Succession Planning – How far do you go?

I have found over the many years I have worked in Human Resources optimising business and individual performance,  very few businesses spend time and effort on succession planning. If they do there is always a dilemma as to how far a business should go in preparing for the future. Before I get into this any further I have to mention that this blog was inspired by one of our clients – you know who you are, thank you!

As you no doubt know, succession planning is about identifying and developing internal people with the potential to fill key business leadership positions in the business.

I think a lot of businesses probably have determined what their key roles within the business are, and even those that may be a flight risk, but how much further should you go after you have identified these roles?

Once you have identified key roles and possible internal candidates within the business, there is a need to further understand their potential, conduct psychometric assessments and determine their development needs based on the technical, and non-technical job requirements.

Psychometric assessment is a way to gain insight into the talent and engage them.   Information from the assessment and gap in skills set from those required in the role from the development plan for the identified successors to key roles and as a result aid in their retention.  So, how far do you go with your succession planning?

You know it doesn’t stop there though, right?  What if the identified successor leaves or there is no identified internal successor for the role?  You may very well have a team or other staff that can temporarily take on some of the duties to take a stop gap approach, but can you afford to do that? It may involve waiting to select a replacement and then waiting for them to finish their existing engagement – a process that can take a couple of months or more.  Do you go so far as determining how you will recruit for this key role, what recruitment agency you will use and develop a relationship with them to ensure they understand your business and the role, draft advertisement to be advertised and so on?   All to reduce the time it takes to replace the key role within the business.

But why would you bother?  Well….. these roles have been identified as important roles within the business for a reason, a key role they play, the amount of revenue they produce, risks they mitigate etc., so just like succession planning it is about ensuring the key roles are replaced as soon as possible whether they are internal – or external.

Succession Planning – So, how far do you go?

At HR Business Direction we are able to assist with Workforce Strategic Planning and Succession Planning for your key roles within the business to manage and reduce costs. Contact us here.

Leisa Messer BBus(HRM); GradDipIR; CAHRI; IRSQ
HR Strategist
leisa.messer@hrbd.com.au
07 3890 2066
www.hrbd.com.au