Early identification of staff for leadership development and advancement requires a thorough and consistent approach to individual development plans. This allows for more dynamic and agile employee management since skills can be developed for multiple roles, but it is also important not to push people too fast, too soon, says George Hall, SVP of HR for Information Resources at Marriott International.

Evaluate Skills, Performance and Growth

Once you've identified your management needs, it's time to determine who can fill them now and in the future. A good place to start this process is with your employee performance evaluations. Make sure they include an examination of individual goals for growth. Expanding on those assessments of future goals can form the core of the CIO's succession plan.

Identifying skills to be developed often directly matches the company's needs assessment. HR can assist the CIO by maintaining and updating the information at a corporate level and in overseeing the question, Are we investing in your people properly? Marriott uses a Human Capital Review process to provide an initial evaluation of talent against "key dimensions." For the IT group, this includes identifying an employee's strengths in leading teams and developing strategy both within IT and with business unit partners; examining areas for further technical and management growth; and a broad evaluation of current opportunities and the employee's readiness to step into those positions. This forms the basis for a comprehensive human capital management process that covers all aspects of talent management and development, Hall says.

Identify Potential

This is harder than it sounds. Potential is hard to pin down, says Direct Energy's Kalia. You obviously want to encourage all employees to improve existing skills and performance. But how, for example, do you identify the individuals who are good at managing people on a single project versus those who could manage an entire department in the future?

This is usually best done by the CIO and other senior leaders. It requires knowing the people below you, talking with them, and learning whether others look to them, Kalia says.

At UPS, IT managers go through the same leadership identification process as those in any other unit, said Regina Hartley, IS portfolio support (Workforce Planning) HR manager. Every manager performs self-evaluations in four leadership areas — business, people, results and self — which are commented on and supplemented by his or her direct manager. All this feeds into a readiness rating that is shared with senior leadership across the company. This process provides a balanced view that is critical for the senior-level positions, where skills and knowledge must stretch across many areas, says UPS CIO Barnes.