PURPOSE AND BACKGROUND
A strong succession plan will allow the organization to keep track of upwardly mobile, high potential employees, optimize performance across the board, build effective and efficient teams in real-time, address team strengths and weaknesses, and increase competitive advantage and plan for long-term organizational health.

Most succession plans assume that the bulk of position openings created by senior management vacancies or changes in organizational responsibilities will be filled from within the company. Thus, successful plans address the need to nurture existing personnel so that these resources can be readied in a short period of time to competently assume new responsibilities. However, organizations should also consider external sources during the development of a succession plan. Creating a strategy for identifying external candidates prepares the organization for situations when internal candidates are not qualified to move into an executive position.

ELEMENTS OF AN EFFECTIVE SUCCESSION PLAN STRATEGY
I. Career Profiling Tools

Career profiling tools capture the skills and experiences of the current workforce, and create a matrix of capabilities which allow managers to search individual skill profiles to fill critical workforce openings. The idea is to provide managers with an internal database that will allow them to search internally for the right successor for a key position or to assemble a team or work group on the basis of critical strengths and past experience.

II. Individual Assessment Results and Identified Skill Development Needs

For most professional employees, the position description and individual performance assessments are used to develop an individualized career development plan that is incorporated into the periodic employee performance review process. However, for individuals covered in succession plans, senior managers should be expected to provide additional mentoring to address skill and experience deficiencies. Thus, the succession plan's success will rest on the ability of the management team to actively "develop" candidates for the next level.

An internal database should be built which will store and track the following types of information on all current employees. A key component of the succession plan database is to “inventory” current skills as well as required skill development areas for all high-potential employees.

1. Individual assessment results and skills development needs
2. Current position title and position description
3. Performance history/results
4. Career interests
5. Education
6. Licenses
7. Certifications
8. Awards
9. Previous roles or experiences within the company and external to the company
10. Additional training, skills, or positions required as part of the succession/growth opportunity.

III. Talent Management

Talent management as a part of succession planning allows organizations to closely manage the current workforce to quickly identify high-potential employees and possible management and leadership position successors and their skills. A talent management process involves tracking individual’s career growth, skill development and identifying succession opportunities for high potential employees. The benefits of closely tracking and managing talent across the organization for all positions increases retention rates by presenting high potential employees with increased responsibility and the opportunity of career growth/upward mobility. A common technique used to manage talent involves the establishment of a “talent management committee” comprised of key executives and human resources professionals.

Talent management planning should include:

Position description and responsibilities: This component of the succession plan should go beyond the typical HR job description to address current and future responsibilities in light of anticipated business and technology changes. Required skills should be ranked in importance, and specific problem-solving attributes and personality traits should also be addressed. Scope of authority, the relationships with other organizational units and key position "success factors" should round out the position description.

This first step should be completed independent of any considerations of internal candidates. If hiring an individual from outside the organization conflicts with enterprise cultural norms, the succession plan should stipulate this.

Organization-wide development plans: Skills development plans are required to ensure that potential candidates acquire the necessary skill sets to make the succession plan a reality. Although these plans are specifically tailored to the individual, groups of skills may be found to be lacking across the population of successor candidates. Such recognition of organization-wide skills shortfalls should impact broader education and training programs.

Because succession plans may cover skills development over a multiyear time frame, skill acquisition should be prioritized to ensure that the most important skill sets are acquired at the earliest possible opportunity. In this way, should an unforeseen organizational change occur, the succession plan has addressed the most critical organization needs by targeting the "prioritized" employee skills for development.

Leadership development: Talent management and succession planning goes beyond establishing a skills database by considering attributes such as personality, temperament, decision making, judgment, and presence and "softer skills" that do not appear on a resume. Leadership skills are usually more important than technical skills in senior-level positions. As such it is critical that an organization’s succession plan takes into account the leadership skills and qualities that are necessary at the senior management level. Leadership skills are also culturally dependent, which means that leadership attributes that are valued in one environment may not be effective in another. Therefore, effective succession planning usually places a heavy influence on the requirements of the position in the context of the environment. Some organizations develop programs which consist of courses, seminars, mentoring, and coaching that is geared towards developing and enhancing leadership skills.

Other elements of the talent management process include:

• identifying the business and people priorities and aligning them with the overall strategic objectives of the organization
• mapping employees on a graphical grid in order to see varying degrees of current performance and future potential
• creating a sound picture of the current organizational structure, as well as a vision and plan for the future organizational structure
• identifying future open positions based on the future organizational structure
• generating talent management plans and succession option plans based on employee competency assessments as well as career profiles.

IV. Candidate search

Candidate searches allow organizations to identify top candidates for open positions, internally and externally.

Parts of a sound candidate search system should include:

• the ability to search for top candidates for open positions/succession opportunities based on career profiling and requirements of the position
• the ability to define search criteria
• management and tracking of candidates throughout the recruiting process.

OUTCOME OF AN EFFECTIVE SUCCESSION PLAN
The result of effective succession plans can be powerful and include, detailed management of employee skills and development to help the organization to optimize employee performance, boost morale, and ensure a more in-depth understanding of the hierarchy of the organization

Effective succession planning will also show the individual employee just where the future potential is within the company in terms of career growth and promotion potential. A comprehensive succession plan monitors individual performance and development initiatives, at all levels, and ensures that key recruits do not slip through the cracks.

Although succession planning may seem like a stand-alone activity, there should be linkages to existing human resource policies, integration with IT sourcing strategies, connections to business development plans that address new product development and merger and acquisition activities, and a careful review of succession plan details in light of existing corporate cultural norms. Succession plans contain highly sensitive information that can be easily misinterpreted.

For example, the existence of a succession plan is no guarantee of upward mobility for those individuals identified as potential candidates for promotion, and it is essential that those maintaining the plan recognize this fact. The details of a succession plan are sensitive and need to be properly safeguarded to ensure that employee confidentiality and morale are not compromised. Corporate HR needs to play a role in developing the succession planning process to ensure consistency in function and administration across all organizational units. For example, what will be the policy on the internal posting of openings for management vacancies where a succession plan candidate has been identified? This is just one of many policy and process issues that must be addressed. Without a consistent succession plan process, plans designed to avert the confusion and stress of senior manager changes may actually add to the stress level.

POINTS TO CONSIDER
As an organization moves towards the development of a succession plan, several factors will need to be considered. When these areas are addressed clearly, leadership will be able to create and implement a comprehensive succession plan that will assist in maintaining the viability of the organization.

1. Define scope of succession plan
1. Does the organization want to focus solely on high-potential candidates?
2. Will the succession plan encompass external candidates?
3. Identify and create processes that support organization’s objectiv
   
2. Sensitivities
1. Will the process of identifying and developing the internal candidates be transparent to the rest of the organization?
2. Consider how others may react and plan accordingly.
   
3. Type of Succession Program
1. Traditional – individuals are considered successors for specific position.
2. Pool – candidates are “pooled” and as openings occur, one individual is selected for the position based on qualifications and “best fit”.
   
4. Form of Development Programs
1. Career-pathing, including profile assessments, specific criteria on courses to be completed, necessary certifications, mentoring, etc.
2. Skills development program elements
3. Leadership development program details