Fortune 500 companies & small family businesses alike share a business need - insuring that they have the talent necessary to effectively lead their organizations in the future. One of the most significant contributions a leader can make is insuring his/her business’ continuity & sustainability - by having employees who are willing & capable of filling each key position with a plan for doing so when the need arises.  

Succession Planning is a:

• deliberate, systematic process of anticipating the need for talent & ensuring that the necessary employee competencies & experience are available when needed in the future
• a strategic approach for avoiding an undersupply of talent, enhancing the organization’s current talent pool & meeting its future needs

Not having a Succession Plan can be costly & sometimes disastrous; it’s expensive to recruit, interview, select, on-board & train a new leader & significant opportunity costs are incurred when a key job is not being performed.

At the macro level the organization is proactively determining:

• the talent needed in the future
• the talent it has now
• where there are talent gaps
• the initiatives necessary to close those gaps

At the micro level the organization is addressing - for each of its key positions - questions such as:

• what the organization would do if it had to fill the position tomorrow
• whether there is, at least, one successor who could immediately perform the duties of the position
• if there is no successor ready now, what will need to be done to enable the best internal candidate to be ready & when can he/she be ready
• can the organization afford to wait or would it be better to recruit a successor, etc 

The Focus Group has found the following two process tools very effective in enabling organizations to have the talent they need, when it’s needed:

#1 Performance Management and/or 360 Feedback Processes - through which the organization is able to:

• evaluate its employees’ current performance – based on documented, objective performance & achievements vs. gut feelings
• assess its employees’ advancement potential
• determine its employees’ current readiness for advancement
• obtain from its employees self appraisals identifying their developmental needs & preferred career plans
• meet its bench strength needs by initiating Individual Development Plans & experiences, at least, for its A Players and/or High Potentials:

• special or stretch projects
• assignments in other depts./job rotations
• ‘try-out/popcorn stand’ slots
• mentors
• formal training & development initiatives
• fast track programs with exposure to other functions
• intense coaching, etc.
• track their A Players’ & High Potentials’ performance & advancement potential against a Performance-Potential Grid

#2 Talent Review Meetings – during which the executive team in a disciplined fashion:

• asks each leader to report on the status of the Individual Development Plans for each of their A Players & High Potentials
• insure that each A Player & High Potential is receiving regular coaching & is actively involved in opportunities that will help retain them while accelerating their development
• drives the organization past ‘business as usual’ by insuring that its future needs for human capital are identified & will be satisfied when the time arrives – as it will 

Succession Planning initiatives also increase the levels of engagement & performance of your A Players & High Potentials – the folks your organization will most need in the future. 

Pete Tosh of The Focus Group can be reached at [email protected] or 478-746-6891.