{"id":5702,"date":"2018-06-11T10:53:23","date_gmt":"2018-06-11T14:53:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gtm.com\/business\/?p=5702"},"modified":"2024-08-30T11:12:28","modified_gmt":"2024-08-30T15:12:28","slug":"successful-succession-planning","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gtm.com\/business\/successful-succession-planning\/","title":{"rendered":"5 Easy Steps to Successful Succession Planning"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-5703\" src=\"https:\/\/gtm.com\/business\/wp-content\/uploads\/board-755789_1280.jpg\" alt=\"successful succession planning\" width=\"1280\" height=\"842\" srcset=\"https:\/\/gtm.com\/business\/wp-content\/uploads\/board-755789_1280.jpg 1280w, https:\/\/gtm.com\/business\/wp-content\/uploads\/board-755789_1280-300x197.jpg 300w, https:\/\/gtm.com\/business\/wp-content\/uploads\/board-755789_1280-1024x674.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/gtm.com\/business\/wp-content\/uploads\/board-755789_1280-1080x710.jpg 1080w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1280px) 100vw, 1280px\" \/>While succession planning sounds like an overwhelming task, it\u2019s simply a method of considering who your organization\u2019s potential leaders may be in the years to come and placing them on a path to be successful in those roles. Future leaders will most likely come through a combination of promotion from within and recruiting sources from outside the organization \u2014 succession planning focuses on that first source of talent, your current employee base. Let&#8217;s\u00a0break down the simple steps to successful succession planning to help you formalize a program within your organization.<\/p>\n<h1>Succession Planning Steps<\/h1>\n<p><\/p>\n<h2>Step 1: Consider the organization\u2019s future need for leaders.<\/h2>\n<p>Here are some valuable questions to ask:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Is the organization expected to add more employees?<\/li>\n<li>Where are the organization\u2019s current and anticipated gaps in leadership and expertise?<\/li>\n<li>What type of leaders are needed to support the organization\u2019s culture?<\/li>\n<li>What type of leaders are needed to support the organization\u2019s strategic plan?<\/li>\n<li>Will the organization be moving into areas where different expertise is needed?<\/li>\n<li>Is the need for these future leaders anticipated in the long-term or short-term?<\/li>\n<li>Which individuals are expected to leave soon through retirement, resignation, project completion, etc.?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Step 2: Identify the competencies and experience necessary for success in future leadership roles.<\/h2>\n<p>To identify who your potential future leaders may be, it\u2019s important to first identify the knowledge base, educational background, experience level, professional traits, specific skillsets, and natural abilities that are required to succeed in those leadership roles. Many organizations skip this step, but this is perhaps the most important in order to avoid promoting people into roles where they are unlikely to succeed.<\/p>\n<h2>Step 3: Evaluate your current talent pool.<\/h2>\n<p>This exercise is intended to identify those employees who may have a high potential for leadership. Some employees are well-suited for management positions and others are well-suited for expertise leadership positions that do not involve managing others.<\/p>\n<p>When assessing your employees, consider both their performance and their potential. Performance should be evaluated based on the employee\u2019s most recent performance review. Potential is based on management\u2019s assessment of the employee\u2019s ability to assume a leadership position in the short or mid-term, generally within the next two years. With these criteria in mind, identify the employees who have mastered their current role and have the qualifications to assume leadership positions or could develop those qualifications with training. You might also take note of employees who aren\u2019t performing well, but who seem to have a high potential for leadership. It\u2019s possible they\u2019re in roles that do not leverage their skills and strengths, and they may do better in a more challenging position.<\/p>\n<h2>Step 4: Develop pathways for the employees you\u2019ve identified to move into those leadership roles.<\/h2>\n<p>Begin by asking the employee about their professional goals and making sure they are interested in moving into a different, more challenging role.<\/p>\n<p>Once you know they are interested, lay out plans for how that individual employee can move into a higher-level position. Pathways may include many elements, including:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Additional Education<\/li>\n<li>Internal and External Training<\/li>\n<li>Achievement of Certifications<\/li>\n<li>Mentoring<\/li>\n<li>Coaching Sessions<\/li>\n<li>Leadership Simulation Experiences<\/li>\n<li>Smaller-scale Leadership Roles or Projects<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Step 5: Design a plan to evaluate the employee\u2019s progress along the pathway.<\/h2>\n<p>Periodic review of where the employee currently stands, remaining skill gaps, and the organization\u2019s evolving leadership and expertise needs should be taken into account in these periodic reviews.<\/p>\n<h1>Conclusion<strong><br \/>\n<\/strong><\/h1>\n<p>Succession planning only works if you retain employees with potential for future leadership, so your succession planning should be paired with a sound retention strategy. Take proactive steps to create a workplace where people enjoy their jobs, and if turnover is higher than you\u2019d like, find out why employees leave and why they stay. Exit interviews are helpful when employees depart, and \u201cstay interviews\u201d can help you gauge the morale, engagement, and satisfaction of your current workforce.<\/p>\n<p>Although succession planning does require time and energy, identifying and developing internal employees to assume future leadership positions will ultimately save you money. Replacing higher level employees with outsiders is significantly more expensive than replacing lower paid or entry-level workers \u2014 it takes more time to bring outsiders up to speed and impart the organizational knowledge necessary to be a successful leader. Cultivating the employees you already have will not only save you money, it will improve morale and create loyalty. If employees know you\u2019re willing to invest in them and their career path, they\u2019re much more likely to give your organization their best.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Successful succession planning means filling leadership positions with internal candidates to save time and money since you don&#8217;t need to introduce them to the company culture on top of their new role.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[266],"tags":[16,80,151],"post_folder":[],"class_list":["post-5702","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-consulting-services","tag-employees","tag-leadership","tag-succession-planning"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gtm.com\/business\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5702","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gtm.com\/business\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gtm.com\/business\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gtm.com\/business\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gtm.com\/business\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5702"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/gtm.com\/business\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5702\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5708,"href":"https:\/\/gtm.com\/business\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5702\/revisions\/5708"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gtm.com\/business\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5702"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gtm.com\/business\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5702"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gtm.com\/business\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5702"},{"taxonomy":"post_folder","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gtm.com\/business\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/post_folder?post=5702"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}