The importance of succession planning

Succession planning is an important element of the MyLegacy module because it makes sure you have people with the right skills either ready or preparing to move into positions that might need filling in the near future. It ensures continued business success and makes sure talent and knowledge stays within the business.  

Some of you might be wondering what exactly succession planning and you might even confuse it for career planning. It is the effective planning and implementation of seamless transitions of key lead roles within and organisation.

It is an eco-system of talent and development - a mindset and a strategy. It includes all of the following:

• Recruitment of new talent
• Executive search
• Assessments for selection
• On-boarding the new leader
• Successful transition of the new leader

Here let us have a detailed look at the ins and outs of succession planning- the objectives, the guide to accomplish it, its benefits, strategies to execute it and its relevance in today’s business era.

Objectives of Succession Planning

Key positions of an organisation can become vacant at anytime. People leave, retire, get sick, try a new career path or get promoted. The normal process then falls to HR to advertise a role, interview and then recruit the new team member. This can take months, even a year for the most senior positions. You can't leave yourself exposed to such risk. 

Identify the gaps or risks early and begin developing people to fill these gaps when the vacancy appears. Through career conversations you will learn about the willingness, values, drivers, skills and desires of your people. Those that show both the skill and will to step up must be identified and then developed early. There are never any promises made by either party, but a commitment to one another that you want them in your future, and they want to be part of yours. 

Here let us have a look at the key goals of succession planning.

• Identify the future leaders - who wants it, has capability and is a good fit?
• Maintain brand identity - who is a role model for your company behaviours and values?
• Stability - for both the customers, investors and employees, continuity and stability matters. 
• Develop a long-term map for the future. 
• Stimulate professional development and collaboration

The need for succession planning is being recognised across businesses of all sizes because leaders are needed to keep the business running smoothly. With the job market being so competitive and baby boomers starting to show signs of retirement, it is necessary.  

Not only does it help the business in terms of keeping recruitment costs low and making sure recruitment is focused internally for those highly-skilled roles that require business knowledge and general understanding. It also takes the pressure off when you get a resignation or notice of retirement for a month’s time, especially for a high-risk role, and you can comfortably ease an employee that has been slowly trained into the position.  

Succession planning also links closely to personal development as some potential candidates might not have the skills you are needing right now. Yet by using succession planning you can train and mentor those who show potential until they have the skillset for the role.