Fortune 500 companies and small family businesses alike share a business need - ensuring that they have the talent necessary to effectively lead their organizations in the future. One of the most significant contributions a leader can make is ensuring his/her business’ continuity and sustainability - by having employees who are willing and capable of filling each key position with a plan for doing so when the need arises. 

Succession Planning is a:

• deliberate, systematic process of anticipating the need for talent and ensuring that the necessary employee competencies and experience are available when needed in the future
• a strategic approach for avoiding an undersupply of talent, enhancing the organization’s current talent pool, and meeting its future needs

Not having a Succession Plan can be costly and sometimes disastrous; it is expensive to recruit, interview, select, onboard, and train a new leader, and significant opportunity costs are incurred when a key job is not being performed.

Learning Objectives:-

The primary objectives for and deliverables of a Succession Planning program are to:

• Sustain the business through a deliberate and systematic effort to anticipate and ensure leadership continuity in key positions
• Retain and develop the organization's high potential [HiPos]
• Encourage individual development by:
  • Identifying career paths
  • Conducting formal performance appraisals
  • Providing daily coaching
  • Creating Individualized Development Plans [IDPs]

Areas Covered:-

• Succession Plan Defined
  • A deliberate, systematic process of anticipating the need for talent and ensuring that the necessary employee competencies and experience are available when needed
  • A strategic approach for avoiding an undersupply of talent, enhancing the organization’s current talent pool, and meeting the organization’s future needs
• Objectives and  Benefits of Succession Planning
  • Sustain the business through a systematic effort to ensure leadership continuity in key positions
  • Attract, retain & develop high potentials [HiPos]
  • Encourage HiPos development by:
    • Identifying career paths
    • Conducting performance appraisals
    • Providing daily coaching
    • Creating Individualized Development Plans [IDPs]
    • Holding Talent Review meetings
• Tools and Processes Commonly Utilized for Developing and Implementing
  • Self-appraisals and career goals
  • Performance appraisals, 360 feedback, and ratings
  • Assessment instruments
  • GE grid
  • Individual development plans [IDPs]
  • HiPo talent development interventions
  • Talent review meetings
• What an Organization, its Leaders, and the Program Participants Need to Do To Achieve an Effective Plan
  • What an organization needs to do:
    • Supply funding/budget
    • Establish a sharp vision and guidance for the program
    • Develop a formal, written program
    • Announce the objectives of the program to all employees
    • Ensure that all leaders and managers support the program
  • What the leaders need to do:
    • Have job descriptions developed for their teams
    • Conduct effective, formal performance appraisals
    • Identify employee developmental areas
    • Share their knowledge and experience
    • Involve employees in more of the leader's responsibilities
    • Facilitate the completion of IDPs for all Hi Pos
  • What the program participants need to do:
    • Develop the employees reporting to them – so they have successors
    • Complete their IDPs
    • Perform to their capabilities
    • Learn as much as they can about potential future assignments
    • Identify their desired career paths
    • Conduct self-appraisals
• Potential Measures of the Program’s Success
  • Whether there is, at least, one successor for each key position
  • Having developmental goals and IDPs established for each successor
  • Determining how much of their manager’s job the successors can perform
  • Determining whether successors can perform their manager’s jobs when they are unavailable and evaluating their performance during those times.

Why Should You Attend:-

During Succession Planning Programs:

At the macro level, the organization is proactively determining:

• the talent needed in the future
• the talent it has now
• where there are talent gaps
• the initiatives necessary to close those gaps

At the micro level, the organization is addressing - for each of its key positions - questions such as:

• what the organization would do if it had to fill the position tomorrow
• whether there is, at least, one successor who could immediately perform the duties of the position
• if there is no successor ready now, what will need to be done to enable the best internal candidate to be ready and when can he/she be ready
• can the organization afford to wait or would it be better to recruit a successor, etc?

Experience has found the following two processes to be highly effective in enabling organizations to have the talent they need when it is needed:

• Performance Management and/or 360 Feedback Processes - through which the organization is able to:
  • Evaluate its employees’ current performance – based on documented, objective performance and achievements
  • Assess its employees’ advancement potential
  • Determine its employees’ current readiness for advancement
  • Obtain from its employees self-appraisals identifying their developmental needs and preferred career plans
  • Meet its bench strength needs by initiating Individual Development Plans and experiences - at least, for its A Players and/or High Potentials - such as:
    • Special or stretch projects
    • Assignments in other depts./job rotations
    • ‘Try-out/popcorn stand’ slots
    • Mentors
    • Formal training and development initiatives
    • Fast-track programs with exposure to other functions
    • Intense coaching, etc.
  • Track their A Players’ and High Potentials’ performance and advancement potential against a Performance-Potential Grid.
• Talent Review Meetings – during which the executive team in a disciplined fashion:
  • Ask each leader to report on the status of the Individual Development Plans for each of their A Players and High Potentials
  • Ensure that each A Player and High Potential is receiving regular coaching and is actively involved in opportunities that will help retain them while accelerating their development
  • Drives the organization past ‘business as usual’ by ensuring that its future needs for human capital are identified and will be satisfied when the time arrives – as it will
• Succession Planning initiatives also increase the levels of engagement and performance of your A Players and High Potentials – the talent your organization will most need in the future.

Who Should Attend:-

• HR Professionals New to the Field - seeking a comprehensive view of the subject with multiple application initiatives
• Experienced HR Professionals - seeking a refresher
• Leaders and Managers - interested in understanding both how a Succession Plan benefits an organization and how to implement one