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There is no such thing as

too much communication!

president commented, “It was an incredibly valuable experience initial practice of advance consultation with presidents about
for the participants and the system. It increased participants’ the efort and a written guide for conducting talent reviews and
skills/knowledge and visibility and I’ve noticed that participants identifying candidates.
are more self-confdent.” 3) Presidential sponsors hold the key to help participants
Areas for future improvement included a few tweaks to build experience.
the seminar topics, such as suggestions to strengthen the Because experience-based development plans (EBDPs) were
fnance and funding segment, add more case studies, and a new thing to presidents and participants, there were mixed
bring in new presidents to discuss their transition to the role. results from our frst cohort. Evaluation results revealed that
Additional support materials were also needed by participants participants struggled if their presidential sponsor did not
to strengthen the mentor experience and more guidance for actively assign them real executive-level work that addressed
participants and sponsors was needed on the EBDP. an important experiential gap. Tis happened most ofen when

LESSONS LEARNED participants had presidential sponsors who were in transition.
It was much harder for participants to feel supported in their
Troughout the presidential succession planning pilot efort EBDP when their presidential sponsor was either brand new in
there were many lessons learned. From my perspective, the the role or moving into retirement.
most important take-aways included:
Participants who realized the most beneft from their EBDPs
1) Executive support is critical for success. had presidential sponsors who were enthusiastic about
High involvement and support from key leaders ensured that the program and demonstrated high support for them. In
this succession planning efort was successful in achieving interviews with sponsors, the most important factor was
measurable results. Board members supported the efort whole- that their participant’s EBDP work was integrated into the
heartedly and charged the MnSCU system to move forward on work of the institution. It was real work that needed to be
it. Te program became a part of the chancellor’s annual goals. accomplished. Other factors included: regular sponsor/
Funding for the efort was provided centrally. Presidents were participant meetings and high visibility experiences or
consulted throughout the process and were directly involved stretch assignments. Here is an evaluation comment from one
in identifying and selecting candidates for the executive presidential sponsor:
development program. Te key to this high involvement was that “It was a valuable experience….because it gave them an
the Vice Chancellor for Human Resources championed the efort opportunity to think, research, and experience the types of issues,
and made sure it was on the meeting agendas each month when problems, that presidents have to deal with…all of the politics,
the presidents convened. Troughout the pilot efort, a group relationships, and landmines. It gave them an opportunity to work
of six presidents serving on the Human Resources Committee at an executive level and helped with the president’s work agenda.”
were consulted monthly in the year preceding the efort. As
the program progressed, the chancellor and his chief of staf In our evaluation, more than half of the participants reported
made purposeful eforts to invite participants in the executive positive results from their EBDP. As one participant reported:
development program to apply when interim presidencies “Te plan gave me the opportunity to gain experience in an
became available. It took a broad coalition of senior leaders to area that I would otherwise never have gotten.” In subsequent
move presidential succession planning forward and make it programs, increased eforts were made to communicate the
work. Anything less would have not netted the same results. importance of EBDPs and to support participants and their
sponsors in developing them.
2) There is no such thing as too much communication!
4) Participant investment in their own development is essential
While there was much communication, there were still
information gaps that lef senior leaders with questions. While this is a familiar saying for most learning and
Multiple questions arose about the talent review process and development professionals, it cannot be stated enough: “You
the nomination forms or timeline. Presidents wanted to know get out of it what you put in!” At the executive level, this
more about the topics included in the executive development maxim proved to hold true. Participants who implemented
program to ensure that their leaders were learning things EBDPs that addressed their experiential gaps and took
that prepared them for a presidency. Tey also wanted time to do the advance seminar pre-work and post-work,
more information about the components of the executive positioned themselves for advancement. They gained valuable
development program. Participants wanted greater clarifcation experience and visibility through their EBDPs, and they did
about the roles of presidential sponsors, mentors, and coaches. deep reflection by crafting a personal leadership philosophy.
Participants revealed that many who applied and successfully
To address these needs, my talent management team and I competed for presidential positions used their leadership
developed a program elements guide. Tis was added to the philosophies in the interviews.

LEADERSHIP Vol. 22.1 Spring/Summer 2016 29

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