Current and Future Leadership

Succession Planning

Preparing a Future-Ready Team

When you look at your team, are you confident you have the right people in the right positions? Are those the right people for those positions in, say, five years? Maybe, but maybe not. Leadership complacency can result in lagging behind the competition and retention obstacles, not to mention a less engaged team.

Preparing a talent succession plan can help you plot a path to help mitigate some of the risks you’re encountering today or are likely to encounter soon. With employees leaving their jobs at an unprecedented rate, according to Andrea Hsu’s research in an NPR article, it’s likely time to reinvest in your people.

Why Should I Create a Talent Succession Plan?

You might be wondering why, if I’m a business leader and not in HR, do I need to have a talent succession plan? The truth is, HR business partners typically support multiple teams/departments. And for some mid-market companies, your HR department might be a team of one or two, more focused on benefits, onboarding and training. Even if you’re lucky enough to have an HR business partner dedicated to your department, you still need to be an integral part of the talent succession planning process.

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How We Can Help Build Your Succession Plan

Creating a succession plan for your team isn’t just about your current C-suite, or who will fill key roles when they move on in the next 6-12 months. You should be preparing a plan that looks ahead, well in advance, and one that considers your emerging leaders, too. Additionally, it’s important to acknowledge that all leaders aren’t necessarily people managers. You might have individuals who are assets to the team but don’t dream of managing a team—they should be factored into your plan, as well.

Our DeVryWorks consultants can help you map your succession plan and build learning pathways to support it, addressing upskilling and reskilling for your critical talent, so they can learn and evolve with your changing company and marketplace. Key considerations we use for succession planning include:

Set Your Objectives with Intention

Leadership depth, diversity, retention, new business growth, strategic alignment—there are many factors to consider, but having the right benchmarks can help you develop goals and measure effectiveness.

Pinpoint Key Position Holders or Subject Matter Experts

Which positions would be difficult to fill if a person left? Whose skill set is unique? Which job is highly specialized, and how can your business match those skills?

Curate Key Skills

What job skills and abilities are needed in the short-, medium- and long-term, and how will these key competencies be taught to either potential replacement candidates or to help elevate an individual for their next role?

Identify Potential Candidates

Are there high performers who, if developed, could advance their career at your company? Is there anyone on your current team who can step into a critical position if it became vacant? Create a list of skills and competencies to match both of these employee growth trajectories.

Develop Learning Pathways

Once you’ve identified your goals, positions, talent and skills gaps, you need to address how that selected talent can gain the skills they need. It’s likely a combination of on-the-job training as well as external educational opportunities. Engage your identified talent in this process and make them a part of decision-making, too—give them a say in how and where they progress.

Follow the Data

Now it’s time to test and learn. You’ve set objectives, benchmarks and goals. Are you making progress? Gathering feedback from participants and those they work with can help you gauge development as your review and evolve your plan.

Solve Your Biggest People Challenge

Succession planning is about creating a team culture that’s inspired, engaged and prepared for your future business growth. When you connect with our team, we can help guide you through the discovery phase and deliver learning pathways to help evolve your key people.