Succession Planning
A Strategic Business Process
By Terri Herren
Succession planning has been used by organizations for decades to identify individuals with potential to fill leadership positions. The ultimate goal of succession planning has been to minimize business disruptions by having qualified successors available in the event a leader leaves the organization.
The recent untimely death of Tim Russert, NBC’s chief political analyst/commentator, brought national attention to succession planning. While Tom Brochaw was brought out of retirement to fill the void, it was apparent no successors were available to step into Russert’s role during the 2008 election year.
In the past, succession planning often was held behind closed doors by the organization’s top executives who named their own replacements. The result was limited career development since the plans were not communicated to successors, let alone integrated with training efforts.
The projected shortage of leaders in recent years has created an evolution in succession planning. It has evolved into a more visible and integral part of the strategic business planning process. The greatest result has been the identification of candidates, allowing for developmental assignments and mentoring to prepare them for leadership positions.
Developing and Communicating the Leadership Model
Succession management builds upon replacement planning by ensuring that processes are in place to have the right people in leadership positions and a pipeline of qualified candidates ready to fill them. Many organizations include all current and anticipated leadership positions in the process because of their impact on operations.
Before going about the process of identifying potential successors, it is recommended that a leadership model be developed to pinpoint the competencies and capabilities required of an organization’s future leaders. Many times organizations discover that attributes needed by future leaders differ from those of current leaders, requiring new training and development experiences. Communicating the leadership model demonstrates the organization’s expectations, creating a leadership brand. This brand not only benefits team members with leadership aspirations but facilitates the recruiting and selection of candidates with desired attributes.
Building the Pipeline
The goal of a succession program is to develop a pool of qualified candidates for each leadership position. The recommended method for an organization to identify and build a pipeline of successors is to assess the performance, potential, readiness, and interests of current team members.
Sustained performance is the best indicator of how well team members achieve results needed in higher level roles. Potential indicates whether individuals have the strengths and capabilities to move two or more levels beyond their current levels. Readiness measures an employee’s ability to assume a position at the next level, now or in the future. To fully measure performance, potential, and readiness, the competencies and capabilities developed for each leadership position must be compared during the succession planning process.
In the past, it often was assumed that high performing team members set their sights on moving up the management ladder. Today, younger generations are less inclined than their Baby Boomer predecessors to have the same aspirations. It is more essential than ever to involve team members in indentifying their interests in growing and developing within the organization.
Organizations realize the significant costs associated with recruiting top talent from the outside. Having a successful talent development process in place, encourages top talent to remain and grow within the organization.
Talent Management
Talent management begins by identifying candidates for leadership positions, and then making an investment in their development. A strong leadership pipeline includes the development of capabilities at each leadership level. It includes defining a development plan for each successor, taking into consideration the capabilities needed in the identified role. An organization must also consider its growth potential in identifying the requirements for its team members to be successful.
Succession planning is more vital than ever in identifying and developing an organization’s future leadership. It is no longer a stand alone process but part of an organization’s strategic business plan to retain the best talent.