Effective Succession Planning: A Strategic Guide
Succession planning isn’t a solo effort – it requires input, buy-in, and ownership across the organization to ACTUALLY work.
Below is a quick guide to think through (or poke holes!) as you strengthen your succession planning efforts.
Strategic Alignment
Align your succession planning to organizational goals and integrate with broader business strategies.
- What are the organization’s goals, 1 to 3 years, 3 to 5 years?
- What capabilities will you need to reach these goals? By when?
- What are the critical roles that will impact customers, manage risk, or have compliance implications?
- What challenges will your people be facing and how will you prepare them?
Accountability for Progress
Succession planning needs to be everyone’s problem – accountability for progress needs to be set at all levels of the organization.
- How are the Board and Senior Executives setting expectations for leadership advancement and oversight?
- In what ways are business leaders contributing to building bench strength and facilitating movement within the organization?
- How is the Talent process being made robust and integrated with other HR systems like performance management, learning and development, and workforce planning?
- What approaches are used to conduct continuous talent reviews, and how are these reviews updated for acquisitions, reorganizations, or unexpected exits?
Culture and Engagement
Succession planning relies on the power of culture and engagement.
- Where can your succession planning efforts reinforce organizational values and help build trust across the organization?
- How can succession planning be designed to support the retention of key leaders by increasing their motivation and commitment?
- What criteria and communication strategies can be established to promote transparency and strengthen trust throughout the succession planning process?
- How are successors and high-potential employees, including critical technical experts, being actively engaged in the succession process?
Deliberate Talent Development
Succession planning prepares “identified” talent into “ready” talent through deliberate development – accelerating readiness and ensuring a strong talent bench.
- Have you identified the skills gaps?
- Who will you invest in? For leadership? For technical expertise?
- How will you preserve institutional knowledge while shortening learning curves for successors?
- How can you use cross-functional experiences, coaching, experimentation, and stretch assignments to accelerate development?
Data and Measurement
Succession planning relies on data and measurement to prove (and improve!) the process.
- What metrics will indicate future bench strength?
- What data will you collect to keep score?
- What outcomes must you prove (leadership readiness or retention or ?)?
- When is it time to recruit from the outside?
The Bottom Line
When succession planning is integrated into an organization-wide “people-first” approach, future-readiness is a natural outcome. Not only is readiness accelerated, but you are creating an environment where employees grow and thrive.
