Long-term planning can be difficult for CEOs. A company is only as good as its latest quarterly report (according to many investors), so today’s results are crucial. Yet, real change— especially culture change— can take years to bring about.
Workforce planning needs to be undertaken alongside strategic change, technology change, and process change—all of which are long-term issues. And that planned workforce has to be developed and improved slowly but surely to ensure available skills match those identified as essential within the other change projects.
Each of these changes can result in a temporary productivity drop— and this has to be carefully communicated to the Board of Directors— and perhaps to a small number of key investors— especially if there are any activist investors trying to stir up Board changes.
The CEO has to be brave and strong— and has to champion any major change, driving it through opposition and resistance— from the Board, from the management team, and from employees. This requires a clear vision of the future which can be shared with these stakeholders to bring them on board, willing to accept any blips and temporary faults for the sake of the long-term position.
The alternative is to make short, sharp, sub-optimal changes which might improve this quarter’s figures but might actually mitigate against long-term success.