Is it time to get a grip on your succession plan?

Succession planning is tough; we all know that. Creating a concrete plan for an inherently unpredictable situation is a slippery business.
What’s more, it’s easy to neglect the process while the economy is in a recession. Your retention rates of existing employees are most likely up, and new candidates are beating down the door just to be considered.
Despite this embarrassment of riches on the resource side, succession planning is a critical process that must not be overlooked. Here’s why:

• It’s crucial to the fate of the company in moments of change.
• In a recession, it’s more important than ever to make your investments in human capital pay off.
• The workforce is aging, and disproportionate numbers will be retiring in the coming years of your career.

• • Employees are more loyal and motivated when they know there is a culture of succession.
  • The very exercise of planning can reveal important truths about your organization.

  The loss of a key leader puts your business at risk in a number of ways, and the days after a major change can make or break a company. When it happens — and it will — will your organization be confused, gossiping, and rudderless? Or will you have a smart, adaptable plan in place to keep confidence high as you guide the organization through change?
  Here are what top HR execs advise to make your succession planning more relevant and realistic:
  Last week, Dan at Great Leadership by Dan blogged about an article by Marshall Goldsmith in the most recent Harvard Business Online, “Four Tips for Efficient Succession Planning.” All four areas covered are strong, but our favorite pointers involve the realism (or lack of it) in succession planning. One example:
  The head of engineering is a high performing leader who has the potential to be COO. She has always been in an engineering role. If she had sales experience, she would be even more ready to be the COO so her development plan is written to include a job move to be head of sales. However, this company would never take the risk of putting someone without sales experience in the top sales job — so her development plan perpetually says, ‘move to a sales job’ even though that will never happen.
  Goldsmith really zeroes in on the gap between “the best-laid plans” and cold, hard reality — and you should, too.

  • In February, Dennis Carey, a recruiter specializing in CEO- and Director-level candidates, launched CEOSuccession.com. His key practices are not to be missed. Some of the best tips are getting the board of directors active and involved, and regularly exposing up-and-coming managers to the board. He also recommends getting top candidates exposed to the outside media and the financial community to see how they will handle the challenge. Finally, Carey recommends tying some of a CEO’s compensation to successful succession planning, so they are quite literally invested in the plan.
  • In her post Leadership Pipeline vs. Succession Planning, HR blogger Meg Bear observes that the best companies are not just thinking about mere succession planning — they’re creating an entire “leadership pipeline” focused on identifying and investing in future leaders. Succession planning seems more relevant and less theoretical when under this paradigm. Meg’s been reading The Leadership Pipeline: How to Build the Leadership Powered Company and recommends it. She closes by asking,

  “Do you really believe you can hire your way to all the talent you will need to compete in the marketplace today? What about in ten years’ time? Can you afford to under-utilize your talent?”
  For most of us, the answer is no, no, and no, and then a slightly unsettled notion that we should be looking into our own leadership pipeline.
  What about you? Are you actively involved in a succession plan? What are your best tips to get top management invested? Do you have a success story of how your plan worked when you were faced with the loss of a key employee?
  Article by, Sarah and courtesy of RiseSmart.com – RiseSmart: Search Smarter. Rise Faster.

  Originally posted by Candice A