Succession planning is often described as the process of identifying critical or hard to hire positions in an organization. It operates as an action plan about the individuals who will assume those positions. In simple speak it’s a plan to determine who is (or will be) ready and capable of filling a role that has been vacated by retirement, resignation, termination, illness, or a request to move into another role or discipline, or as a response to trending ideas and future staff needs currently not met.
Unfortunately, in many organizations it is a process that is avoided, denied, postponed, or done in a half-baked way. Why? Because the consequences of the process are not always visible, it can be interpreted as political, it is hard to do, and seen as secondary work. Most likely it is because people are not sure how to create a good succession plan.
I wholeheartedly believe succession plans are necessary. I also believe it is appropriate, often essential, at all levels, not just senior roles as often is the case. Whether you are a Board member of a major corporation, the leader of a team within a company, or the owner of a small entrepreneurial venture, you need to develop, work with, and continuously edit your succession plan.
Things to Consider When Creating a Succession Plan
- Plan in years, not months. Be proactive and forward thinking. Shortsightedness can lead to long vacancy times, lost revenue, people doing two jobs to fill the void. Without a plan in place, you may be tempted to retain a poor performer longer than is necessary, settle for a weaker candidate, or do the work yourself.
- Dissect the roles on your succession plan before making any decisions or hires. Is the position essential and why is that? Just because it has always existed is not a good enough reason for it to remain. Maybe it needs to be increased. What are the skills the potential hire must have, what knowledge do they need to come with on day one? Have you checked the current position for its relevancy to the times, demands of the day, the organization’s vision, and goals for the future? What is the market value of the job? What is the appropriate level and title?
- Create job descriptions. Are you classifying the position correctly? Does the document describe what the worker will do and accomplish day-to-day, within the year? Is the reporting line clearly defined? What are the measurements and timelines for success? Is the job description readable and easy to understand? Is there buy-in from the people who will be using it or hired to it?
- Identify high potential candidates. Internally, this could be through observations, working together, in-house networking, suggestions from senior leaders, ideas of team members. Externally, use networking, associations with people you worked with in the past, LinkedIn and other job search websites, trade organizations, engaging a search firm. Running a list of high potential people should be a continuous process.
- Learn how to hire. Attracting, interviewing, assessing candidates, negotiating compensation is a skill most managers and executives do not have. It can be learned and practiced if there is a commitment. If group interviews are a process used, all members of the team also need to learn hiring skills.
- Give high potential people an opportunity to work at the next level. Test drive them with a project usually assigned to a higher positioned person. Rotate people within the department or into other areas to see if there is a fit. Take advantage of vacation times, maternity leaves, or extended sick leaves, and place the person in a new role for a short period of time.
- Transparency. All employees deserve to know what their future may be. With high potential people it is imperative they understand they are part of a larger succession plan. It is a motivator, helps prevent resignations, and lets the person know their career is important and being watched by the leadership. While promises generally cannot be made, knowing they are part of a plan is important and fair.
- Start leadership development. Once potential proteges have been identified and become part of the succession plan their development and growth needs to be scheduled and delivered on a regular basis. This can include certifications, licenses, degrees, seminars, and other educational venues. Collaborative projects allow for them to view another avenue and to be seen by others. Assigning mentors and engaging the services of coaches is also an important part of the development initiative.
- Thinking big, high level, and long range is not just answering the question “is the employee right for the current position?” or “Who do we have to fill the role?” but where will they be in a year, five years? How flexible are they? How open are they to learning? Is their experience broad enough to be valuable in many parts of the company? Do they have specialized, unique talents and skills to take a group into the future? Groom talented people, even if you do not have a new slot for them now — create a deep bench. Release those who are not contributing or who cannot advance or adapt.
- Make succession planning an important part of every leader’s and manager’s responsibility. Reward those who hire, promote, and retain the best. Make succession planning an organization-wide process. Always be on the lookout for talent and have an open-to-hire budget when great talent presents. Find the diamonds in the rough and polish them. Value those with high EQs, excellent communications skills, ethics, and empathy. Set aside any prejudices and invite people into the plan for their skills and knowledge rather than their gender, race, sexual preference, age, or place of birth. Hold people responsible for their team’s performance.
Now that you have thought of others…
Where would you like to be on your organization’s succession plan?
What’s your career strategy?
What needs to happen for you to get to your goal?
Who will help and support you?
What’s your timeframe for reaching the next step?
Remember the key word in succession is success.
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