What Your Mother Never Told You About Succession Planning, Part I

This is a 3-part daily series of blogs on Succession Planning.

Succession Planning is an on-going process; not a one-time endeavor. It is planning for both the foreseen and unexpected absences of people who hold key roles. It is a carefully conducted periodic review of key positions. It is used to identify high potential employees, develop their skills, and prepare them for advancement to key positions. It is understanding the organization's long-term goals and objectives for success and sustainability. Succession Planning is an important part of futuristic planning so that the organization can anticpate and ultimately avoid extended and costly vacancies in key positions. Succession planning assures the stability of the agency’s operations and determines its future success so that meaningful opportunities are provided to the employee. It is a critical element to developing a diverse workforce. There are several considerations for determining how to proceed with creating a Succession Plan. A few are:

1. Involuntary Terminations
2. Voluntary Terminations, such as Retirements
3. Transfers, Promotions
4. Trends and their Implications (Societal, Work, Environmental, Political, Financial, and Technological)
5. Second-time around retirements
6. Employee Extended Leaves, such as for FMLA

Succession Planning heads off and helps leaders and managers avoid disruption to work flow. It adds value to the implementation of the organization’s overall strategic plan. It helps leaders create a career path for employee growth and development, and increases employee morale. It also can be strategically used to fill vacancies in key positions faster.