Clients often ask me, “What is Succession Planning?”
Simply put, it is the process of identifying, assessing, and developing potential employees to fill key positions in the company, both short and long term. This is done to ensure the company’s continued success and to prevent dips in revenue and market share when a key leader leaves the organization.
What can Succession Planning do for Your Business?
Companies and organizations that employ succession planning have continuously produced effective leaders, who continue; if not improve the legacy of their predecessor. If you want your company to grow and thrive for the years to come, then you should create a solid succession plan for the department and/or company.
How can succession planning develop effective leaders?
After identifying employees that could possibly replace vital positions in the organization, anyone involved with choosing the next leaders should assess the employees’ qualities and abilities. Distinguish their strengths and weaknesses. Ask yourself, which of these candidates has the potential to manage your department, a region, or the company? After selecting a candidate (or two), you focus resources on their development. This includes internal and external training, developmental programs, and exposure to different facets of the department and/or company’s operations.
Practical Applications of Succession Planning In and Out of the Business
Let us take different scenarios from three different scenarios to better understand succession planning and how it serves as a key in developing effective leaders.
What is succession planning’s application in a home?
In a household, the eldest is usually expected to take on the role of a guardian for his or her siblings, in the absence of their parents. The potential leader was identified through birth order, as it is natural that the eldest has the most knowledge and expected capability.
While rearing kids through their growing years, parents are able to take note of the characteristics of every child.
Parents can then assign tasks for every child as a part of their development. However, the eldest will be given tasks of greater responsibility, compared with his siblings at an earlier stage.
This helps the eldest child to become a leader and may explain why a considerable number of business leaders were the eldest child in their family.
What is succession planning in a family-owned business?
In most cases, the family member who has shown considerable potential and initiative is deemed to be the successor of the family’s business. This person may be well versed with the ins and outs of the business’ operations, but he may not be as popular with the customers or clients.
Training in the area of customer relations will be critical to their success. What skills do they need to develop? How will those skills be developed? Who is going to mentor them? Ask and answer questions around their skill development through the lens of what, who, when, where, and how.
What is succession planning for any business?
Any roles that are critical to the successful operation of a business or department need to have a succession plan. Is there someone within the team that given experience, time, and development could take over for a key role?
Assess if there is someone in the organization but outside your current team that might be a possibility. What do they need to learn to move into this role?
As you can see, succession planning is critical for any business. Proper succession planning is the key to molding the next generation of leaders in any organization and provides a path towards continuity and success.
Where do you start with succession planning? How do you know if you are making the right decisions and taking the right steps?
You can start by downloading our guide 7 Steps to Successful Succession Planning. You’ll find the steps, a template on where to begin, and a worksheet to write down your answers.
