relationship.”
Link: http://blogs.hbr.org/hmu/2010/03/how-to-give-your-boss-feedback.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+harvardbusiness/hmu+(Management+Essentials+on+HBR.org)
The ability to make strategic decisions regarding your position within an organization should be approached with both data and a forward looking approach to the success of the company. It is also important to remember that your point of reference is not complete when it comes to the realities and pressures placed on your boss. Therefore, phrase your feedback in a manner that reflects your perspective and doesn’t come across as “I know how to do your job better than you do.”
Finding the right tone and time to offer feedback is critical if you truly want to make positive changes. Before speaking up, take an honest look at your true motivations. If your true intent is to somehow get back at your boss out of spite, realizing that intent before your speak up could save you embarrassment and possibly your job.
For more on making strategic decisions, see http://www.performancesolutionstech.com/category/strategicplanning/
Summary:
Daniel Kahneman and Gary Klein are two scholars that represent two schools of thought. Kahneman is a 2002 recipient of the Nobel Prize for his theory for prospect theory, which helps explain the sometimes counterintuitive choices people make under uncertainty.
Klein, a cognitive psychologist and senior scientist at MacroCognition, focuses on the power of intuition to support good decision making in high-pressure environments, such as firefighting and intensive-care units.
When asked for words of wisdom to executives when trying to make strategic decisions, Kahneman suggested that leaders improve the quality of meetings. He believes meetings should be short, offer a lot of information, and decorrelate errors.
Klein’s advice is that instead of marginalizing people that disagree with you, be curious as to why they are taking that particular position. He writes that “Curiosity is a counterforce for contempt when people are making unpopular statements.”
Article Quote:
“In strategic decisions, I’d be really concerned about overconfidence. There are often entire aspects of the problem that you can’t see—for example, am I ignoring what competitors might do?”
Link:https://www.mckinseyquarterly.com/Strategy/Strategic_Thinking/Strategic_decisions_When_can_you_trust_your_gut_2557?gp=1
Using intuition to make good strategic decisions requires a sense of the expected outcome. If a particular situation is unique or the outcome is highly uncertain, then using intuition to make your decisions could easily produce a poor outcome. On the other hand, if the expected outcome is familiar, then using intuition to make decisions is really based more on past experience than any ‘gut feeling.’
For more on strategic decision making, seehttp://www.performancesolutionstech.com/category/strategicplanning/
Summary:
Sir Martin Sorrell, CEO of WPP; Randy Komisar, a partner at Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers; and Anne Mulcahy, Xerox’s chairman and former CEO, have all made strategic decisions throughout the course of their careers. This article provides comments from each and highlights a critical challenge: striking the right balance between thorough, unbiased decision-making processes, on the one hand, and timely action, on the other.
WPP’s Sir Martin Sorrell, believes that everyone makes mistakes and that decision makers should learn from these mistakes and listen to feedback in order to be able to react rapidly and grasp opportunities.
Randy Komisar, of Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers learned early in his career that rather than tuning out the natural bias we all possess, he focuses on recognizing, encouraging, and balancing bias within effective decision making. Mr. Komisar makes the comparison of how President Kennedy ran his cabinet: assemble the smartest people he could, throw a difficult issue on the table, and watch them debate it.”
Xerox’s chairman and former CEO, Anne Mulcahy, offers five suggestions for other senior leaders: cultivate internal critics; force tough people choices; force tough R & D choices; know when to let go; and strike the right risk balance. For a complete explanation of these suggestions, please follow the link below.
Article Quote:
“While there’s no silver bullet, taking concrete steps to cultivate internal critics, safeguard diversity of thought, clarify assumptions underlying different points of view, and force tough choices between business priorities can help.”
Link: https://www.mckinseyquarterly.com/Strategy/Strategy_in_Practice/How_we_do_it_Three_executives_reflect_on_strategic_decision_making_2541?gp=1
A challenge for all leadership is striking the right balance between timely action and the need for thorough, unbiased decision processes. The leaders in this article each have a different approach, yet the underlying theme appears to be challenging the people around you with voicing their opinions and insights while possessing the leadership skills needed to recognize personal bias.
For more on strategic planning, see http://www.performancesolutionstech.com/category/strategicplanning/
Summary:
The economic crisis experienced over the past couple years has forced most management teams to focus on the present and manage by crisis. However, crisis management doesn’t prepare your organization for future growth and opportunity. Planning your business’s future is no longer a discretionary decision. If you want to control the destiny of your business then you need to create it!
Strategic planning is a multi-step process encompassing vision, mission, objectives, values, goals, and specific action steps. Once the work of creating the plan is complete, action must be taken to ensure it succeeds.
Leadership should be fully behind and support the plan before presenting it to the organization. Conviction that the plan is going to add value to the company and presenting it in a positive light is essential. However, management needs to be clear to employees that this is the direction leadership is taking the company and it is everyone’s responsibility to do their part to see the plan to completion. Not only will this increase accountability from individuals, but it also fosters as sense of ownership in the company and its ability to thrive and outshine the competition.
Article Quote:
“Take a moment and be honest. Do you have an actionable strategic plan for your business? Do you know where you want to take your business one year from now, five years from now? Do you want to learn how to better manage the inevitable fires while focusing on growth opportunities? Make the commitment with your management team to develop a strategic plan now as your future results depend on it!”
Link: http://www.resourceassociatescorp.com/blog/2010/03/strategic-planning-is-no-longer-a-discretionary-decision/
Executing a strategic plan requires the objectives of the plan to be measurable. Leadership should continually review progress updates and decide if adjustments need to be made. It may be that additional resources are required for specific objectives or that parts of the plan really aren’t adding the value originally hoped for. The ability to make timely course corrections will ultimately save the business from wasting valuable resources.
For more on strategic planning, see http://www.performancesolutionstech.com/category/strategicplanning/
Summary:
The great start to the success of your business strategic planning process is to identify the foundation upon which your business was built. A well defined mission statement and equally communicated vision statement identifying your desired future will make the job much easier. Businesses that set goals relating directly to their mission and vision statements excel over businesses that lack these defined statements.
Both these statements help focus a business in terms of direction, leadership, and goal-setting ; mission and vision statements are the basis for your organization’s strategic planning. Vision and mission statments need to be communicated to customers, employees, and stockholders.
Once the plan of action is decided upon, objectives should be broken down into actionable tasks that integrate into monthly, weekly, or daily activities. Working the plan in this manner keeps it active and assists leadership in making course corrections when internal and external factors present themselves.
Article Quote:
“A periodic review by management of your strategic planning actions will let you know if you have chosen the right strategic activities for your business. Additionally you can also make sure that the strategic planning activities you have chosen to implement are all supportive of your mission and vision statements. Use your mission and vision statements to chart and stay the course.”
Link: http://gfa-ng.com/vision/strategic-planning-begins-with-a-mission-statement-and-a-vision-statement.htm
Mission and vision statements help the organization by providing a foundation from which to begin the strategic planning process. Choose two to three clearly defined goals or objectives, then develop a plan of action. Leadership that can effectively communicating both the strategic plan and each individual’s part in achieving the plan improves results.
For more on strategic planning, see http://www.performancesolutionstech.com/category/strategicplanning/
Summary:
Strategic planning and strategic leadership styles vary just as the employees and business owners of companies involved in the planning process vary.
Today, more than ever, the ability to gain instant access to news and information has changed the way many companies do business. However, the necessary skills to effectively manage others has not changed that much. Today’s work force is much less tolerant of bullying by management, and instead are looking for qualified and genuine leaders to work for.
Strategic planning seeks to answer the questions where are we, where do we want to be, and how are we going to get there. When deciding on strategic goals, keep it lean with only one to three goals as this will help keep the plan uncluttered and focused.
Next, come up with a tactical plan that easily translates into daily or weekly tasks. that chip away at the completion of key goals. This step also requires developing a budget to allocate the necessary resources.
Article Quote:
“Strategic planning isn’t just for corporations. Small businesses, even a sole proprietor, benefit from making strategic plans on an annual basis.”
Link: http://www.ilabstech.com/info-blog/strategic-leadership-focuses-your-strategic-planning.html
To insure companies meet their goals, strategic planners include responsibilities, timelines and accountability in the mission statement. Change within the organization is often met with some type of resistance. Therefore, present the plan with clear expectations of each individual so they understand their role in bringing the plan to reality.
For more on strategic planning, see http://www.performancesolutionstech.com/category/strategicplanning/
Summary:
Although thinking strategically and planning strategically are two different concepts, they are quite interrelated and complementary. Planning strategically involves a systematic programming of pre-identified strategies and thinking strategically involves a more integrated perspective of the organization.
When thinking strategically, it is not the specific details of the future that is needed; instead, one must only have an idea of what the future will be. Additionally, through strategic thinking, executives, managers, and supervisors are able to understand that there is a link between change and strategy. This helps to understand that identifying new strategic options and then needing to implement them successfully can become quite a challenge.
Article Quote:
“Strategic thinking can be explained through seven dimensions. These seven dimensions are as follows: vision of the future, strategic formulation and implementation, managerial role in making strategies, control, managerial role in implementation, strategy making, and process and outcome.”
Link: http://becomingwhoyouwanttobe.com/2010/03/a-closer-look-at-strategic-thinking/
Implementing strategy is often constrained by resistance to change within the organization. People are comfortable with what they know and the processes that are already in place. Shaking up the comfort level with a new direction for the company poses quite a challenge for leadership.
Leadership first needs to be committed to the plan if they expect others to get behind it. Next, delivery of the plan should include clearly defined objectives, broken down into actionable tasks that easily integrate into daily to-do’s. This allows individuals to not only understand the strategic goals, but also their part in bringing the plan to action, also increasing accountability.
For more on strategic planning, see http://www.performancesolutionstech.com/category/strategicplanning/