What Is a Succession Plan in Staffing?
Companies are constantly forecasting and developing strategic plans for the future. They watch the horizon for changes in political, economic, social and technological areas. However, many don't stop to think about the coming changes inside the organization. Employees and managers come and go, and, without a proper succession plan in place, problems are bound to occur.
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Function
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Succession planning is a vital function for almost every company. The plan details the organizational structure and how each person fits. It also shows each person where he is slated to move in the event of a change and provides the steps necessary to develop the employee for the new position. In the event of an organizational change, each employee should be able to know immediately what the outcome will be in regards to succession.
Misconceptions
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Often succession planning is mentioned interchangeably with replacement planning. This should not be the case. Replacement planning is a much simpler process, detailing only the organizational structure and which employee replaces another. While the replacement plan can be useful, it lacks the depth and breadth of a solid succession plan. Another issue is that succession planning involves mapping employees across the entire organization, but replacement planning focuses more on a traditional hierarchy.
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Considerations
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In recent years, one of the major foreseeable problems is the "brain drain" associated with Baby Boomers leaving the workplace. Years of knowledge and experience, sometimes invaluable to the organization, will be lost in one fell swoop. Succession planning can lessen the effects of this problem by identifying high-value employees with an approaching retirement date and developing another employee to take his place. Mentorship and leadership development programs are two ways to make this pairing action more formal.
Setup
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Creating a succession plan is a difficult process, but it is worth the effort in the end. The plan is based upon the organization's long-term strategy. Once the vision has been identified, potential pitfalls must be identified and bridged. Every employee must have a role and a stake in the process or disengagement may occur. Once the plan is in place and employees are being developed to fill future roles, minor adjustments will be necessary, but it is easier to make a minor adjustment afterward than face a catastrophe with no plan in place.
Expert Insight
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Keeping the process as simple as possible will eliminate potential problems down the road. As the development process unfolds, more data can be measured, but getting the program in place is the first and most important step. Marshall Goldsmith of Harvard Business Publishing believes that many companies unnecessarily complicate the process by adding extra criteria. Keeping the process simple enough for a line manager to understand should be a goal of the succession plan developers.
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