A Comprehensive Guide to Succession Planning & Best Practices

Keeping high-performing employees in the company, and encouraging them to level up in the workplace is one of the key roles of HR. This is known as succession planning, and requires detailed planning in order to ensure employees can smoothly transition through roles. Despite its importance, only 35% of companies have formal succession plans – so today, we’ll go through ways HR professionals can form their own succession plans for their employees.

Succession planning involves identifying key roles within a company, and planning the trajectory for high-value employees to transition to these roles. Succession planning is different from traditional talent management as it involves analysis of the current positions, structures and dynamics of key employees who are already with the company. Talent management often involves only sourcing new candidates to join a team. 

Although statistics show that most companies do not have a formal succession planning process, succession planning is important for a variety of reasons, such as: 

Preventing Leadership Voids and Disruptions

Succession planning means that HR is required to assess the current company’s leadership structure. By identifying the key roles in a company, HR can plan around the current leadership capacity, address deficits and form plans to accommodate for changes.

Fostering Employee Growth and Development

Succession planning also involves forming processes to allow for employees to transition between roles within a company. By setting up a formal guideline and process for these transitions, employees can develop themselves towards their career goals.

Increasing Loyalty

Employees could be more likely to stay loyal to their company if there is a clear trajectory for their career growth. Careful succession planning can allow for employees to feel motivated to continue their career with your company.

Flexible Talent Pool

By having clear succession planning for the key roles in the company, you can easily adapt to staffing changes, as your talent pool is able to easily transition between roles.

Adapt to Changes

If your industry is prone to changes, having clear succession planning surrounding key roles can allow for quick changes to roles or responsibilities if necessary. This is especially important for companies who have a diverse range of talent in technology.

Now we know why it's so important, it's time to make our own succession planning processes. Let's go through the steps for succession planning:

1. Determine Critical Positions

Reflect on your company’s structure and key roles for each department – you can refer to company structure documents or go and ask teams directly. Determine what the most critical responsibilities are, and the skills needed to fulfill them.  

2. Evaluate Current Workforce

Analyze the current team and determine who is capable of fulfilling the critical positions. The current team includes all of your employees, not just ones in a senior or critical position.

3. Identify Potential

Assess who is qualified for the critical positions, or who has potential to fulfill them in the future. Also take note of employees who could become leaders in their roles, and see how they fit into the succession planning processes.

4. Create Individualized Plans

Create succession plans for the employees you deem suitable for transition to these critical roles now or in the future. You can also do generic succession planning for your company, without any personalization. 

5. Outline Career Paths

Make a reasonable career path for these critical positions or high potential employees. Reflect on the achievements, skills, goals and experiences which would need to be met before transitioning through each step of the career path.

6. Provide Targeted Training

Succession planning is not just about the career paths of high potential employees, but also helping them along the way as well. Think of what programs, skills or courses employees could take, and invite them to do so. Keep them in the loop of the company’s succession planning process, and how they fit in it.

Succession planning needs to be done in a sustainable way, so that it aligns with the company’s long and short term goals. Here are some extra things to keep in mind when succession planning: 

Incorporating Diversity and Inclusion

Make sure that your succession planning efforts are also able to accommodate for, and include every employee. Keep your company’s DEI principles at the forefront of your succession planning – if you need some tips, we have a whole guide on diversity, equity and inclusion, right here.

Maintain Transparency

Succession planning processes, and any changes to an employees career trajectory should be shared openly. Maintain transparency by having conversations about succession planning processes and sharing documentation with the appropriate employees. Keep in mind some employees might not want to progress in their career the way you have outlined in your succession planning processes. 

Provide Ongoing Guidance

Succession planning is there to help employees succeed in their careers in a way that aligns with the company. Providing continuous support for career development can assist employees in growing their career; we cover that topic in detail here.

Encourage Internal Talent Mobility

Use succession planning as a way to utilize your current group of employees, and provide them with opportunities to grow. Internal hires are deemed more competent and successful than external hires, so find ways to encourage internal talent to transition through the company.

Adaptable Planning

Being adaptable in your succession planning processes can make sure you have plans for when changes occur. Add flexibility in your succession planning by identifying backup candidates and alternative strategies for key roles, especially for leadership positions. 

Succession planning allows for companies to maintain processes surrounding employees in key roles. Aside from giving HR a formal process for transitioning employees through roles, succession planning allows employees to develop their own career trajectory in line with company goals. A structured plan which can adapt to changes if necessary will allow you to utilize your current employee talent, and maintain a fulfilled workforce. To learn more about the best practices we mentioned, consider browsing Cake’s articles for free!

— Originally Written by Bronte McNamara —