I am in the process of updating the Talent Reviews and Succession Planning processes and want to center more on the succession piece. What's your approach, and are there any materials you want to share for inspiration?

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CHROa year ago

It helps to break the succession planning process down into some "sub-processes" that are important to solve the real challenge: having successors actually succeed.

To evolve past the point of having a powerpoint deck with positions and names provided by the current incumbent, all of these sub-processes need to work well together.

1. The differentiation process: Separate the positions into "build" and "buy" options. Prioritise  succession for the "build" positions where institutional knowledge (of processes, people, customers, products etc.) adds significant value.

2. The nomination process: Who nominates successors; how effective is the process at identifying possible successors? Does your succession pool include high potentials AND high professionals?

3. The assessment process: How accurately can you determine the "time to readiness" of a successor? Do you have the accurate and accessible data to make an evaluation?

4. The development process: How effective are your successor development plans? Can you accelerate development when needed?

5. The retention process: How likely are you to be able to retain the successor until they are needed?

6. The transition process: How effectively is the successor transitioned into the new role?

This is quite a useful resource to create a roadmap for building a sustainable successor ecosystem. https://bit.ly/3TUzBWo

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Director of People Operations, People + Culture Strategist2 years ago

Here's the general framework I use:

1. Identify key roles (current/future)
2. Identify capabilities needed for key positions/areas of focus
3. Identify employees/profiles - through nominations and expressed interest - and assess them against capabilities/skills needed
4. Develop succession plans (knowledge transfer/L+D strategies)
5. Evaluate/monitor effectiveness through key metrics

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no title2 years ago

Many thanks!

Director of HR in Manufacturing2 years ago

1. Identify critical roles 2. Request succession nominations 3. Assess nominations against the critical role profiles (define assessment process) 3. Report out on succession health with key metrics like role risk of attriction, succession nomination readiness, skill gaps, diversity 4. Outline key focus areas at business level 5. Moveot targeted development for successor nominations  

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no title2 years ago

Great response, thanks!

Director of Talent Management2 years ago

What is your current process and what materials do you utilize now? Knowing that would better help shape my answer for you. 

Not knowing what you are doing currently. I would suggest that you look to identify critical roles in the organization if you don't do so already. Once those are identified looking to see how healthy your bench is for those roles and identifying successors for places you see gaps. 

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no title2 years ago

Thanks for your time; we are in the process of remodeling the existing phase and will take these insights to shape where we are going. Will reach out when we start that to share more.<br>Appreciate you all!

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