Canadian HR Reporter

CANADIAN HR REPORTER May 18, 2015 FEATURES 17 John Yates president, publisher and CEO, University of Toronto Press The organization has about 270 employees W hen it comes to the importance of succession planning for the C-suite, it's all about having a smooth transition that protects the reputation of the company, according to John Yates, president, publisher and CEO of University of Toronto Press, which has about 270 employees. "And, clearly, scale makes a difference. A multinational is totally different from a private company so, to some extent, some things may matter more in a larger orga- nization and, in that context — especially for a public company protecting the share value — would of course be a huge deal." Good succession planning all flows from the board, says Yates. "e board has to push to ensure that there's a plan in place and that it's been dis- cussed and agreed by the board well in advance of any CEO's departure. Because one never knows when a change might happen, whether it's an emergency type of situ- ation or otherwise. I mean, it's almost too late if you wait until the CEO announces they're going to either leave or retire, that's way too late because then it becomes a reactive kind of process rather than proactive." In lots of ways, it almost is a continuous process, he says. "As soon as one comes on, the board should be saying, 'Right, well, we're still in the early days but we need to be thinking about the long-term future and this process that we just went through worked, how do we have to refine it for the next one?' at's the ideal scenario." Organizations will always struggle with succession planning because they're deal- ing with much more pressing matters and may not see the CEO's departure as a priority, says Yates. "It just gets continually pushed (off ) and that's where the board has to basically push back and instruct the CEO that this is not a question about their value or the contribution that they're making, this isn't undermining the CEO, this is saying, 'Look, for the long term, we need this in place in the best interest of the company. It's important, find a way to make it happen.'" e incumbent CEO should be a big part of that process in developing a plan for the board to approve, he says. "CEOs who make sure they do those sorts of things, in a way, are also demon- strating that they are an outstanding CEO because they are taking the company's interests ahead of their own personal interest. And they are thinking long term as opposed to short term." And when it comes to candidates, there are many advantages to internal ones. "ey know the culture of the organization, which is an important part of being that CEO. ey're a known entity to all the stakeholders," says Yates. "ey typically weigh lower risk because of all that knowledge that they have acquired over their working years with the company, so it's a much smoother transition. But they are, in my opinion, much less likely to be the change agent." External successors bring with them a fresh set of eyes and ideas, he says. "ere's no sacred cows for them because they are not associated with all the decision-making that has been taking place in the past. So they're often the type of person that is brought in when you need that change agent, when significant change in an organization is required." Ideally, the board uses both prongs, external and internal, which includes develop- ing several candidates who might be qualified to eventually become CEO, says Yates. "e key thing there is to make sure that they're given the opportunities so that they can be assessed, so whether (that's through) very difficult assignments, the sort of thing that is a way of testing whether they've got the skills and abilities to do the job. And clearly there has to be all the performance reviews, things of that nature, at the high level to make sure that their skills are there for a longer period of time — not just the technical skills but the soft skills, leadership skills, people skills, things of that nature." As for HR, it should be acting as an advisor to the board, identifying potential suc- cessors and ensuring a smooth transition, he says. "It's not just a matter of identifying the per- son and getting them in the position, but it's what happens afterwards. You also want to make sure that the person is getting feedback quite early and frequently about how they're doing in that new role," he says. "HR no doubt will have a different perspective on that than the board might, so they should be having some involvement in that." HR should also be conscious of what is happening with the other top candi- dates who didn't get the role and may want to leave, says Yates. "ey have a role to play in making sure that there's good communication with the candidates that didn't make it and that, as far as possible, they're still feeling valued and that they have a big con- tribution to make." Kari Yuers CEO of Kryton International The Vancouver-based concrete waterproofing company has 85 employees A s CEO of a family owned and operated business, Kari Yuers has a unique perspec- tive on succession planning. Her father founded Vancouver- based Kryton International, a concrete waterproofing com- pany, before Yuers took over as CEO in 2001, and her brother took on the role of operations manager. "It has its own chal- lenges, given the per- ceptions of people that you want to draw into your business and, ultimately, everybody's goal is the same: Let's get the highest talent and keep them and help them grow in the business. And, sometimes, family businesses can really screw that up," she says. at's just one reason why a solid succession planning process is critical for any organization. "You learn that people leave for a variety of reasons," says Yuers. "It's important to have a plan in place or you could end up with a big hole, and that could set your company or plan back quite a bit." e CEO in particular is the barometer to the organization, she says. "When you have senior leaders like the CEO or the other key executives, they create that direction and engagement, and if you lose them and you don't have any plans in place to fill it or it becomes ad-hoc, you could lose a lot of momentum," says Yuers. "It's kind of like a boat without a rudder." In any organization, people expect some degree of change, and the leadership has a responsibility to ensure there is still continuity, she says. "When something unexpected happens, people lose productivity and lose confi- dence, and I think that's the other psychological part that leaders have to consider is that it's not about just finding somebody else who has the skills and plugging them in, it's about people having the perceived feeling that there is a worked-out plan and their world won't get rocked over these changes." e key to succession planning is the word "plan," says Yuers — having an orga- nized approach to having the components put in place. "I'm in the concrete business so we often are looking at constructing buildings… we talk about how important the foundation is because if you don't have a good foundation, the rest of the building is going to be (vulnerable) to problems." Similarly, C-level roles need to have a solid foundation as well. It's important to make sure you are clear not just about what the job descriptions are, but about what the functions and impacts of the role are, she says. "Having the job evaluations done in such a way where you can not only identify what they're doing today, but what are the expectations of growth and development of those positions?" e temptation in many smaller organizations is to try to build around the people, says Yuers. "It's the worst thing you could do because if you start trying to build the com- ponents around a person rather than position or function, then you could get into trouble fast." Instead, it's about figuring out the key components of the roles, and having regu- lar performance reviews and meaningful discussions around how the roles could develop in the future. It's also important to try to groom internal candidates for higher-level roles when- ever possible, she says. "Across the board, any time you can promote from within, that's good. It has so many nice ripples around it, not only for the person that sees movement in their career, but for other people to feel good that other people in the organization are moving up," says Yuers. "I think why (organizations) tend to go externally is… if you haven't got the talent or the skill sets being developed from within, you find yourself needing leaders or leadership roles, and you haven't got that capacity yet." It takes a lot of work to groom an internal candidate for an executive-level role on short notice, so sometimes organizations have to go externally to find someone with demonstrated ability who can hit the ground running, she says. Bringing in outside perspectives is another benefit to hiring external candidates, says Yuers. "e skill sets of people management and engagement and work ethic and attitude and humility, those are all things I want… if you have those skills, and you're smart and you're hardworking, you can learn (the industry)," she says. "It's harder to train leadership and engagement."

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