As all successful businesses know, succession planning is a vital process to ensure long-term sustainability and competitiveness. It involves identifying and developing potential leaders who can fill future leadership and organizational essential positions, and preparing for unexpected departures or transitions.
Succession planning needs to be aligned with your strategic planning business goals and culture, so that you can infuse a talent pipeline that supports your vision, mission, values, and strategy.
Aligning your succession planning with your strategic planning should include the following essential elements:
Assess your current and future organizational needs.
The first step is to analyze your current and future organizational needs, based on your strategic objectives, market trends, and organizational challenges. You need to identify the critical roles and competencies that are essential for your success, as well as the gaps and risks that may arise if you lose key talent.
Identify and evaluate your high-potential talent.
Identify and evaluate the team members and team leaders who have the potential and readiness to take on higher-level or different roles, now and in the future. You need to consider their performance and skills and also their potential, motivation, and fit with your business and culture. You can use tools such as performance reviews, 360-degree feedback, assessments, and interviews to help you with this step.
Develop and implement your succession plans.
Once having completed the first two steps, develop and implement your succession plans, which are the roadmaps for how you will prepare and transition your high-potential talent to their future roles. You need to define the goals, timelines, and actions for each individual, as well as the roles and responsibilities of the managers, mentors, and HR professionals who will support them. You also need to monitor and evaluate at least quarterly the progress and outcomes of your succession plans, and make adjustments as needed. You can use tools such as development plans, coaching, mentoring, training, job rotations, and projects to help you with this step.
Communicate and engage your stakeholders.
Communicate and engage your stakeholders, who are the leadership team members who are involved in or affected by your succession planning strategy. You need to communicate your vision, goals, and expectations for succession planning, as well as the benefits and opportunities for your employees and organization. You also need to engage your stakeholders in the process, by soliciting their feedback, input, and support, and by recognizing and rewarding their contributions. You can use tools such as newsletters, meetings, surveys, and recognition programs to help you with this step.
Align your succession planning with your culture.
Align your succession planning with your culture, which is the set of shared values, beliefs, and behaviors that shape how your organization operates. You need to ensure that your succession planning strategy reflects and reinforces your culture, by aligning it with your mission, vision, and values, by promoting diversity, equity and inclusion, by fostering a learning and growth mindset, and by creating a culture of feedback and accountability. You can use tools such as culture audits, value statements, diversity initiatives, and feedback systems to help you with this step.
Review and refine your succession planning strategy.
Your last step is to review and refine your succession planning strategy, which is an ongoing process that requires continuous improvement and adaptation. You need to review your succession planning strategy quarterly, by measuring its effectiveness, impact, and alignment with your business goals and culture. You also need to refine your succession planning strategy as needed, by incorporating new insights, best practices, and feedback, and by addressing any challenges or opportunities that may arise. You can use tools such as metrics, dashboards, benchmarks, and audits to help you with this step.
