If you are a Manager who needs to build a succession plan, you have already identified who your successor is and perhaps how long it will take to ramp the person up, but you are wondering how to do it, find below some quick, actionable tips to include in your plan:
1. Coaching
Coaching generally occurs during your 1:1s. It is a regular exercise where you as the manager teach your successor the key items of your role, the challenges you face and challenge them on what they would do. Walk them through the typical, most challenging scenarios you face in your role and test their knowledge as a result. Coaching your successor must be practical and on-the-job.
2. Training
These can be internal or external based on internal existing competences, but are always related to specific topics that add to the successor’s knowledge / skill set. Personally I find the best training sessions are a mix of theory and practice, such as role-playing.
3. Shadowing
Take your Successor with you to all critical internal and external meetings. Brief your talent before the meetings and debrief the meeting together, afterwards. Shadowing can be split into 3 phases, whereby initially the successor is a silent observer, then they actively participate in the meetings, then they own them.
4. Acting
This is where your successor really starts to get a taste of what it takes to do your job, as you are putting them actively in the hot seat: The best occasion to have your successor “enact” your role is when you take annual leave. “Test” your successor by having them take on some, or every aspect of your role (based on how ready they are).
5. Mentoring
Identify your Successor’s mentor (which could be you or another senior leader). The mentor has regular 1:1’s with the Successor to support them with their challenges. Mentoring should not be confused with coaching. The mentor discussions are not necessarily related to performance in their roles but more long-term related and based on personal development. My Manager found me a great mentor about 5 years ago and we talked mostly about behaviours concerning my growth and how to improve my internal networking skills.
6. Lateral Moves
Especially if there are noticeable gaps in their experience before becoming you, move your successor to a new role to fill those gaps and have greater visibility of your team’s full set of responsibilities + operational know-how.
7. Assignments
Give your successor a challenging stretch-project in a diverse environment, perhaps in a different country, to enhance and build their competences. Lateral moves and assignments may go hand-in-hand.
8. Leadership Roles
Adding extra people and/or project management responsibilities to your successor’s role may be an essential part of building their leadership strength to the point where you feel confident they are ready and will succeed in your role.
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