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Consider, a manager of a mid sized organization, hosting a major fund raising event is suddenly unavailable. The staff knows very little about that event and there is no operation manual or documents available on managing that event. In such a scenario, it is very difficult to find the means to conduct the show and there is a high possibility that the organization decides to abandon the event.
The succession planning in a company ensures that employees are recruited or developed for each key role in the company. A systematic succession planning is a component of a good HR practice that acknowledges the fact that no employee will be with the organization indefinitely and provides a plan to manage the changes that will occur when a person on key position leaves the organization.
Succession planning not only ensures that qualified and motivated employees are ready to take up the responsibility of a key person leaving the organization, it also builds external reputation of the company in terms of organization’s effectiveness and its sustainability. With succession planning, an organization can demonstrate to its clients and stake holders that it is mature enough to provide excellent service even in difficult times of transition.
Implementing Succession Planning
Although, there is no set standard to develop a succession plan in your company and there is no right or wrong, you can follow the below given steps to implement succession planning in your company. These steps are:
- Identify the key positions in your company: The first step in succession planning is to identify the key positions in the company for which the skills and experience are difficult to find. You should then perform a risk analysis and find out which positions need to be filled immediately to ensure that the organization functions effectively.
- Identify skills and competencies: The next important step is to identify the key responsibilities and skills and competencies required for the key positions in the company. A clear understanding of capabilities would allow you to set clear expectations for crucial job roles and create development plans. This would also allow current and future employees to gain a clear understanding of the detailed requirements for the position.
- Identify succession management strategies: Once you have a clear idea about the key positions and the competencies required to fill those positions, you can plan to select people for those critical positions. You can select candidates from internal talent pool and provide trainings to candidates to help them develop the required skills or you can hire new talent.
- Document Action Plan: After identifying the strategies to implement your succession plan, its now time to create and document your action plan with appropriate time lines. You should then keep monitoring the action plan for its achievements and make necessary adjustments in the plans if required.
Try using EmpXtrack Succession Planning module for easy identification of important key positions in your organization and map those positions to employees with the required competencies, qualifications, and experience profiles.
View our presentation on Succession planning.
