Succession planning (Part 1)

Published: June 3, 2024

Effective succession planning involves more than just a replacement planning process. It also includes a comprehensive employee development system.

Forward thinking organisations often go through the process of identifying their HIPO (High Potential) employees; someone with the drive, ability and motivation to rise to a senior level within a company and succeed once they get there. But when this ey employee unexpectedly announces that they will be leaving the organisation effective immediately, it could be one of those surprises that create incredible turmoil.

Not only was this person identified as “high potential,” their departure can create a domino-like effect that leaves leadership gaps all along that succession line. Despite the inevitability of surprises, what matters most is how the business is prepared to respond in such occasions. The foundation for coping successfully with staffing surprises is succession planning. Organizational survival in a globally competitive environment depends in part on having identified and developed replacements (i.e., successors) for key positions. This is the essence of succession planning.

A more formal definition of succession planning is the process of identifying one or more successors for key positions and preparing them for expanded organisational responsibilities through job assignments and other developmental activities. The part of this definition regarding preparing individuals for expanded responsibilities overlaps with what is typically considered as leadership development—broadening the capacity of an individual to be effective in leadership roles and processes.

When an event such as a surprise resignation occurs, it is impossible to jumpstart a dormant succession system. This is because effective succession planning involves more than just a replacement planning process. It also includes a comprehensive employee development system.

When a sudden leadership void is experienced, it makes no sense to then start the development process. It is too late, because proper development can take months or even years. For this and other reasons, succession planning and leadership development initiatives must be linked in explicit and coherent ways to best manage the leadership talent of an organisation.

Now consider what happens in the event of a surprise resignation when there is an integrated succession management initiative in place. In such cases, the loss of any one individual is not so traumatic to the organization because of a greater overall capacity for leadership. There is the capability to fulfill the job responsibilities of the person who is leaving through existing employees, at least temporarily. There is not one person but any number who can step in and assume part or all of the open job responsibilities until a successor can be appointed either from the inside or as an external hire.

The implication of this deep leadership capacity is that no one is irreplaceable. Indeed, the greater the number of irreplaceable employees in an organization the more at risk that organization is to turnover trauma.