CAREER AND

SUCCESSION
PLANNING
 Introduction

The concept of career

A career comprises of a series of work-related activities (responsibility,
status, power, reward) that offer continuity, order and meaning to a person’s
life.
All positions are occupied by a person during his working life.
The underlying idea behind a career is…..a person can shape his destiny
through a number of well-planned and timely and positive steps.

The success of one’s career, therefore, depends on the individual more than
anything else.

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Career: Important features

 A career develops over time (objective conditions and subjective reaction)

 The success of one's career depends, most often, on one's own careful
planning and timely steps taken at a right time. Must set own criteria –pay,
adventure, help

The important element in one's career is experiencing psychological

success. Success energizes our efforts ….

The typical career of a person today would probably include many positions,
transitions and organisations than in the past – where emp were less mobile and
employers were stable

Career And Succession Planning

Terms:

 Career
 Career goals
 Career path
 Career anchors
 Career planning
 Career development
 Career planning and development
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Career stages

A career includes many positions, stages and transitions just as a person’s life does.
High
Exploration Establish- M id career Late career D ecline
ment
P erform ance

From college F irst job W ill perform ance T he elder Preparing

to w o rk a nd being increase or s ta tes pe rso n fo r
ac cep ted begin to retirem ent
d ecline?

Low 25 35 50 60 70
Age
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Career stages

 Exploration: the transition that occurs in mid-twenties as one looks at

work after college education, seeking answer to various questions
about careers from teachers, friends, family, observation shape
choices. Self-exploration, least relevance…
 Establishment: this is the stage where one begins the search for
work, picks up the first job, commits mistakes and learns thereafter.
 Mid-career: Between 35 and 50 one is typically confronted with a
plateaued career, where your maturity and experience are still valued but
there is the nagging feeling of having lost the initial fire in the belly
 Late career: This is the stage where one relaxes a bit and plays an
elderly role, offering advice to younger ones as to how to avoid career
mistakes and grow continually. Time to command respect and words
carry weight.
 Decline: This is the stage where one is constantly reminded of
retirement, after a series of hits and misses.
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Career anchors – just a boat puts

down
These are distinct patterns of self-perceived talents, attitudes,
motives and values that guide and stabilise a person’s career after
several years of real world experiences.

More about eight career anchors

 Managerial competence – opp. to offer higher resp, decision making, power
 Technical competence – engineering / functional
 Security – needed to maintain, stable future, a decent income
 Creativity – research, new venture
 Autonomy – freedom of action, independence
 Dedication to a cause – imp cause, starvation death etc
 Pure challenge – overcome diff barriers, reviving a sick company

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Career planning

Career planning is the process by which one selects career goals and
the path to achieve those goals.
Assists in finding who could be groomed, who could succeed in case any
develop take place.
Why career planning?
Desire to grow,
Enough opp and paths
Highly moti
Less attention unfortunately
What happens down the line
Job mere than long lasting careers
Recog. doesn’t come, confusion prevails
Key exe leave, turnover high
Org suffers
Temp effort ineffective / short term replacement unprod
Absence of career plan makes a big diff

Therefore, put career plans, educate, help… can not prosper without progressive
outlook
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The process of career planning

 Identify individual needs and aspirations – the majority have no

clear-cut idea about aspirations, or anchors, HR professionals (with the
help of workshops, and seminar) help them to set goals, paths, and
devel. activities.
 Analyze career opportunities – show path, various positions one
could hold
 Align employee needs with available career opportunities –
two things - identifying potential, developmental techniques,
Rotations, coaching, prog. to update KS
 Action plans and periodic review – direction, changes required,
skills necessary

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Career self assessment instrument

N am e .... ............ ............ .......................................... ............... A g e ................ ............ ........... ..
D e pa rtm en t .... ..... ............ ........
P a r t A Va lu e s a n d E x p e rie n c e s
1. D e s c rib e t h e ro le s in y o u r life th a t a re im p o rt a nt t o y o u (w o rk life, fa m ily lif e, r e lig iou s lif e ,
c o m m u n it y life e tc .). E x p la in w h y th e se r o le s a re im p o rt a n t to y o u . In d ic a te h ow th e s e r ole s
im p ac t y o u r to t a l life s a tis fa c tion . A s s ig n a p e r c e n t t o e a c h ro le ( 0 to 1 00 p e r c e n t) s o t h a t th e
tota l a dd s u p to 1 0 0 pe r c e n t.
2. D e s c r ibe y o u r e d u c a tio n a l b ac k g ro u n d , in c lu d in g th e d e g re e s e a r n e d, a c a d e m ic s t re n g t h s
a n d w e a k n e s s e s , e x t ra c u rr ic u la r a c tiv it ie s e t c .
D e gr e e s /D ip lom a s A c a d e m ic S tr e n g t h s A c a d e m ic E x tr a c u r r ic u l a r
W eaknesses A c tiv itie s
1 1 1 1
2 2 2 2
3 3 3 3
3. L is t a n y jo b s y o u h e ld a n d y o u r e x p e rie n c e in e a c h p o s itio n
O c c u p a ti o n Job D egree o f W h a t I L in k e d What I W hy I
s p e c ia lis a tio n D is li k e d Le ft

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

4. D e s c rib e a n y s k ills ( ra n k 1 t o 5 (lo w e s t to h ig h e s t) t ha t y o u p o s s e s s

a. C om m unication 1 2 3 4 5
b. L e a d e r s h ip 1 2 3 4 5
c. In te r p e r s o n a l 1 2 3 4 5
d. Te am b uild in g 1 2 3 4 5
e. C re a t iv ity 1 2 3 4 5
f. Te c h n ic a l 1 2 3 4 5
(T ic k t h e m o s t a p p ro p r ia t e o n e )
5 . S u m m a ris e a n y r e c o g n itio n / a w a r d s t h a t y o u h a v e re c e iv e d in re la tio n t o y o u r e d u c a tio n ,
w o r k e x p e rie n c e , s k ills o r e x tr a c u r ric u la r a c tiv itie s .
P a rt B . C a r e e r G o a l s , W o r k A t ti tu d e s a n d P re fe r e n c e s
1. T h e m o s t im p o rt a n t ne e d s I w an t to s a tis fy in m y c a re e r a re
a
b
c
2. T h e s e ne e d s c a n b e fu lfille d in th e fo llo w in g :
A reas S k ills /A s s is ta n c e n e e d e d
a: a:
b: b:

C o n td . . .
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Career self assessment instrument

c: c:
3. How im portant are these values to you in your w ork (I m ost im portant : 10 least im portant)
Values R an k
1. Independence or autonom y -
2. Fina ncial rew ards -
3. Sense of achievem ent -
4. Helping others -
5. Creating som ething -
6. Job security -
7. Good w orking conditions -
8. Friendship s at w ork -
9. Variety of tas ks -
10 . E quality and fairness -
4. W hatever job I handle, I do not wish to com prom ise on the following
1: 4:
2: 5:
3: 6:
5. W hat internal and external constraints m ight you encounter along the w ay tow ard achievem ent
of your career goals?
6. List the specific jobs that m ight be in line with the above requirem ents
a
b
c
7. Fin ally, rate you rs elf on eac h of the fo llow ing perso nal q ualities or w ork c hara cteristics .
W rite one response for each characteristic (using the follow ing scale: 1. very low, 2. low,
3. average, 4. high, 5. very high )
a. Em otional m aturity f . D ependability in com pleting work
b. Initiative/Independence g. Flexibility and open m indedness
c. P unctuality h. P ers everance/w illing ness to work
d. A bility to handle conflict I. A bility to set and achieve goals
e. A bility to plan, organise
and determ ine w ork priorities

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The process of career planning

 Identify individual needs and aspirations – majority have no clear

cut idea about aspirations, anchors, HR professionals (with the help
of workshops, seminar) help them to set goals, path and devel.
activities.
 Analyze career opportunities – show path, various positions one
could hold
 Align employee needs with available career opportunities –
two things - identifying potential, developmental techniques.
Rotations, coaching, prog. to update KS
 Action plans and periodic review – direction, changes required,
skills necessary

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Career Development

Career development consists of the actions one undertakes to achieve a

career plan. The actions for career development may be initiated by the
individual himself or by the organisation.

(i) Individual career development: Some of the important steps that could
help employees achieve their career goals could be listed thus;

(ii) Organisational career development: organisations could help promote

individual careers through a series of well planned moves.

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Individual career development

(i) Individual career development: progress is largely determined by the

outcomes of actions on the part of an individuals.
 Performance – if sub-standard perf, modest goals even cant be achieved
 Exposure – becoming known, attract the attention who matter the most
 Networking – p & p contacts that help striking good deal outside, clubs, asso
 Leveraging – only option if opportunity (pay, title, learning) is irresistible,
hopping is not good
 Mentors and sponsors – offering advice on survival and getting ahead
 Key subordinates – knowledgeable subordinates extend valuable help, bet
on winning horse.
 Expanding capabilities over time – attending training, acquiring degree,
updating skills

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Career Development
Organisational career development
1. Self assessment tools – two - holding a career planning workshop (how
to prepare and follow through strategies) & circulation of a career work book
2. Individual counselling – face to face meeting between employee and
counsellor (HRD or expert)
3.Information services – job posting, skill inventory
4.Assessment programs - socialization, role play, test, interview, in-basket,
business games etc. followed by feedback what is to be done to scale the
ladder
5.Developmental activities – seminar, workshops, training, rotation,
mentoring
6.Career programs for special groups – dual career, inability to reconcile
between roles, conflict, coping strategies etc.
Cont…

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Career Management
Career management includes both
•individual efforts (individual career planning and development)
•organisational actions (org. career planning and development)
aimed at setting career goals, formulating and implementing strategies
and monitoring the results.
In dividu al C are er
P la nn in g C a re e r
 A ss ess ne eds D evelopm e nt
 Analyse career opportunities
 Set career goals  How individuals can reach the top?
 Develop action plans  How organisations can help?
 S elf-assessm ent tools
O rg a nis atio na l C are e r
 Individual counselling
P la nn in g
 Inform ation services
 Assess hum an resource  A ssessm ent program m es
requirem ents  Developm ent program m es
 Career paths for each person  Program m es for special groups
 I n t e g r a te c a r e e r g o a l s a n d
organisational needs
 Initiate career development efforts

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Effective Career Planning

Effective career planning depends on a number of factors such as

Effective career planning

 Ensuring top management support
 Setting appropriate corporate goals for human resources
 Offering rewards for good performance
 Placing employees depending on their talents, career aspirations etc
 Laying down suitable career paths for all employees
 Monitoring continuously to find where the organisation stands
 Giving publicity to career related issues and actions

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Succession Planning

The basic purpose of succession planning is to identify and develop people

to replace current job holders in key positions.

Through succession planning organisations ensure a steady flow of internal

talent to fill important vacancies.

Succession planning encourages “hiring from within” and creates a healthy

environment where employees have careers and not merely jobs.

It should be noted here that career planning (which covers executives at all
levels), by its very nature, includes succession planning (which covers key
positions at higher levels)

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Replacement Chart

A replacement chart is a visual representation of who will replace whom if

there is a job opening
D ep artm en t : Fin an ce D ate:
Pre pa re d B y :

Re placem ent Sum m ary for ‘S enior Equ ity Ana lyst’
S e nior Eq uity Ana lys t J ob ho lde r : Raja R am Age : 59
O pe n in g : In 3 Ye ars R e ason : R etire m ent
R a ja R am (5 9)
S a lary G rad e : 2 5 ,0 0 0-3 5 ,0 0 0 E xp e rien c e : 1 2 Ye a rs
A 1 R ajat G u pta (44 )
C a nd id a te 1
B 1 S h yam L al (3 8)
Name : Rajat Age : 4 4 Ye a rs
Chart for 2 positions

D e sign a tio n : E q uity A na lys t E x pe rie n ce : 6 Ye a rs

Bo nd S pe cialist
N irm a la (31 )
A 1 Ba lra j S in gh (2 6)
B 1 N ee la m (2 8)
P e rform a n ce : O u ts ta nd ing R e a so n : ‘S tar ’ in th e de p t.
G rad e : 1 8,0 0 0-2 5,0 0 0 P rom ot- : R e a d y n o w fo r
ab ility p rom otion
C a nd id a te 2
Name : S h ya m La l Age : 3 8 Ye a rs
D e sign a tio n : E q uity A na lys t E x pe rie n ce : 3 Ye a rs
P e rform a n ce : O u ts ta n din g R e as o n : N ee d s m o re
e x p e rie n ce
G rad e : 1 3,0 0 0-1 8,0 0 0 P rom ot- : C a n w a it for
ab ility 2 Ye a rs

Ex plan atio ns:

A. R ea d y fo r p ro m otio n 1. O utstan d in g pe rfo rm an c e
B. N ee ds m ore e xp erie nc e 2. A cc e p tab le p e rfo rm a n ce
C. N ot suitab le for jo b 3. Po or p erform a nc e

Career And Succession Planning