By Joe Giordano

 

More and more organizations are recognizing the need for identifying and preparing competent, well-trained employees to be able to step into new  leadership roles at a given point in time.  Succession planning identifies and grooms candidates for future openings in key positions, whether those openings are planned or unplanned.

 

The primary focus of effective succession planning is to map out a sequence of personnel moves so that candidates for key positions are identified and groomed in advance of actual need. This process provides opportunities for mentoring and developmental activities to improve a manager's readiness for success in specific key positions. It also minimizes the chance of poor choices for key management positions or the adverse impacts that unplanned vacancies can have on the continuity of operations.

 

Do you know which members of your management team (including supervisors) will be eligible for retirement within the next five years? Is there a crystal ball that allows you to predict which member of your management team will leave for better opportunities?  Do you have any idea how many of your current employees might be ready, willing and able to step into those positions? When you look at the technical gaps that your organization will face, can you identify current employees with the existing knowledge, or the potential, to fill those gaps?

 

Companies that realize talent must be developed through work

experiences and a developmental process are more likely to

keep talented employees in the organization.  Succession

planning can assist organizations to accomplish the following:

 

q       Grow their own future managers and executives instead of having to recruit from outside the organization

q       Develop, implement, and manage an effective diversity program through the development of qualified women and minorities for management positions

q       Increase employee retention and morale

 

Effective succession planning must include the following elements:

 

q       100% support from top management.  Upper management must hold all managers accountable for identifying talent among their staff members, to include individual performance evaluations emphasizing their success in identifying and developing future talent.

q       Full integration with strategic business planning and projected organizational changes

q       Identification of “Key” Management positions to be filled and future skills, knowledge, and abilities required for those positions.  What skills will your organization need 5, 10, or 15 years from now?

q       A thorough review of human resource forecasting and development of a system to identify, nominate, and select employees to be successors.

q       Development of individual training programs that include monitoring and feedback systems.  Individual succession plans should be developed based on specific organizational                     needs (both real and anticipated) and compared against specific individual skill and training gaps. 

q       Time lines that incorporate both organizational needs and individual employee readiness

q       Consider organizational culture and teamwork needs in addition to technical requirements when building your plan.

   

 

For information on establishing a training program that will enhance the leadership skills of your employees or for any other training needs contact Joe Giordano, Consulting, Training, and Development Services, at (410) 860-6664