According to William J. Rothwell, perhaps the world expert on succession planning, “There is a quiet crisis sweeping the world... centering around ensuring effective succession in organizations of all types, sizes, and industry categories.”

Fifty percent of Canadian nonprofit executive directors will reach retirement age by 2020. That’s as many as 80,500 transitions.

The challenge lies in finding and grooming the people who can effectively replace them. That may not be so easy. An aging population has reduced the candidate pool. Rapidly changing technology makes it hard to predict what it will take to manage organizations in the future. Changing attitudes toward work are making employee retention increasingly difficult. All of these factors will make effective succession planning and management crucial to the long-term success of today’s organizations.

What Is Succession Planning?

Succession planning is any effort designed to ensure the continued effective performance of an organization, division, department or work group by making provision for the development, replacement, and strategic application of key people over time.

A succession planning and management program is a deliberate and systematic effort by an organization to ensure leadership continuity in key positions, retain and develop intellectual and knowledge capital for the future, and encourage individual advancement.

The Foundation

The foundation of any succession planning effort is defining what you are looking for. This takes two forms:

• Job descriptions — that define who does what, and
• Skill descriptions — that define how you want people to do it.

Skill descriptions define the difference between effective performers and exemplary performers. In doing so they go well beyond the “hard” skills required for a job — what people know and can do — and include the qualities and values that often define the difference between competence and excellence.

Skill descriptions enable full integration of HR functions — such as recruitment, selection, compensation, performance evaluation, career pathing, and training needs — into the succession planning process. Moreover, they help you plan for the future by identifying the developmental needs of the organization’s next generation of managers and leaders.

Finally, they allow you to build a strong organizational culture by focusing not only on the skills your people will need, but the kind of people your organization needs to attract to be successful.

Types Of Succession Planning Programs

Succession planning programs can vary in size from those that focus only on the top positions to those that encompass the entire organization. Usually the implementation plan for any program begins with a Level 1 project and progresses sequentially throughout the organization.

• Level 1 — replacement planning for the ED and his or her direct reports.
• Level 2 — replacement planning for the ED, his or her direct reports and their direct reports through to middle management.
• Level 3 — creating a talent pool that is not linked to position. This program is focused internally and intended to create many potential successors for key positions at all levels of the organization.
• Level 4 — creating a talent pool that is not linked to position. The focus of the program is expanded beyond the organization to include external groups such as suppliers, distributors, competitors, and other talented individuals who may be tapped on short notice.

How To Proceed

The diagram below depicts the seven key steps in the process of systematic succession planning and management — regardless of the scope of your project.

One word in the process is worth noting — commitment. Reaping the benefits of succession planning requires a systematic approach — it should not be viewed as a one-shot deal but rather as an ongoing effort to be integrated into all of your performance management practices. The job is not simply to draw up a plan, but to manage your people, your performance management systems and your training & development investment in a way that ensures you always have people qualified to meet your future needs. Succession planning is about the long term and it takes commitment to see it through.

Who Can You Turn To

There is an enormous body of knowledge and successful methodology you can draw upon. An experienced organization development consultant from Make Things Happen can help you identify your succession planning needs and develop a strategy that suits your organization.