Executive Development Assessments – Succession Planning

(Strategic Leader Development)

Cultural leadership indicates the degree to which cultural ideologies and expressive behaviors are affected by leadership, Cultural leadership can create, change, embody, or integrate organizational cultures. Development of the “leadership pipeline” plays a key role in keeping members aware of and committed to their cultures in situations where cultural maintenance is desired (Trice and Beyer 1993).

When cultural continuity is desired, respecting the past is important because it provides the ideological and emotional grounding for the current culture.

Succession Planning is not only about determining our organization’s next leader, it is a continuous process that assesses organizational needs, and creates a climate for our leadership to succeed. The culture has a better chance of continuing when an organization plans carefully for leadership succession because the past cultural elements remain intact.

Succession planning may not include all existing managerial positions however it may include positions that are not supervisory or managerial but instead utilize unique, hard-to-replace competencies. Succession planning is an ongoing process that is never finished

Succession Planning can be categorized under three main areas:

  • Emergency Succession Planning – A process that is in place to identify a temporary “go to” leader in the event the executive suddenly departs – either permanently or for an extended period (i.e., longer than three months).

  • Departure-Defined Succession Planning – A process that is in place for a future planned retirement or permanent departure of the executive. The departing executive’s final two leadership tasks to ensure a smooth leadership transition can be defined as ‘leadership of letting go’ or setting up a process to inform all impacted people, and ‘leadership of preparing the way’; creating an exit document and strategy that updates and prepares the incoming leader.

  • Strategic Leader Development – A process that promotes ongoing leadership development for talent within our organization. This consists of multiple processes to grow any organizations “Bench Strength”.

  • This is where LarryKeiterCoaching offers its greatest resources in assessments.

As stated in the Executive Development Overview, we focus on Leadership Development through KornFerry’s Four Dimensions of Leadership Talent:

KF Four Dimensions
KF Assessment

Korn Ferry has carried out extensive research and found that all high-potential leaders are marked by seven essential signposts that indicate their likelihood of future success. Overall, the clearer the signal on the greatest number of attributes, the better the odds that he or she will exhibit superior leadership performance. To learn more about this assessment click on these links below: 

Korn Ferry 360 Assessment: is a world-class assessment tool that can be used to effectively analyze leadership. The tool takes both a competency-based and behavior-based approach to identify a leader’s strengths, opportunities for improvement, and potential development needs. It goes beyond just analyzing leaders and provides a prescriptive report detailing strategies for achieving excellence. 

To learn more about this assessment, click on the link below: 

Kornferry KF360 (video on KF360)

KF360 Sample Report

KF 360 Assessment

Gallup’s Clifton Strengths Assessment:

Self-Awareness is one of the most critical concepts for a leader to succeed. Because strengths is the most intuitive and basic form awareness and development you can give an individual, team and organization.

Why should you focus on your talents and strengths? Your greatest talents — the ways in which you most naturally think, feel and behave — are a source of tremendous power. Learn your most dominant Clifton Strengths and discover what makes you exceptional so you can maximize your potential.

Strengthsfinder Sample Report

CliftonStrengths Assessment

Executive Presence: 

Through our research, we determined that executive presence is a three-layered phenomenon. Its outermost layer is Style, the overt manner in which we engage, interact, and express ourselves. The next layer, a bit deeper, is Substance – the depth of our thinking, the richness of our vision, and the quality of our judgment. These are qualities of adult development specific to the role of executive leadership. Finally, the innermost layer is Character – the most foundational and person-based qualities that anchor our values and define who we are as people 

Learn more about the Executive Presence and the Bates ExPI assessment  

About the Bates ExPI and Model of Executive Presence

Executive Presence Assessment