Ten Key Steps to Effective Succession Planning

Think of implementing systematic succession planning as making a long-term organizational change. Succession planning requires more of a commitment to a longer-term, strategic view of how to meet talent needs than short-term, and sometimes panic-driven, efforts to fill vacancies as they occur. It can be established and operated using ten key steps that have been field-tested in many organizations, industries, and economic sectors.

• Step One: A first step for any systematic succession effort is to clarify the senior leaders’ expectations and preferences for a succession program. After Sarbanes-Oxley, corporate Boards have become more active in succession planning. A fundamental mistake, and a formula for disaster, is to dump the responsibility for the succession effort on the Human Resources department.

• Step Two: A second step is to establish competency models by talent pool considering the positions that will be fed by that pool. A competency model is a narrative description of the knowledge, skills, attitudes, and other abilities that lead to exemplary performance. Competency models provide blueprints of the talent to build at present and in the future. In short, a competency model describes “what should be” for such hierarchical levels as executives, managers, supervisors, salespersons, technical professionals, or other groups.

• Step Three: A third step is to conduct individualized multi-rater, full-circle assessment. (This is sometimes called 360 degree feedback.) The idea is to assess individuals against the competencies required for success in an organization. The results of a multi-rater, full-circle assessment usually indicate gaps between what competencies an individual currently possesses and what he or she should possess to be successful.

• Step Four: A fourth step is to establish (or reengineer) an organizational talent management system. One fact of life is that individuals are seldom eligible for promotion, advancement, or other developmental opportunities if they are not performing successfully in their current jobs. Individuals must thus be measured, as objectively as possible, against the performance expectations for their current level of responsibility.

• Step Five: A fifth step is to assess individual potential for success at higher levels of responsibility. Unlike past or present-oriented performance management, potential assessment focuses on the future. Some means must exist to examine the talent available for future possibilities–and advancement. Regular potential assessment provides the means to do just that.

• Step Six: A sixth step is to establish a means of regular, ongoing individual development planning. Once it is clear what present and future gaps exist for individuals as a result of performance assessment and potential assessment, some means should be established to help them prepare for the future by narrowing those gaps. To that end, individual workers–and their immediate supervisors–devise a plan to help individuals develop themselves and thereby prepare for possible future promotions.

• Step Seven: A seventh step is to implement individual development plans (IDPs). There are various ways by which to do that. One way is to establish in-house leadership and management development programs. A second way is to develop competency menus, in print or online, that provide specific developmental suggestions for individuals. Examples of developmental suggestions might include books to read, classroom courses to attend, online courses in which to participate, on-the-job assignments to seek out, and action learning projects that bring together groups of people to solve practical business problems while simultaneously permitting the means by which to build competence in new areas.

• Step Eight: An eighth step is to establish a talent inventory. Increasingly, decision-makers must be able to find the organization’s talent on short notice. To that end, they must have information about the pools of talent that the organization is developing and has readily on tap so that teams can be marshaled on short notice to fight fires, seize opportunities, outdraw competitors, and fill vacancies.

• Step Nine: A ninth step is to establish accountability for the systematic succession planning effort. Individuals–and their bosses–must be held accountable, for cultivating their talents over time and closing developmental gaps. Otherwise, individual development plans will not be realized. Often, financial incentives for talent development can help. For instance, individuals can be given bonuses if they achieve their developmental objectives, and supervisors can be given bonuses if their workers achieve their developmental objectives.

• Step Ten: A tenth and final step is to evaluate the results of the systematic succession planning effort. Often, the time-to-fill metric is a key measure of success. How long does it take to fill positions with qualified applicants? While not directly a financial measure, the time to fill does translate into financial terms. Productivity is lost, and so are opportunities, when vacancies exist in today’s right sized corporate settings.