Succession (Part 4 of 4) - How to Introduce Succession Planning for your Organisation

Many recognise the importance of succession planning for their business, yet like end of life planning, it is something many don’t want to consider until their organisation is faced with no other option. Whether that be an upheaval to their team, a change in their strategic focus, or a need to revise their budgets.

We may seek change to make our working experience better, yet none of us like to face change.

Succession planning is more than planning the succession of an organisation’s leadership. It can be preparing for the domino effect of progress within your business.

Products and services are bought and embraced from your people who live, breathe, and drive your organisation’s mission forward. For others to buy in to what you offer, your team must believe in what you believe in too. Succession Planning ensures that your customers, your clients… your beneficiaries, will continue to benefit from your offering for the long-term.

Yet people come and go so there needs to be a core component to keeping your work alive.

Your Organisation’s Legacy is Your Organisation’s Values

Throughout every step of succession planning, values are key. What drives the organisation? How are the company’s core values represented in the strategic plan? How are these values embodied in each role in the organisation? How are your values lived by each member of your team?

Succession Planning isn’t just about ensuring roles are filled, but ensuring that the values are carried through from one generation to the next, in the organisation’s lifetime.

Defining the mark you want your organisation to make on the world, determines your organisation’s legacy in the future. So what is its legacy right now? Who benefits from your work? How is that legacy to be lived and developed for others to follow? Where do you want to get to? How? And With Whom?

Who ‘Owns’ Your Succession Plan?

Succession Planning must be driven by the CEO and leadership team. This is not just a HR-only project to carry out as a tick box exercise. Succession planning must form the framework for all strategic plans. The organisation cannot function without effective roles, and these roles cannot be carried out unless the right people are hired, developed, supported, and can nurture and mentor those that follow.

Oftentimes fear gets in the way to success planning being successful. Senior leaders worry that by introducing succession planning to the whole organisation it will create mistrust, frustration, and also create tension within teams with the anticipated competitiveness for more senior roles. Employees may worry they won’t be selected, and their value won’t be recognised. Some fear it is being introduced as an exit plan. Most people fear change.

Steps to Succession

Once you have reviewed your organisation’s mission, culture, values, and employee engagement, there are key steps to be considered in developing an implementing an effective succession plan:

1. Discuss with your organisation’s leadership about their thoughts on succession - everyone needs to be on board with this focus for it to be effective.
2. Review your people systems - how are your team supported in their current roles? What development opportunities are they given and why? How is their performance assessed? What conversations have been had to understand their career goals?
3. Identification of critical and core roles - which roles are detrimental to your organisation’s success?
4. Key personnel mapping - who are your organisation’s key people? Are they likely to stay and grow within the organisation or leave? How long before either move is likely to happen?
5. High potentials identified - who has the potential to take on more responsibilities and a more senior role?
6. Mentors - who has the institutional knowledge to help high-potentials learn and grow in their role?
7. Bench strength - what is needed and what still needs to be done to develop the individuals in their current roles and for their future?
8. Succession gaps identified - where do you need to recruit externally?
9. Timelines - how long will be given over the coming years and what are the expectations in time commitment from those identified as high-potential, as well as mentors?
10. Budget - how much are you willing to invest and how will this be managed?

Getting Started

1. Communicate

Senior leadership, must carry out on the ground discussions and planning with team leaders and their team, to map the proposed high potential employees as proposed successors for consideration who have a vision for the future.

2. Intention

Not everyone has intention to remain with the organisation long-term, so this is a good opportunity to have open conversations to understand individuals goals for themselves and their career. They may not intend to remain to lead the organisation in the future, but they may be a future ally, a future supplier or even advisor. Those that are good can remain of value even if they aren’t going to be in the role that you think suits them at this time.

3. Resources

Various models are used from Agile to 9 Box. There are many consultancies that offer templates to help you get started. HRIS and Talent Systems can be integrated to track performance, career plans, and succession.

4. Lead by Example

It is vital for all senior personnel to first identify their successors for immediate development, and the follow on successors in future years.

The focus of succession planning is driving tangible outcomes both for the organisation and the employees.

5. Impact Assessment

Contingency planning and business continuity are the main outcomes in succession planning. Yet the priority is to develop your team, develop their career path in line with your organisation's strategic plan, and nurture them to lead your mission for the long-term.

To establish a succession planning framework creates a domino effect. Utilising the expertise from long-time employees creates opportunities for mentoring, to teach, nurture, and grow more junior, less experienced employees, to become leaders of the future. By moving your team up through the ranks creates greater opportunities at a junior level, to bring new blood in at entry level and mentor them to support these new leaders, and in turn become leaders to succeed them.

Not all staff will move ‘up’ within the organisation. A wide array of skills and offering are required for an organisation and its teams to succeed. Identification of critical and core roles will also bring to the fore the value of each role within the organisation and the natural progression for people within these roles.

Throughout many industries, staff turnover over recent years has increased, losing key staff within a 3-5 year period. Given the increased offering from competitors and lifestyle considerations, it is vital that this programme is shaped through inclusion, engagement, and a shared agreement on career progression for all staff and recognition of future plans for the organisation.

So What Next?

Succession planning can be carried out internally, but often senior leadership and HR teams don't have the time, space, or bandwidth to undertake this. Succession effects everyone on the organisation, so it is not just a leadership project to be carried out when all other aspects of your work is working out.

If you are an organisation that has a strong HR team to drive this forward, then understand their workload and ability to take this on.

External consultants bring an objective lens for a helicopter view - to map, feedback, and support succession planning - and progress your leadership team to execute the planning and implement the development programme needed for succession to succeed.

No matter who leads your organisation’s succession plan, it must be embraced by everyone in your leadership team - from your Board, your senior managers, and your heads of department.

Everyone in your organisation matters, so their future is also yours.

Succession Planning is a life-long process for your business. It never ends and is an important focus of your organisation’s culture, performance development and strategic planning.

Now is the time to get it right.

How Living Legacy Will Help You and Your Organisation

Working with us at Living Legacy brings more than a standard succession plan for organisations. We help you consider all aspects to get you ready for succession planning - culture and employee engagement, values, and legacy building - to ensure you can effectively design, prepare and create your succession plan. We support you to implement your plan and keep you accountable.

We work with all staff to research the organisation, the roles, and people, and their suitability and motivation to drive the organisation’s mission for its long-term continuity and success.

Our mission at Living Legacy is to help you prepare for the ‘what ifs’ and ‘when’ - this will allow you make space to focus on strengthening your mission and building your legacy yet to achieve.

We support you through business consulting, succession planning and executive coaching. Helping you manage the succession planning process we bring objectiveness and guide cohesion in initiating and successfully implementing this process.

At Living Legacy, we also offer webinars, masterclasses, and online programmes to help you create your own succession strategy. Sign up to our mailing list at https://lnkd.in/eUqEcmfx

To book a discovery call to discuss how we can tailor our offering to your needs reach out to us at https://lnkd.in/ghz2BnSv

To find out more, contact us at [email protected]

We look forward to helping you navigate the journey to build your legacy and create your path to succeed.

Jennifer McConnell
Founder
Living Legacy