With a new year on the horizon, it’s natural to start thinking about potential resolutions for 2020. Unfortunately, more than three-quarters of those resolutions won’t make it past February. While there may not be much harm in not reading as much as you intended or failing to prepare to run a marathon, the stakes are much higher for organizations trying to rethink their succession strategies. Fortunately, by focusing on the right areas and putting in the foundational work, your organization can implement a succession planning strategy that lasts not just into the new year, but into the foreseeable future.

What is Succession Planning?

A succession plan is a strategy focused on identifying and developing employees who can potentially step into leadership roles in the future. When a position is suddenly vacated due to a resignation, retirement, or firing, business processes can be severely disrupted until the position is filled. Unfortunately, selecting a new candidate can be a long and drawn-out process if you have to start from scratch. The purpose of a succession plan is to already have a bench of potential candidates who possess the skills and expertise needed to succeed in the role.

Succession Planning Strategy Tips for the New Year
1. Be Proactive
Don’t wait to start developing and implementing a succession strategy. The best time to develop a plan for handling succession and talent gaps is when there’s no pressure to fill a position. By evaluating existing responsibilities and determining what competencies are needed to be successful in a given role, you can do a better job of assessing candidates for that position in the future. More importantly, being able to gather feedback from someone with experience in that role will help you to develop a more accurate understanding of what skills, qualities, and experiences have to most impact on success.

2. Be Transparent
Employees generally want to know that there is a plan in place to deal with sudden vacancies or changes in personnel. This not only makes it easier to manage these situations, but also provides them with an idea of their own career opportunities. Rolling out training programs to help people build their skills is only part of the development process. A transparent succession plan allows them to see what they might be able to do with those skills in the future. For employees working to put together a professional development plan (PDP), understanding how the organization plans to handle succession situations is critical. They need to know what their future career options are within a company and have a firm understanding of what they need to do to prepare for those roles.

Read more at:https://www.business2community.com/strategy/succession-planning-strategies-for-the-new-year-02272958