Essay Example on Leadership Development and Succession

Introduction

Mentoring is an effective tool for molding organizational cultures and bridging generational gaps. PayPal launched the Unity Mentorship Program, which assists in driving inclusion and exposure through mentorship programs, shadowing, and participation. Leadership succession, on the other hand, is significant to companies as it ensures there is a steady chain of leaders ready to take up to new responsibilities. Also, succession provides there is a healthy organizational culture and that there is constant stability. Warren Buffet's search for a suitable successor illustrates the succession plan.

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2. Employee Mentorship Program Gets a Reboot

The problems with the mentor program at PayPal

The first problem was measuring and tracking the success of the program. It was challenging to track and prove the success of a mentorship program both from the employee angle and the organization's viewpoint. A mentorship program couldn't last long if this problem is not solved since the executive management expected quantified results. Secondly, there was a challenge in ensuring that the mentors and mentees are actively engaged. As the program kicked off, the people were psyched to participate. However, this excitement waned quickly, and the mentor-mentee engagement declined. The organizers have partial control over these challenges.

Steps were taken by PayPal take to change the mentor program

PayPal was able to track the success of the unity mentorship program by following up on individual goals, employee satisfaction, and organizational goals. Goal tracking is a significant tactic of measuring the program's output as it is output-oriented. The true measure of program success was whether the progress was concrete. Also, it was crucial to follow up on whether the employees were satisfied with the program.

Several techniques were implemented during the mentorship program to improve on the engagement, such as gamification and showing the employees the benefits. The gamification was achieved by creating incentives for active participants. The rewards and reward actions were aligned with the program goals. The only other way to get the employees to put in effort in the mentorship program was by letting them know the benefits of the program. These played a big role in tackling the challenges previously faced.

3) Warren Buffett Lays Out a Berkshire Hathaway Future

a) The future leadership challenges

One of the leadership struggles that Warren is anticipating is in finding a competent and reliable CEO to succeed him. He/she should be driven by the passion for the work and the organization, rather than the salary (Emmiemartin, 2017). His/her compensation would be based on how the company is fairing. Besides, the appointing of compensation consultants is a potential challenge. This is because it differs from the principles on which the company was built.

Succession planning to set up the organization for long-term leadership success

The future success of a company relies on having the right leaders in the right tasks. Therefore, the company needs to come up with proactive and disciplined methodologies for planning succession. The benefits of succession planning are better-quality decisions, a diversified portfolio of leaders as a natural result of an objective process, and lead to a future-oriented workforce that can thrive in dynamic workforces (Rosenthel et al., 2018). The most favorable succession plan approach is the central one as it blends both the objectivity and empathy. Succession planning is challenging because it has long-term effects on the company.

Conclusion

Leadership development and succession are crucial to organizations. They may have their sets of challenges, but if the framework and planning are right, they result in the success of the company. Leadership mentoring focuses on leadership skills and equipping employees with relevant expertise. Effective leadership succession planning is achievable through balancing objectivity, empathy, and discipline. How the organization tackles, these two factors have a significant impact on its progress.

References

Emmiemartin. (2017, May 9). Warren Buffett hopes the next CEO of Berkshire Hathaway won't be motivated by money. CNBC. https://www.cnbc.com/2017/05/08/warren-buffett-hopes-the-next-berkshire-hathaway-ceo-wont-need-money.html.

Feintzeig, R. (2017, December 27). Employee Mentorship Program Gets a Reboot. The Wall Street Journal. https://www.wsj.com/articles/employee-mentorship-program-gets-a-reboot-1514376000.

Mentorloopadmin. (2019, September 12). The Biggest Mentoring Program Challenges You Will Face. Mentorloop Mentoring Software. https://mentorloop.com/blog/mentoring-program-challenges/.

Rosenthel, J., Routch, K., Monahan, K., & Doherty, M. (2018). The holy grail of effective leadership succession planning. Deloitte Insights. https://www2.deloitte.com/us/en/insights/topics/leadership/effective-leadership-succession-planning.html