Although the pace of M&A activity has slowed since the recent financial downturn, pundits predict that it will accelerate in 2010. So it was interesting that I came across this article that discussed why so many attempts to merge companies are ultimately unsuccessful.

The article lists 3 main reasons why M&As fail:

1. Executives don’t understand the important link between business processes and systems;

2. Business leaders cannot agree on a framework for achieving commonality among the misaligned processes and systems;

3.  Finally, the inability of important decision makers to make difficult but necessary business decisions.

All of these reasons fall under the category of organizational management. However, I would suggest a fourth reason to help explain the lack of success with M&A’s, which falls under the category of talent management:

4. Failure to effectively merge the workforce and optimize the new talent pool.

Without having the right people in the right positions at the right time, a company merger can still fail even when executives have seemingly “dotted their i’s and crossed their t’s”. To avoid overlooking potential workforce pitfalls, clear visibility of talent is critical throughout the entire merger process.

Nakisa has produced a video that speaks to that visibility. I encourage you to check it out on YouTube:

The Case of the Mixed-Up Merger

Until next time, don’t forget to Visualize What Matters Most^TM

Talent Management Magazine recently highlighted the benefits of adopting sustainable activities within the organization. The feature story highlights how businesses who commit to “green” practices are more likely to attract and retain the best talent, realize savings, and improve their image.  As is common practice these days, the article uses the term “sustainability” to refer to environmental and social responsibility. No doubt, an organization’s responsibility to the planet is very important; however when it comes to defining the key link between “talent management” and “sustainable business,” a key perspective is often overlooked: building a workforce to ensure success that lasts.

Your organization may have all the best intentions to save the planet today, but if it can’t endure competitive, technical, social and economic turbulence in the long run, it won’t be around tomorrow when the planet still needs saving. With effective talent management processes and tools, an organization can devise and maintain a talent pipeline strategy to keep them successful well into the future. A truly sustainable workforce should ensure that the enterprise always maintains the critical competencies that enable efficiency, innovation and agility despite the changes in external forces.

For more information about creating a Sustainable Workforce, I recommend you check out SAPs EcoHub Sustainability Map.

 “It is 9 o’clock on a Monday morning; do you know where your next CEO is?”

It wasn’t too long ago when this type of high-level question caused leading organizations and institutions around the world to rethink their strategy for identifying, developing, and promoting successors to key roles. Now that our clients have reaped the benefits of applying our best practice solutions to their C-suite, the next step is defining the right scope, or depth, of your organization’s succession planning.

As I discussed in my previous blog post (Seeing is Believing), being able to visualize vast amounts of information is, and always has been, very important. The question is: how can we visualize data as efficiently as possible so as to increase ROI? The answer to this question depends on a number of items, all of which need to be considered.

They include:

1.  What is the state of your current succession planning program?

If a company’s current succession plans do not identify talent gaps, flight risk, performance, potential and other important indicators, there is only so much that can be expected in terms of final results. For your talent management initiatives to be successful, it must be built on a process you have confidence in. Click here for more information on how Nakisa is leading the industry in terms of our profile match and 9-box capabilities.

2. What is the depth of your current succession planning program?

Succession plans should not be limited to executive circles. Many organizations have found a great deal of value in widening the scope of their current talent management strategy; especially when non-executive positions in the organization require specific competencies or training. Although the executive team is critical to achieving organizational objectives, losing a key sales person or researcher can have disastrous effects on your bottom line.

3. What are the best practices for succession planning?

According to a recent study by the Aberdeen Group, “Organizations must extend succession planning to layers below the C-suite.” Based on their research of the HCM market, “the majority of Industry Average organizations apply succession planning to the C-suite, but below that layer, vulnerability exists for key employee departures. Only 47% of Industry Average companies have succession plans in place for upper-middle management and just 34% for middle management.” Although a majority of companies have understood the need for succession planning, many of them are not maximizing their benefits by focusing on key roles that exist outside of the C-suite.

The answer to the “depth” question should not be entirely dependent upon the size of your organization. Large scale succession planning is not only beneficial for large enterprises. The very best succession planning processes should ensure that all key roles impacting your business are protected by ensuring adequate bench strength.

We have just released a new video that describes how your organization can leverage SAP Job Architecture for the purpose of large scale succession planning .  Click on the Job Architecture heading on our home page and let us know what you think.