Succession Planning

Are you prepared for the worst?

The Pillars has a program to identify, evaluate and develop your ‘’bench strength’’. We accompany you throughout the process or assist your team in specific areas.

Succession planning is a process for identifying and developing internal people with the potential to fill key leadership positions in the company. Succession planning increases the availability of experienced and capable employees that are prepared to assume these roles as they become available. Taken narrowly, "replacement planning" for key roles is the heart of succession planning. Effective succession or talent-pool management
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Management concerns itself with building a series of feeder groups up and down the entire leadership pipeline or progression (Charan, Drotter, Noel, 2001).

• How ready is your company, should a key top player leave your organization?   
• Have you developed your internal talent for the company’s future needs?  
• Is your proverbial ‘’bench strength’’ strong?   
• Are you aware of the talent gaps?   
• Are you recruiting and selecting to fill those gaps. When was the last time you fully analyzed your workforce?  

Succession planning need not be complicated.  The basic premise is the following: 

1.      Where are we going? (Future needs of the organization) 

2.      Where are we now? (Current realistic and objective picture of our Talent) 

3.      What are the gaps?             

Once you have identified your critical positions throughout the organization, what is your contingency plan? Who are the people best suited to replace the current individuals that will either get promoted or leave (voluntarily or not)?

Where to start?

The common first step is to determine the Talent Pool. Who are the rising stars? Who are the individuals that have the most potential to rise through the ranks and achieve the biggest successes? 

Secondly and critical to the process is the identification and evaluation of your internal Talent. What skills, competencies, abilities and potential do they have?  

The third step is developing your talent to meet the needs of your business.  

• Do we have enough internal resources to meet the future needs of the organization?  
• What are the developmental needs for these individuals to prepare them for future key roles?   
• What do they need to learn and acquire as knowledge to fulfill the future needs of your business?  

Organizations that have succession planning well in hand and continue to maintain and review frequently are well positioned to lessen the impact on the business, should key players suddenly leave or get ill.

Having a succession plan is not enough, it needs to be known and communicated to the key players and their respective ‘’benches’’. This is important in the retention of your ‘’High Potentials’’ as well to  attract top new Talent. We have all heard the stories of top talent leaving companies because they were seeking better opportunities elsewhere; oftentimes, the opportunities were already laid out for them but were never communicated.  

So, are you prepared for the worst or planning for the best?