Bright Lights - Tips & Solutions

HR 101

What?  Succession Planning!

While organizations have long since learned the value of good succession planning, in today’s economic downturn it is hard to find the people to fill all of the gaps left by reduction after reduction of the workforce.

So, how then are organizations to plan for vacancies in key roles across their organizations?  Organizations must change how they look at succession planning. 

First, succession planning is less likely to take the form of an organizational chart with names penciled in as the next best person to complete the assigned tasks.  Today, succession planning must be skills focused and flexible, not task specific and prescribed.  Today’s lean organizations must identify the key skills an individual must posses in order to be successful and then work with the talent within the organization to further develop these skills. 

The second most important component of succession planning is creating developmental opportunities.  Developmental opportunities help to teach the skills needed to progress through an organization while providing stimulating and engaging work.  Creating these opportunities can be difficult because management often fails to see everyday projects as developmental opportunities!  Creating a developmental opportunity for an employee takes considerable time and energy from the supervisor.  What we are really talking about is delegating meaningful assignments that allow an individual to learn and grow by using the supervisor as a mentor.  Often when supervisors delegate, they dump and run.  In order for an assignment to be truly developmental, it must be given careful and detailed consideration and the delegator must be available for ongoing support and guidance throughout the assignment.

The third strategy is to match assignments to individuals based on their natural talents!  We tend to think of development as focusing on what is weak.  However, research has shown that when we focus on someone’s natural abilities, the things they are strongest in, and further enhance these abilities, we produce a much more highly functioning and satisfied employee.

Succession planning is still a vital component to the ongoing and sustainable health of any organization.  It is, however, time to think about it in terms of developing the skills needed by every member of the organization to be successful.  Organizations must be developing employees by leveraging their strengths and focusing on providing meaningful, stimulating and engaging work while providing a mentoring relationship.

We can not count on the penciled in name on the organizational chart to be there to fill the vacancy as he or she may be the next casualty in our turbulent economic and employment world!  However, we can build an organization that is rich with skill and that will allow multiple individuals the opportunity to step in and carry the organization forward into the future.