The Leadership Pipeline

1. Leadership Pipeline: A Framework for Developing Leaders at Every Level

Succession planning is perpetuating the enterprise by filling the pipeline with high-performing people to ensure that every leadership level has an abundance of these performers to draw from, both now and in the future.

The Leadership Pipeline model provides a comprehensive framework for developing leaders at all organizational levels. It recognizes that leadership requirements change as individuals move up the hierarchy, demanding different skills, time applications, and work values at each stage. This model helps organizations:

• Identify and develop potential leaders systematically
• Ensure a consistent supply of capable leaders at all levels
• Align leadership development with specific organizational needs

By implementing the Leadership Pipeline approach, companies can create a sustainable competitive advantage through their leadership talent. This model is particularly crucial in today's fast-paced business environment, where the demand for effective leaders often exceeds the supply.

2. Six Leadership Passages: Mastering Skills, Time Applications, and Values

Though there are other, minor passages between these six major ones, we don't want to become bogged down in detail at this point. For our purposes here, it's important simply to understand what these six are all about.

The six major leadership passages represent critical transitions in a leader's career, each requiring new skills, time applications, and work values:

1. Managing self to managing others
2. Managing others to managing managers
3. Managing managers to functional manager
4. Functional manager to business manager
5. Business manager to group manager
6. Group manager to enterprise manager

Each passage demands that leaders let go of some skills and behaviors that made them successful at the previous level while acquiring new ones. Mastering these transitions is crucial for long-term leadership success and organizational effectiveness.

3. From Managing Self to Managing Others: The First Crucial Transition

When people are appointed to their first management positions, they often think they have it made. All their hard work as an individual contributor has finally been rewarded, and they see a management assignment as a cause for celebration.

The first leadership passage is often the most challenging and critical. New managers must shift from:

• Doing the work themselves to getting work done through others
• Valuing individual achievements to valuing team success
• Technical proficiency to people management skills

Key skills to develop:

• Planning and delegating work
• Motivating and coaching others
• Setting performance standards
• Providing constructive feedback

This transition requires a significant mindset shift, as new managers must learn to derive satisfaction from others' success rather than their own individual accomplishments.

4. Developing Managers of Managers: Building the Leadership Foundation

Few companies address this passage directly in their training, even though this is the level where a company's management foundation is constructed; level-two managers select and develop the people who will eventually become the company's leaders.

Managers of managers play a crucial role in building the organization's leadership foundation. They must:

• Select and develop first-line managers effectively
• Hold first-line managers accountable for managerial work
• Allocate resources among units
• Manage boundaries between units

Key responsibilities:

• Coaching and developing first-line managers
• Creating a supportive environment for learning
• Thinking strategically about the function's contribution to the business
• Breaking down silos and fostering cross-functional collaboration

Developing strong managers of managers is essential for creating a robust leadership pipeline and ensuring effective leadership at all levels of the organization.

5. Functional to Business Leadership: Thinking and Acting Holistically

As managers step out of their traditional functional role and become responsible for a full spectrum of activities, they need to take the time to learn about the key ingredients of individual disciplines and how they integrate from a total business viewpoint to produce results.

The transition to business leadership requires a significant shift in perspective and skills:

• From functional expertise to business-wide understanding
• From tactical thinking to strategic planning
• From managing a single function to integrating multiple functions

Key areas of growth:

• Developing a profit-and-loss mindset
• Understanding and valuing all functions equally
• Managing complexity and making trade-offs
• Thinking long-term while delivering short-term results

This passage is often one of the most challenging, as leaders must broaden their focus and learn to balance multiple competing priorities across the entire business.

6. Group Leadership: Succeeding Through Others' Success

A group manager values the success of other people's businesses. A business manager values the success of his own business. This is a critical distinction because some people only derive satisfaction when they're the ones receiving the lion's share of the credit.

Group leaders must shift their focus from direct management to indirect influence:

• Valuing and developing business managers
• Allocating resources across multiple businesses
• Creating synergies within the group
• Managing the group's relationship with the larger corporation

Key skills:

• Portfolio strategy development
• Coaching and mentoring business managers
• Capital allocation and investment decisions
• Balancing short-term results with long-term growth

The success of group leaders depends on their ability to empower and develop strong business managers while maintaining a strategic view of the entire group's performance.

7. Enterprise Leadership: Balancing Short-Term Results and Long-Term Vision

Enterprise leaders need to come to terms with the fact that their performance as a CEO will be based on three or four high-leverage decisions annually; they must set these three or four mission-critical priorities and focus on them.

Enterprise leaders (CEOs) face unique challenges:

• Delivering consistent financial results
• Setting overall enterprise direction
• Shaping company culture and values
• Maintaining execution excellence
• Managing in a global context

Key focus areas:

• Balancing short-term performance with long-term sustainability
• Communicating vision and strategy to diverse stakeholders
• Making high-stakes decisions with far-reaching consequences
• Developing and managing a high-performing executive team

Enterprise leaders must learn to delegate operational details while maintaining a broad perspective on the entire organization's health and future direction.

8. Diagnosing Pipeline Problems: Identifying Misaligned Leaders

Just about every organization has people working at the wrong leadership levels.

Common pipeline problems include:

• Leaders operating at levels below their current position
• High-potential individuals skipping crucial development stages
• Managers struggling to let go of skills and behaviors from previous levels

Signs of pipeline problems:

• Micromanagement from senior leaders
• Lack of strategic thinking at higher levels
• Poor development of subordinates
• Difficulty in succession planning

Diagnosing these issues requires a clear understanding of the skills, time applications, and values required at each leadership level. Regular assessments and feedback can help identify misalignments and guide corrective action.

9. Performance Improvement: Setting Clear Standards for Each Level

Well-defined performance standards therefore are crucial. Without them, it's virtually impossible to convey leadership expectations and requirements.

Effective performance improvement requires:

• Clear role definitions for each leadership level
• Specific performance standards aligned with level requirements
• Regular feedback and coaching

Key components of performance standards:

• Operating results (financial and operational metrics)
• Leadership behaviors and competencies
• People development and team performance
• Strategic contribution and long-term impact

By setting and communicating clear standards, organizations can better assess leadership performance, identify development needs, and guide career progression through the leadership pipeline.

10. Succession Planning: Filling the Pipeline with High-Performers

The focus should be performance. High performance in the present is the admission price for future growth and development.

Effective succession planning involves:

• Identifying high-performers at all levels
• Assessing leadership potential based on current performance
• Providing targeted development opportunities
• Creating a continuous flow of leaders through all passages

Key strategies:

• Regular talent reviews and assessments
• Clear definitions of potential (turn, growth, and mastery)
• Alignment of development plans with business strategy
• Balanced focus on short-term and long-term leadership needs

A robust succession planning process ensures that organizations have a steady supply of capable leaders ready to step into key roles at all levels of the pipeline.

11. Coaching: Using the Pipeline Model for Effective Development

Coaching with the Pipeline model rather than the problem in the spotlight is not always an easy task. Managers often are tempted to "fix it" and deal with the problem rather than with the individual's leadership capability.

Effective coaching using the Leadership Pipeline model:

• Focuses on developing leadership capabilities, not just fixing problems
• Helps individuals understand their current level and future requirements
• Encourages reflection on skills, time applications, and values

Key coaching strategies:

• Using the pipeline framework to provide context for development
• Encouraging leaders to "let go" of behaviors that no longer serve them
• Helping individuals see their place in the larger leadership continuum
• Balancing current performance with future potential

By framing coaching conversations within the Leadership Pipeline model, managers can provide more targeted and impactful development support to their team members.

12. Creating a Leadership Development Culture: Marriott's Success Story

Marriott's leadership development system provides managers with tools to make informed decisions about the allocation of scarce development resources.

Marriott's approach to leadership development demonstrates how to implement the Leadership Pipeline model effectively:

• Senior leadership commitment and accountability
• Integration of leadership development with business strategy
• Clear competency models aligned with pipeline levels
• Use of technology to scale development efforts

Key elements of Marriott's system:

• Leadership Talent Development Inventory (LTDI)
• Web-based assessment and development tools
• Regular talent review sessions
• Emphasis on on-the-job learning and challenging assignments

Marriott's success shows how a systematic approach to leadership development, grounded in the Leadership Pipeline model, can create a sustainable competitive advantage through a strong leadership bench at all levels.

Last updated: January 25, 2025