Why You Should Create a "Shadow Board: of Younger Employees
Source:? Harvard Business Review, by Jennifer Jordan and Michael Sorell
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A lot of companies struggle with two apparently unrelated problems: disengaged younger workers and a weak response to changing market conditions. A few companies have tackled both problems at the same time by creating a “shadow board” — a group of non-executive employees that works with senior executives on strategic initiatives.
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The purpose? To leverage the younger groups’ insights and to diversify the perspectives that executives are exposed to.
What are the best practices for implementing a shadow board?
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Look beyond the “high-potential” group.?Many companies staff shadow boards exclusively through executive-committee nominations or with already identified high potentials. Millennial participants tend to prefer a more open process. ?On abilities such as data analytic skills, sense-making, and teamwork, the open-enrollment members generally outperform the high-potentials.
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Make it a CEO-sponsored program.?In order for the program to have maximum impact, support needs to come from the top of the organization (though most are coordinated on a procedural level by HR).
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Keep evaluating and iterating.?Companies successful at this, adjust the programs as they learn what works (and what doesn’t).
See you next week.
James & Sylvia