Bring active planning for the future of your company and the careers of your employees together by developing a quality Succession Management plan. Use this article as a resource for your company to discover and take the best steps toward successful Succession Management.
As the workforce ages and the competition for skilled employees become even tighter, the need to be proactive and implement a Succession Management plan is imperative to the future success of your organization. Too often, however, Succession Management or Succession Planning is left to the last moment when the process should start with the selection and retention of individuals occupying critical positions where vacancies cause a negative impact on bottom-line results. Having the right people positioned for succession ensures short-term success and your longevity in the market.
Succession Management or Succession Planning is the preparation for the replacement of one high ranking employee by another, usually prompted by retirement or resignation. Succession Management involves preparing the new position holder before the old one leaves, possibly with training or through work shadowing. At a senior level, management succession should be accomplished as smoothly as possible to avoid organizational crises caused by absent or inadequate top management.
According to labor economist Douglas Braddock, "Over the 1998-2008 period, more job openings are expected to result from replacement needs (34.7 million) than from employment growth in the economy (20.3 million)." This massive shift in the average age of the current workforce has several practical consequences to consider: 1
In the Employment Dynamics and Growth Expectations (EDGE) Report developed by Robert Half International (RHI), the world's largest specialized staffing firm, and CareerBuilder.com, hiring managers are voicing concern over their ability to fill vacant positions with skilled staff. When the EDGE survey was conducted in 2005, 42 percent of hiring managers reported it was difficult to recruit qualified employees 12 months prior and 32 percent felt it was even more challenging at that time.
In 2006, 55 percent of hiring managers reported it was difficult to recruit qualified staff 12 months prior with 34 percent stating it is even more challenging today. Fifty-two percent of hiring managers attributed the difficulty to an overall shortage of qualified workers, up from 47 percent last year. Employers are having the hardest time recruiting staff-level employees. Thirty-seven percent of hiring managers said they are struggling to find these candidates while 15 percent reported difficulty filling director, manager and team leader positions. In particular, there are shortages filling the following roles:
The concept of Succession Management has become an important part of many companies' strategic planning, but not all companies. Too many think of Succession Management as having application only in large conglomerates. When in reality, Succession Management should be a part of every company's strategic plan or vision of where your company is going in the future.
Succession Management is much more important than the time many companies devote to it would indicate. Virtually every key position and key person in an organization is a candidate for a succession plan. The important impact is that it is nearly impossible to successfully promote someone unless there is a trained person to take over the position being vacated. To effectively implement a succession plan, one needs to include/consider a number of elements, including:
There is no one answer or one Succession Management plan that works for all companies. There are different approaches which may be used, depending on your situation. In some cases, a company may have to move some people along quickly to expose them to a broad range of experiences, and possibly to fill vacancies. In others, a deeper involvement in selected departments or disciplines may be indicated.
This depends on your company's culture and processes in place as much as anything else. However, in some cases, your ability to educate and promote depends on the capabilities and strengths of the people who currently occupy your key positions and your plans for them for the future – where do you see them, what are you preparing or grooming them for?
It may not be vital to have a succession plan for every position in the company, but certainly there are some key areas of responsibility which must be considered. These of course vary by company and industry, but as a part of your Succession Management plan, an important strategic issue is the need for succession planning for certain, defined key positions. This should be revised once a year or as needed depending on your company's status.
When implementing your own Succession Management plan try to view it as a long-term organizational change. It requires more of a commitment to a longer-term, strategic view of how to meet talent needs than short-term efforts to fill vacancies as they occur.
On the next page are some time tested and true steps for developing your own Succession Management plan, and ultimately securing the future success of your company:
1 Occupational employment projections to 2008 (1999, p.75)
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Bring active planning for the future of your company and the careers of your employees together by developing a quality Succession Management plan. Use this article as a resource for your company to discover and take the best steps toward successful Succession Management.