Fortune 500 companies and small family businesses alike share a business need – insuring that they have the talent necessary to effectively lead their organizations in the future. One of the most significant contributions a leader can make is insuring his/her business’ continuity and sustainability – by having employees who are willing and capable of filling each key position with a plan for doing so when the need arises.
Succession Planning is a:
- The deliberate, systematic process of anticipating the need for talent and ensuring that the necessary employee competencies and experience are available when needed in the future
- A strategic approach for avoiding an undersupply of talent, enhancing the organization’s current talent pool, and meeting its future needs
Not having a Succession Plan can be costly and sometimes disastrous; it’s expensive to recruit, interview, select, onboard and train a new leader and significant opportunity costs are incurred when a key job is not being performed.
WHY SHOULD YOU ATTEND?
The primary objectives for and deliverables from a Succession Planning program are to:
- Sustain the business through a deliberate and systematic effort to anticipate and ensure
- leadership continuity in key positions
- Retain and develop the organization’s high potential [HiPos]
Encourage individual development by:
- Identifying career paths
- Conducting formal performance appraisals
- Providing daily coaching
- Creating Individualized Development Plans [IDPs]
During Succession Planning Programs:
- At the macro level the organization is proactively determining:
- The talent needed in the future
- The talent it has now
- Where there are talent gaps
- The initiatives necessary to close those gaps
- At the micro-level, the organization is addressing – for each of its key positions – questions such as:
- What the organization would do if it had to fill the position tomorrow
- Whether there is, at least, one successor who could immediately perform the duties of the position
- If there is no successor ready now, what will need to be done to enable the best internal candidate to be ready and when can he/she be ready can the organization afford to wait, or would it be better to recruit a successor, etc
Experience has found the following two processes to be very effective in enabling organizations to have the talent they need, when it’s needed:
#1 Performance Management and/or 360 Feedback Processes – through which the
the organization is able to:
- Evaluate its employee’s current performance – based on documented, objective performance and achievements
- Assess its employee’s advancement potential
- Determine its employee’s current readiness for advancement
- Obtain from its employees self-appraisals identifying their developmental needs and preferred career plans
- Meet its bench strength needs by initiating Individual Development Plans and experiences – at least, for its A Players and/or High Potentials – such as:
Special or stretch projects
Assignments in other depts./job rotations
Try-out/popcorn stand slots
Mentors
Formal training and development initiatives
Fast track programs with exposure to other functions
Intense coaching, etc.
- Track their A Players and High Potentials performance and advancement potential
- Against a Performance-Potential Grid
Talent Review Meetings – during which the executive team in a disciplined fashion:
- Asks each leader to report on the status of the Individual Development Plans for each of their A Players and High Potentials
- Ensure that each A Player and High Potential is receiving regular coaching and is actively involved in opportunities that will help retain them while accelerating their development
- Drives the organization past business as usual by insuring that its future needs for human capital are identified and will be satisfied when the time arrives – as it will
Succession Planning initiatives also increase the levels of engagement and performance of your A-Players and High Potentials – the talent your organization will most need in the future.
AREA COVERED
Succession Plan Defined
- A deliberate, systematic process of anticipating the need for talent and ensuring that the necessary employee competencies and experience are available when needed
- A strategic approach for avoiding an undersupply of talent, enhancing the organization’s current talent pool, and meeting the organization’s future needs
Objectives and Benefits of Succession Planning
- Sustain the business through a systematic effort to ensure leadership continuity in key positions
- Attract, retain & develop high potentials [HiPos]
Encourage HiPos development by:
- Identifying career paths
- Conducting performance appraisals
- Providing daily coaching
- Creating Individualized Development Plans [IDPs]
- Holding Talent Review meetings
Tools and Processes Commonly Utilized for Developing and Implementing
- Self-appraisals and career goals
- Performance appraisals, 360 feedback, and ratings
- Assessment instruments
- GE grid
- Individual development plans [IDPs]
- HiPo talent development interventions
- Talent review meetings
What an Organization, its Leaders, and the Program Participants Need to Do To Achieve an Effective Plan
What an organization needs to do:
- Supply funding/budget
- Establish a clear vision and guidance for the program
- Develop a formal, written program
- Announce the objectives of the program to all employees
- Ensure that all leaders and managers support the program
What the leaders need to do:
- Have job descriptions developed for their teams
- Conduct effective, formal performance appraisals
- Identify employee developmental areas
- Share their knowledge and experience
- Involve employees in more of the leader’s responsibilities
- Facilitate the completion of IDPs for all Hi Pos
What the program participants need to do:
- Conduct self-appraisals
- Identify their desired career paths
- Learn as much as they can about potential future assignments
- Perform to their capabilities
- Complete their IDPs
- Develop the employees reporting to them – so they have successors
Potential Measures of the Program’s Success
- Whether there is, at least, one successor for each key position
- Having developmental goals and IDPs established for each successor
- Determining how much of their manager’s job the successors can perform
- Determining whether successors can perform their manager’s jobs when they are
- unavailable and evaluating their performance during those time
WHO WILL BENEFIT?
- HR Professionals New to the Field – seeking a comprehensive view of the subject with multiple application initiatives
- Experienced HR Professionals – seeking a refresher
- Leaders and Managers – interested in understanding both how a Succession Plan benefits an organization and how to implement one
