Succession Planning for Sustainability

Succession planning is very important in today’s business world, because if you blink you may lose your talented people.

Succession planning is a process that focuses on identifying and growing talent to fill leadership and critical business positions for the future. It prepares replacements for anyone whose sudden departure could disrupt the business, because sustainability in business is key!

Below are seven practical steps to launch and manage a successful succession planning regardless of your type of business.

Step 1: Update your organizational chart

You cannot identify critical jobs if you do not have an updated staff structure for at least the upcoming 12 months.

Step 2: Update your job descriptions

The most important document that you will refer to when identifying successors is the JD. Make sure it captures the related competencies and responsibilities.

Step 3: Identify the critical jobs

Review your organizational chart and job descriptions, then meet with your managers to identify the critical jobs based on one or more of the following criteria:

• High difficulty to replace a specific job in case left vacant
• High impact on the business in case left vacant

Make sure that the JDs of these critical jobs are always updated.

Step 4: Nominate potential successors

Remember that this is a nomination activity and not a selection phase.

A list of nominees or potential successors should be developed.

To guide your managers when nominating potential successors, you need to set criteria based on competencies and responsibilities of the critical jobs. It is recommended to refer to the JDs of these critical jobs.

Step 5: Identify your successors

During this step, objectivity and fairness are extremely important.

A comprehensive assessment center is a good way to assess nominees in step 4.

Assessments include, but not limited to:

• Technical/functional assessment directly related to the job itself.
• Behavioral assessment through interviews, case studies, group exercises, personality tests, ability tests, in trays, and role plays.
• Computer skills’ assessment.
• Language skills’ assessment.

To identify the final list of successors, you could:

1. Select the top scored candidates
2. Select the candidates who score above a specific overall preidentified average

Step 6: Develop the successors

A personal development plan should be set for each successor based on his areas that need development.

Step 7: Communicate the list of successors

There are two HR schools of communicating the list of successors. Each one has its own pros and cons. You should base your choice on the culture of your organization and the opinion of your senior management:

School 1: Communicate the list to all employees. This method needs courage and might cause you to answer many questions.

School 2: Communicate the list only to the successors.

A Final thought

The program and the list of successors should be reviewed once or twice a year depending on the organization’s size.

Even with the best intentions, you will not find all your talents inside your organization. Therefore, your recruitment team should always be ready to connect with external candidates as well.