Succession Planning and Management

Succession planning and management is the process that helps ensure the stability of the tenure of the personnel. It is best defined as an effort designed to ensure the continued effective performance of an organization, division, department or work group by making provision for the development, replacement and strategic application of key people over time.

It is a means of identifying critical management positions, starting at the levels of project manager and supervisor and extending up to the highest position in the organization. It is a systematic effort by the organization to ensure leadership continuity in key positions, retain and develop intellectual and knowledge capital for the future and encourage individual advancement.

Objectives of Succession Planning and Management:

• To match the organization’s available (present) talent to its needed (future) talent

• To improve job filling for key positions through broader candidate search, and faster decision-making

• To help the organization meet the strategic and operational challenges facing it by having the right people at the right places in the right time to do the right jobs

• To encourage a culture of "progression" through developing employees who are seen as a ‘business resource’ and who share key skills, experiences and values seen as important to the future of the business

Succession Planning is not replacement planning. Replacement planning is a form of risk management. While Succession Planning is a proactive process and attempts to ensure continuity of leadership by cultivating talent from within the organization or outside through planned development activities.

For an organization to be effective in future, succession planning and management must align the organizational needs with individual needs in order to be responsive, must emphasize a present orientation that will work in business settings, must recognize and cultivate the critical importance in competitive success of the organization’s intellectual capital, must have a technological perspective and must be sensitive to unique needs by culture, industry or economic sector and level on the chain of command.

RATIONALE BEHIND SUCCESSION PLANNING

There are many reasons why an organization should operate systematic succession planning and management. Some of them are:

• Contribute to implementing the organization’s strategic business plans

Succession planning and management should be linked to the organizational strategic plans, human resources plans and other organizational activities. Strategic planning is the process by which organizations choose to survive and compete.

To implement a strategic plan, organizations require the right people doing the right things in the right places and at the right times. Without them strategic plans cannot be realized. There are 5 approaches used to integrate strategic plans and succession plans:

• The Top Down Approach: Here the corporate strategy drives the succession plan.

• The Market Driven Approach: Here the succession planning and strategy is governed by the marketplace needs and requirements.

• The Career Planning Approach: Here the succession planning and management is tied to strategic plans through individual career planning process.

• The Futuring Approach: Succession planning is a vehicle for anticipating the talent needs stemming from the corporate strategy. It is a way to scan the external environmental conditions and match the organization’s internal talent to the demands created by those conditions.

• The Rifle Approach: In this approach, succession planning is focused on solving specific, identifiable problems confronting the organization.

• Identify “replacement needs” as a means of targeting necessary training, employee education and employee development

Succession planning and management becomes the driving force to identify justifiable employee training, employee education and developmental needs. This helps employees to meet their current job responsibilities and anticipate future needs to prepare them for the future responsibilities.

• Increase the talent pool of promotable employees

Succession planning and management formalizes the process