Fortune 500 companies and small family businesses alike share a business need ensuring 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 ensuring his/her business’ continuity and sustainability by having employees willing and capable of filling each key position with a plan for doing so when the need arises. Not having a Succession Plan can be costly and sometimes disastrous; it’s expensive to recruit, interview, select, onboard, and train a new leader and significant opportunity costs are incurred when a key job is not being performed.Areas Covered I. Succession Plan Defined A deliberate, systematic process of anticipating the need for talent and ensuring that the necessary employee competencies and experience are available when neededA strategic approach for avoiding an undersupply of talent, enhancing the organization’s current talent pool and meeting the organization’s future needII. Objectives and Benefits of Succession PlanningSustain the business through a systematic effort to ensure leadership continuity in key positionsAttract, retain and develop high potentials [HiPos]Encourage HiPos development by: - Identifying career paths - Conducting performance appraisals - Providing daily coaching - Creating Individualized Development Plans [IDPs] - Holding Talent Review meetingsIII. Tools and Processes Commonly Utilized for Developing and Implementing Self appraisals and career goals Performance appraisals, 360 feedback and ratings Assessment instruments GE gridIndividual development plans [IDPs]HiPo talent development interventionsTalent review meetings IV. What an Organization, its Leaders and the Program Participants Need to Do To Achieve an Effective PlanWhat an organization needs to do: - Supply funding/budget - Establish a clear vision and guidance for the program - Develop a formal, written program - Announce the objectives of the program to all employees - Insure that all leaders and managers support the program What the leaders need to do: - Have job descriptions developed for their teams - Conduct effective, formal performance appraisals - Identify employee developmental areas - Share their knowledge and experience - Involve employees in more of the leader's responsibilities - Facilitate the completion of IDPs for all Hi PosWhat the program participants need to do: - Conduct self-appraisals - Identify their desired career paths - Learn as much as they can about potential future assignments - Perform to their capabilities - Complete their IDPs -Develop the employees reporting to them, so they have successors. For any further assistance please contact us at support@grceducators.com V. Potential Measures of the Program’s SuccessWhether there is, at least, one successor for each key position Having developmental goals and IDPs established for each successDetermining how much of their manager’s job the successors can performDetermining whether successors can perform their manager’s jobs when they are unavailable and evaluating their performance during those times Who Should AttendHR Professionals New to the Field - seeking a comprehensive view of the subject with multiple application initiativesWhy Should You Attend The primary objectives for and deliverables of a Succession Planning program are to:Sustain the business through a deliberate and systematic effort to anticipate and ensure leadership continuity in key positionsRetain and develop the organization's high potential [HiPos]Encourage individual development by: - Identifying career paths - Conducting formal performance appraisals - Providing daily coaching - Creating Individualized Development Plans [IDPs]During Succession Planning Programs 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 gapsAt 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 tomorrowWhether there is, at least, one successor who could immediately perform the duties of the positionIf there is no successor ready now, what will need to be done to enable the best internal candidate to be ready and when can he/she be readyCan the organization afford to wait or would it be better to recruit a successor, etcExperience has found the following two processes to be very effective in enabling organizations to have the talent they need when it’s needed:Performance Management and/or 360 Feedback Processes - through which the organization is able to:Evaluate its employees’ current performance – based on documented, objective performance and achievements Assess its employees’ advancement potential Determine its employees’ current readiness for advancement Obtain from its employees self-appraisals identifying their developmental needs and preferred career plansMeet its bench strength needs by initiating Individual Development Plans and experiences - at least, for its A Players and/or High Potentials such as:o Special or stretch projects o Assignments in other depts./job rotationso ‘Try-out/popcorn stand’ slotso Mentorso Formal training and development initiativeso Fast-track programs with exposure to other functionso Intense coaching, etc.Track their A Players’ and High Potentials’ performance and advancement potential against a Performance-Potential GridTalent 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 and High Potentials. Ensure that each A Player and High Potential is receiving regular coaching and is actively involved in opportunities that will help retain them while accelerating their development. Drives the organization past ‘business as usual’ by ensuring that its future needs for human capital are identified and will be satisfied when the time arrives it will.Succession Planning initiatives also increase the levels of engagement and performance of your A Players and High Potentials – the talent your organization will most need in the future.