Why Succession Planning?
Are you ready to continue business without interruption after losing a strong and effective leader in your organization? Leadership is and has always been a relatively scarce commodity within companies. First, you need to analyze what has made the business successful. Does that success rely on skills or knowledge of the leader that could leave? Next, you need to look at the future of the company. Where are you going and what skills do you need to get there and once you are there? Is that talent currently in your leadership team?
Other important questions to consider are - existing and future market competition, required technology know-how, talent pool of existing employees, and management hierarchy and reporting structure.
Answers to these questions can provide the basis for decisions on whether the business can continue without the leader, how it would continue without the leader, who would lead and how ready they are.
The recruitment of top talent is too expensive due to the rising executive search costs and increased hiring contract requirements, not to mention the lack of knowledge about company culture and inner workings. Recent research has shown that company find more effective leaders by developing from their internal talent.
A careful and considered plan of succession ensures the least possible disruption to the successor’s responsibilities and therefore the organization’s business and efficiency.
Succession planning plays a vital role and is necessary when a key executive or employee is:
- unwilling to continue the role within the organization
- accepting an offer from another organization which will terminate or lessen their value to the current organization
- indicating the completion of a short-term project or task assigned or
- moving to different position and different set of responsibilities within the organization
A succession plan clearly sets out the factors to be taken into account and the process to be followed in relation to retaining or replacing the person. Succession management systems provide an enabling solution for the planning and process – going through all possible scenarios and providing the best solutions and shortest paths to succession.
Having a decision making body and succession planning process is critical. However, software can help make this process consistent, automated and fair. Succession planning teams can play “what if” scenarios to ensure that they are thinking of all possibilities. They can search for talent throughout the organization – in different organizations and countries. They can also ensure a continual and full pipeline of talent.
