Avoid mistakes when backfilling positions

Seizing opportunities for reorganization: Dr. Uwe Böning, managing partner of Böning-Consult GmbH, makes suggestions to avoid mistakes during re-staffing.

Uwe Böning advises to use the backfilling of a position as an opportunity for reorganization. (Image: BÖNING-CONSULT®)

When an employee leaves the company, there are a number of dangers lurking in the search for a successor. But at the same time, there is also an opportunity to break new ground. However, when it comes to filling key positions, the focus is often on the wrong criteria, which cause potential candidates to fall through the cracks. Too often, companies look for competencies that are no longer up-to-date in view of current developments. Only a few executives take the possible loss of innovative strength into account in succession planning. One indication of this is the fact that the first management level is predominantly filled internally. Departing managers are often replaced by those exactly one level below them. Deputies are also regularly used to fill vacancies. However, this approach focuses purely on technical expertise and not on leadership.

Potential for restructuring

Currently, inspiring, courageous visionaries, drivers and empathetic motivators are in demand in leadership positions - not hierarchical commanders. But when it comes to leadership in particular, it is clear that companies are often faced with the problem of defining new criteria for awarding positions. Whereas in the past, classic management skills such as decision-making and the formulation of rigid guidelines were still in demand, today's agile working methods require other skills - such as the ability to listen, to motivate employees and to communicate clear guidelines. However, when filling new management positions, companies rarely take into account the requirements for such skills, which are made necessary by the digital transformation and the introduction of agile management structures, for example. Yet when a position becomes vacant, there is an opportunity to fundamentally rethink it. After all, it is not primarily a matter of reassigning a position in the shortest possible time: Rather, the restructuring represents an opportunity to optimally design the position and raise it to a new level - a key prerequisite, above all, for avoiding mistakes when filling the position.

Involve employees in backfilling

No matter how qualified an applicant is, if he or she does not fit into the team, this will lead to problems in the long run. For this reason, the management level should include the group surrounding the new position in the recruiting process. The assessment by the team is of great importance in this case and should therefore not be neglected - only if cooperation and communication function well in the long term will a future-oriented new appointment take place. Because no matter what qualifications the applicant brings with him, if he does not fit into the team, no successful cooperation will work. In the best case, direct colleagues are given the chance to get to know the potential new coworker and make an assessment during the application process. Managers and recruiters should not go it alone, but trust the decisions of the team or rely on peer recruiting.

Motivation versus competence

Although basic technical knowledge is a prerequisite, it is considered easier to learn and impart than soft skills and sufficient motivation, for example. Therefore, career, training or studies are not always the decisive criterion. Particularly if the position is to be redefined and developed in a targeted manner, HR managers should be open-minded and give the applicant's individual personality a chance. Managers must therefore redefine and categorize the requirements. What skills does the applicant need and which soft skills will have an important role in the position in the future? Sometimes backfilling cannot be avoided, but management can actively prevent vacancies due to resignations - with high employee satisfaction and employer branding. After all, satisfied employees are less likely to think about a potential job change than dissatisfied brainworkers who feel uncomfortable in their company.

For more information www.boening-consult.de

To the author:
Dr. Uwe Böning is a business coach, management consultant, managing director and founder of Böning-Consult GmbH, based in Frankfurt am Main. In addition to personality development for entrepreneurs and managers and consulting in transformation processes, "stress coaching" has been considered one of his specialties for these target groups for over 30 years.

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