Succession

planning
Succession planning is the ongoing process of systematically identifying , assessing and
developing organizational leadership to enhance performance.
Succession planning is used by businesses to streamline the process involving a change of
leadership or ownership. It involves recognizing internal employees who merit career
advancement and training them to assume new roles within the company. These plans only work
if companies take the steps necessary to prepare. Plans are often long-term to prepare for
inevitable changes in the future. Emergency plans can be set in place to account for unexpected
changes.

It entails three main steps:-

1.Identify key position needs ;- The first step in succession planning is to identify
the positions that are integral to the company’s success. These are the
positions that, without successors, will cause the company’s growth to slow or
stop.
Analyse business plans to identify the positions most critical for business
growth. they should be prioritized in order to identify which roles would be
most critical should they be left open without a successor. This will give
management an initial overview of how their succession plan should look.

2. Find the best fit
the next step is to determine who can be trained and mentored to eventually
move into those roles. Without a succession plan, when a key employee leaves,
management is faced with the choice of filling the role with an internal
employee who may be underqualified or searching externally for a
replacement candidate.

3. Develop a training plan
After identifying employees whose current positions and skill sets are in line
with key positions in need of successors, management should meet with the
employees to discuss training or mentoring plans. Discussions should include
the employee’s interest in eventually moving into the new role, a timetable for
the training process (which may take place over several years) including short
and long-term goals, and management’s expectations involving the skills and
knowledge required to effectively carry out the position’s duties.

REASON FOR SUCCESSION PLANNING

1. IDENTIFY HIGHLY TALENTED INDIVIDUALS
2. PROMOTING EMPLOYEE DEVELOPMENT
3. REFINING CORPORATE PLANNING
4. ESTABLISHING THE TALENT POOL

Do's and Don'ts of Succession Planning

Create a culture of leadership development. For succession planning to have a
fighting chance, it must be led by the top executive, not simply delegated to human
resources. Succession planning is a culture change initiative. If it's not a top priority
to the top executive, it won't be for anyone else either.

Be clear about why you are doing succession planning. Mitigating risk if key
people "get hit by a bus" may be the first reason that comes to mind, but that's just
scratching the surface.
Follow the critical path. For the best chance at success, organizations must
complete the right succession planning activities, at the right time, and in the right
order.

DON'T:

Overburden managers with paperwork. Managers need to do the work related to

succession planning. Don't make them dread it by forcing more forms on them.

Try to do too much at once. Once organizations get on board with succession
planning, some get carried away thinking that they need to have a succession plan
for every position.

Present talent = future talent