Succession planning is a process integral to every organization’s long-term success. That being said, we are aware of the fact that there are many different ways of practicing succession planning.
That is why we decided to put together this comprehensive succession planning guide, where we would not only answer some of the most heavily searched questions about succession planning such as:
- How to create a succession planning framework?
- What is the role of employee development in succession planning?
- How to pick succession candidates?
We will not only be providing you with the necessary definitions, core concepts, benefits, and best practices for creating succession plans but also give you give you a step-by-step guide.
This guide for creating succession framework will explain each and every step you need to go through in order to identify, develop, retain, and when the time comes, promote top talent but also show you which digital tools you can use in the process.
Table of Contents
What is Succession Planning?
Definition of Succession Planning and Purpose
Succession planning is a common strategic initiative that organizations implement to identify and develop future leaders from within their ranks.
It involves pinpointing key positions in the company that are critical for operational success and grooming potential successors who can step into these roles seamlessly when the time comes.
Succession planning as a process is designed to ensure that leadership transitions occur smoothly, minimizing any disruptions to how things work in your organization.
The purpose of succession planning extends beyond filling vacancies.
It also focuses on preparing employees to advance in their careers, aligning individual growth with the organization’s long-term objectives.
By developing talent internally, companies can foster loyalty, reduce hiring costs, and create a leadership pipeline that strengthens the organization from within.
Why Succession Planning Matters in Today’s Business Environment
The modern workplace is always rife with rapid changes, forcing organizations to adapt on the spot. Dealing with these changes is especially hard when they can potentially result in you losing a valuable employee.
Succession planning has become a crucial tool for companies looking to stay resilient and agile in the face of these uncertainties.
A well-executed succession plan allows businesses to:
- Maintain continuity during leadership changes
- Reduce dependency on external hires
- Minimize downtime when key roles are vacated
- Boost employee engagement by showing that the organization invests in the growth and development of its people
The ever-increasing demand for skilled leaders makes it more important than ever for companies to cultivate internal talent.
As opposed to being reactive to these changes, proactively preparing for future vacancies, organizations ensure they are not caught off guard by sudden departures or retirements, safeguarding their long-term stability.
What are the benefits of succession planning?
Effective succession planning has far-reaching impacts on employee retention, leadership continuity, and overall business resilience.
When employees see that the organization is committed to promoting from within, and that there are career paths available to them, they are less likely to look for opportunities elsewhere.
Ensuring that employees know there is room for internal mobility in your organization reduces turnover rates, ensuring that valuable talent stays within the company.
Leadership continuity is another key outcome when it comes to succession planning strategies.
With a solid succession plan in place, leadership transitions happen smoothly, avoiding gaps that could hinder decision-making or delay projects.
Organizations that prioritize succession planning can maintain their competitive edge, even in times of uncertainty.
Businesses that invest in succession planning are better equipped to weather unexpected challenges.
Whether it’s an economic downturn or a sudden leadership change, having a ready pool of skilled leaders allows the company to adapt quickly and emerge stronger.
That is why succession planning is not just about leadership! It’s about ensuring the organization’s resilience and long-term success.
The Succession Planning Process Explained Step-by-Step
Now that we’ve covered the meaning of succession planning as well as all the benefits and importance of succession planning, we can move on to how to practice succession planning.
In the following section we will be going over each step in the succession planning process, giving you a step-by-step succession planning guide that you can follow with ease!
Succession Planning Step 1: Identifying Key Roles Within Your Organization
When we are discussing the succession planning process, the first step has to be to identify which roles within your organization are critical for long-term success.
While key positions in organizations are often leadership roles, they can also include positions that require niche and specialized skills, as well as roles that require a lot of prior experience with the company
While determining key roles, it is highly recommended to look beyond job titles and focus on how each role significantly impacts your organization’s day-to-day operations and organizational strategy.
Key Leadership and Critical Roles to Focus On
When you are identifying positions that are integral to your organizational success, it is key to identify all current and future leadership positions. These leadership positions can include roles such as:
- C-suite executives
- Department heads
- Team leads
Roles that require deep organizational knowledge shouldn’t be disregarded here!
Losing employees in these roles can create gaps that disrupt workflows and affect overall business continuity. Ensuring you have successors ready for these positions minimizes these risks.
The question is: How will you identify these potential successors?
Succession Plan Step 2: Evaluating and Identifying Internal Talent
This is where we move on to the second step of creating a succession plan. This is where leaders need to conduct a thorough assessment of their internal talent pool.
These assessments can come in plenty of different shapes and forms. If you have a competency framework already built for each department, you can easily start conducting competency assessments within your team to see which employee’s strengths match the requirements of the role.
When evaluating potential successors, you need to consider a wide array of factors. Employee performance and potential are after all quite nuanced areas. In order to get a holistic perspective into your potential successors, a great tool you can employ is 360-degree feedback!
Using 360-Degree Feedback to Identify Top Talent for Succession Planning
360-degree feedback is a feedback process that includes input from all the parties interacting with an employee on a regular basis in order to get the complete picture.
This can include:
While conducting internal candidate interviews can be revealing to a certain extent, the best way to get the full picture of an employee’s performance is through 360-degree feedback.
360 feedback also helps leaders ensure a process free from performance review biases!
The 9-Box Talent Grid for Succession Planning
Another incredibly effective tool in identifying key talent is the 9-box talent grid! It is one of the most widely used succession planning tools in the world and for a very good reason.
The 9-box grid helps leaders visualize two of the most important metrics in succession planning in relation to each other: Potential & Performance.
While the 9-box grid can be customized to reflect other evaluation criteria, potential and performance are the most common and easy-to-evaluate areas.
We put together an entire list of customizable 9-box grid templates for succession planning! You can download them for free right here: Free 9-Box Grid Succession Planning Templates
Succession Plan Step 3: Developing Employee Training and Development Plans
To ensure that potential successors are fully prepared for leadership roles, organizations must invest in comprehensive employee development plans.
Employee development plans should focus on developing both hard skills, such as technical expertise, and soft skills like leadership, communication, and decision-making.
Tailored training opportunities and employee mentorship programs will help accelerate the growth of high-potential employees, making them ready to step into key roles when needed.
Creating & Monitoring Individual Development Plans
The employee individual development plans you create should be made up of SMART development goals.
These goals should be followed up on regularly through regular one-on-one meetings and competency reviews to ensure their effectiveness.
Whether you are developing plans for regular employees or for leadership succession planning, the development plans you create should be flexible, letting you make adjustments if necessary.
Below you will find a helpful tutorial you can use regardless of your succession planning model. Here is a video guide on how you can use AI effectively to analyze competencies and performance, in order to create employee development goals:
Succession Plan Step 4: Review & Evaluate the Succession Planning Framework
Once you have your succession plan, the work is not finished. Frequent analysis and evaluation of the succession planning framework’s efficacy are crucial to sustain its relevance with respect to the evolving goals of your organization.
This step involves assessing whether the chosen successors are still the best fit for the roles identified and determining if the skills and competencies targeted in the development plans are being cultivated effectively.
You need to conduct regular reviews that will monitor how well potential successors are progressing and make any necessary adjustments to their development plans as well as identify any new gaps that may have emerged.
During this stage, feedback from managers, HR teams, and even those who will take over is invaluable. A flexible succession planning strategy framework that can accommodate unforeseen eventualities such as alterations within organizational structure or strategic direction guarantees that your scheme remains relevant.
Helpful Succession Planning Tools
There are plenty of tools for succession planning that you can use in order to maximize the efficiency of your succession planning process. These tools include:
- The 9-Box Talent Grid
- Succession Planning Templates
- Individual Development Plans
The best thing you can do regarding these tools for succession planning is to find a solution that integrates all of them into your everyday operations.
For those using Microsoft Teams or Outlook on a regular basis, the best option here is Teamflect.
Teamflect is an all-in-one performance management app that just happens to be the highest-rated succession planning software in the Microsoft ecosystem.
Teamflect users can:
- Create branching career paths for employees
- Use AI to create data-driven development plans
- Conduct performance reviews
- Use the 9-box talent grid, customize it, and add multiple people inside it
- Practice 360-degree feedback
And so much more without having to leave Microsoft Teams or Outlook once! Best part is, you can try this succession planning tool for absolutely free!
