Who's on Your Leadership List?

When I was CHRO at Unilever, I used to carry around a list in my pocket. The CEO carried the same list. On it were the 56 roles we had identified as critical to delivering the company’s value agenda. Some roles had leaders in them, some were vacant, and some were soon to be vacant. Why a list of critical roles?

Making sure we had the right leaders focused on the right work at the right places in our organization was one of the most strategic things we could do for the business. Whenever we saw value was in danger, we’d pull out our “Leadership List,” find the role responsible for that particular hotspot and call the person. This list literally helped us get our jobs done with more speed and ease. Keeping close tabs on these roles focused our time and attention with laser-like precision on leadership gaps that demanded immediate filling and leaders who needed real-time support.

So how did we decide what roles and which talents made the List?

Put aside hierarchy.?

As the company’s casting directors, we were responsible for selecting leaders who could drive the value agenda. But rather than start with the current org chart or our top high potentials, we focused on value first. We looked at the various hotspots in the company where a significant change in value creation was occurring or where we expected it to occur. Some of these nexuses of activity existed in close proximity to us; others were as deep as three layers down into the organization. For each hotspot, we identified the critical leadership necessary to create and capture that value. Then we organized all this work into one master list for the entire company.

Design around value.?

At the time, we were trying to reduce headcount, not increase it. We could not afford to assign only one major activity or one outcome to each critical role. Instead, we organized a set of no more than five of these Jobs To Be Done? (JTBD) per role. Some roles had direct accountability for a specific value hotspot; others had direct P&L and/or revenue responsibilities. Some roles facilitated value creation; others protected value by mitigating risks. Some enhanced capabilities; still others developed products. All were indispensable.

Connect the talent.?

Now we could start connecting talent to value through these critical roles. The last part of our job as casting directors was to match talent with the necessary combination of capabilities, experience, a seasoned point of view, and sufficient perseverance with each role we had designed. Our casting decisions would significantly impact the company’s results. After all, we couldn’t put a Tom Hanks type in a role requiring a Tommy Lee Jones—and vice versa. Both were highly successful talents, but it was up to us to connect each star to a role they could shine in.

You can find the Forbes article here:

https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesbooksauthors/2019/04/11/whos-on-your-leadership-list/