Succession Planning 101

Hi People Manager. I know what you’re thinking. You don’t need a succession plan because you’re not going anywhere soon, right? What if you considered such a plan a highly effective technique to building your team’s career paths? You need that, right? Read on and find out the many other reasons why Succession Planning is important to any company, manager and employee. Of course when we ask Why, we are also likely to want to know What, Who, How and When, too!

What is it?

Succession planning is a process for identifying and developing new leaders who can replace the original leaders when they leave, get promoted or move to a new role within the same company. 

As a concept, succession planning is a solid way to build a career path for talented employees, as it ultimately aims to have your, the Managers build their teams’ competences, to the point where it is no longer necessary to hire senior external talent, as their Organic Growth is strong enough to cater for those needs. 

To carry out the plan effectively, companies must have clarity on their long-term goals and the developmental needs of their employees. Ensuring that employees understand their career paths and the roles they are being developed to fill, is paramount to the plan’s success. I would also advise companies to be aware of potential competitors’ attractiveness and the roles they will have a difficult time filling externally.

Why?

Apart from the obvious, which is to guarantee long-term continuity in key company roles, there are several more advantages for both employers and employees to having a formalized succession plan in place:

• Employees know that there is a chance for advancement and ownership, which can lead to higher satisfaction. 
• It reduces attrition and increases engagement (some of the most regretted leavers potentially could have been “saved” had there been a succession plan for them in place).
• Management’s commitment to succession planning means that they will transfer knowledge and expertise to the successor.
• Management keeps a better track of the value of employees so that positions can be filled internally when opportunities arise.
• Leadership and employees are better able to share company values and vision.
• Founders and leadership may retire or choose to leave their operational seat, in which case a new generation of leaders can be developed strategically over time, without additional external hiring and related extra costs.
• It improves the employer brand identity both internally and externally.
• It increases overall employee seniority, ensuring the company runs smoothly, even if key figures leave (or are absent)

Who?

Succession Planning is complex and usually cannot be applied to the whole organization at once. Companies can begin by assessing the Leadership Team’s roles first, or they might want to prioritize middle-management. Alternatively, their primary focus might be based on the most “vulnerable roles”; those at high risk of being vacant in the short-to-mid term, are key roles within the company and are without a ready internal solution. To help the company and yourself clarify your current situation as a manager, you can place yourself into one of the following categories:

1. I have no Internal Successor 
2. I can have a Successor ready in 12-36 months 
3. I have a Successor ready now 
4. I don’t need a Successor

Cases 1 and 2 of the above are the ones that are standing in the priority lane for a succession plan. Here are the key considerations for you if you need to build your plan:

• What are the key competences needed to be successful in my role?
• Do I have someone in mind who could replace me? 
• If yes, how long would it take for them to be ready? 
• Could I consider splitting my role in 2-3 pieces for multiple managers to adopt parts of my job?
• What are the actions I need to take to develop my successor? 
• What would happen if I freed my role tomorrow? 

The last question is just to make it feel a bit more real 🙂

How?

In order for a succession plan to work, carry out a self-evaluation and understand why you have been successful in your role. Self-awareness as a manager is key; list the relevant knowledge and skills you’ve needed to achieve your goals. The plan should ensure that it stretches its successor, adding on responsibilities and SMART objectives. You must also make sure that your successor is aware of the intent, set expectations and check if this is what (s)he wants.

Once you are underway with the plan, make sure you incorporate strategies for learning, training, development, and the transfer of corporate knowledge, as well as following through with This Process:

1. Nominate your successor + give an estimate on their 0-3 year readiness
2. Send your nomination to Leadership and CHRO for their input on eligibility
3. Related to point 2, an external assessment of the candidate(s) can be very effective as the next step
4. Implement your Succession Plan
5. Make a bi-annual review on progress vs plan: has readiness decreased or accelerated? What are the gaps? What is required to fill the gap? (if necessary, warn your successor they can be removed from the plan if performance expectations are not met)
6. Assess and communicate timing for the move to the new role based on the review on progress vs plan. 
7. Move your successor to “The Ready Pool”

When?

Here’s the most tricky part of the plan: often it is unclear when your successor will effectively take on your role, so if timing is lengthy, it is important to keep them engaged and motivated. Solid tactics to retain their engagement are through effective one-on-ones, monetary incentives, a job title change and passing over a part of your role as soon as they are ready to take it on..

Rolling out a succession plan may take months or years to complete, based on the readiness of the candidate. In any case, be sure to invest your time in their growth, with the intent to flawlessly pass over your role, by the end of the journey.