Francis Kim R.

Tanay LIS 152

Reaction Paper:

Succession Planning: For Success

Succession planning, also known as a “replacement planning” aims to create an established

strategy for passing roles to other employee, when a specific person leaves its institution, may it
because of retirement, going for a new opportunity, or had passed away. Upon reading the article
about designing a successful succession plan, there are three general points that I have learned
aside from its main purpose of replacement. The three points are integrity, accountability, and
transparency. So, what are these three things connected in succession planning?

In an institution, we cannot tell on what may happened in the future for every part can
change through time. Building, equipment, tactics, and other more will definitely change as well
as people contributing to the institution. I remember a statement in one of our LIS, saying that an
institution is dynamic, it is alive. Meaning everything will change overtime. Because of that, there
are plans created by different institutions to anticipate, and prepare to this kind of changes. One of
which is succession planning. This style of planning can be implemented when “...a critical
positions within a company are vacated, unexpectedly, or otherwise”. Because, when these
important positions are missing, institutions may face a bigger challenge that can lead to their own
down fall. But jut what I said earlier, succession planning is not just about replacement, it is
connected to the institution’s integrity, accountability, and transparency. First is integrity, for
succession planning helps to make the structure of a specific institution adaptable and strong.
Having a strong hierarchy, especially in bigger institutions make the workflow systematic and
continuously. We can relate it to a set of gear inside a car, whether they vary in sizes and form,
they are interconnected. Removing one gear will make the whole function stop, in which the car
will not work. Second is accountability, for having a succession requires a critical evaluation of
the skill of the employee that they will choose. With that, these people and the management are
accountable from one another to nurture their skills and help them transition from one role to
another. Lastly is transparency, for succession plan reveals issues that may happened in the future
especially between the person that is going to be replaced and the one who will replace that person.
It also helps the investors become confident on the future of the institution.
 In summary, the existence of succession planning is not only as a reserve or for emergency
purposes. It also exhibits the values of the institution, which shows that they are responsible in
keeping their own institution working in the future.

References

Morris David E. Morris. (2019). How to design a successful succession plan. HR Future, 2019(7),
24-25.
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