Succession Plan: Why you need one.

Succession planning is not an issue that many organizations, including ours, address in any systematic way. The reality is that organizations face many other organizational challenges, and thinking about who the next executive director may be or what would happen if the finance manager left suddenly is not high on the priority list.

That said, there are many reasons why organizations need to be thinking about succession planning. The most important reason, of course, is that we rely on staff to carry out our missions, provide services and meet our organization's goals. We need to think about what would happen to those services or our ability to fulfill our mission if a key staff member left.

According to the Chartered Institute of Personal and Development (London 2016), Succession planning is the process of identifying and developing potential future leaders or senior managers, as well as individuals to fill other business-critical positions, either in the short- or in the long-term

With careful planning and preparation, organizations can manage the changes that result from a generational transfer of leadership as well as the ongoing changes that occur regularly when key employees leave an organization.

Although the type and extent of planning will be different, organizations both large and small need to have some sort of succession plan. Effective succession planning supports organizational stability and sustainability by ensuring there is an established process to meet staffing requirements. Boards and executive directors can demonstrate leadership by having the strategies and processes in place to ensure that these transitions occur smoothly, with little disruption to the organization

A succession plan, simply put, is a component of good HR planning and management. Succession planning acknowledges that staff will not be with an organization indefinitely and it provides a plan and process for addressing the changes that will occur when they leave. Most succession planning focuses on the most senior manager - the executive director, however, all key positions should be included in the plan. Key positions can be defined as those positions that are crucial for the operations of your organization and, because of skill, seniority and/or experience, will be hard to replace.

Whenever size and resources permit, a succession plan should involve nurturing and developing employees from within an organization. Employees who are perceived to have the skills, knowledge, qualities, experience and the desire can be groomed to move up to fill specific, key positions.

The benefits of good succession planning include:

·         A structured way of ensuring the organization is prepared to support service continuity when the executive director, senior managers or key people leave

·         A continuing supply of qualified, motivated people where possible  (or a process to identify them), who are prepared to take over when current senior staff and other key employees leave the organization

·         An alignment between the organization's vision and the human resources that demonstrates an understanding of the need to have appropriate staffing to achieve strategic plans

·         A message to your employees that they are valuable

Although our organization has a written succession plan, I must admit that the execution of the same has not been given as much emphasis as is necessary to ensure service continuity when a key staff leaves. Next week I will be talking about my experience and why my transition period has been dedicated to coaching and mentoring.