Does your business have a succession plan in place? If not, it’s time to start planning. Succession planning is when a business puts procedures in place to develop the skills of key staff members to eventually fill roles within the business.
Successful succession planning ensures that experienced employees are ready to fill key roles when they become available. As your business grows and you lose/promote key employees, qualified staff members are ready and waiting to take their place.
Should you have a succession plan in place?
Yes! No matter the size of your business you should have a succession plan in place. Whilst the succession plan for a small business may be less intensive than for a larger corporation there is always opportunities to cross-train staff.
Cross-training staff safeguards your business from potential disaster. Having an employee ready and trained if a key staff member leaves ensures core responsibilities aren’t missed. This allows for your business to keep running effectively if an employee leaves.
How can you put a succession plan in place?
You may be surprised to learn that few organizations have an effective succession plan in place. Many companies have an informal plan in place. With verbal discussion to promote one employee should another leave.
The advantage of having a formal agreement in place is your business is committed to developing staff members. Employees are then readily available to take over at a moments notice.
Preparing your employee’s for their next role may require transferring them to different departments and jobs. This allows the employee the chance to observe how different departments run and how to perform various tasks.
From a management point of view, this makes senior staff aware of the superior employees in each department.
How will succession planning benefit your employees?
Succession planning benefits both the business and the employees.
Employees know exactly what awaits them. This gives them motivation and boosts their self-esteem within their current role.
Succession planning shows employees that you value them and you have a plan for their future.
Knowing they have another role to move into reinforces the employee’s desire for career development.
If the employee has the chance to work with the staff member they are succeeding, this gives them the experience they need to effortlessly progress into their new role.
Succession planning emphasises to your employees that your business provides career development and ‘room to move’
How will succession planning benefit your business?
Losing a key staff member can have a huge impact on your business. If you have a trained employee ready to take over the role the impact will be minimal.
Having prepared employees ready to step into roles allows your business to grow seamlessly.
Promoting employees and growing your business will not be hindered by a lack of replacements.
Having a succession plan ensures management knows who the key employees are. This gives managers a larger pool of experienced candidates to choose from should a role become available.
A large portion of the workforce is due to retire taking 40+ years of experience with them. Capitalize on this bank of knowledge before it walks out the door.
Proactive succession planning ensures your business is adequately prepared for the future.
How can you start succession planning?
If you want your succession plan to be successful there are two core elements that need to be considered. The first is genuine commitment. Your business needs to be committed to identifying key employees and making managers accountable for finding their successors.
To begin upskilling employees for your succession plan you can start to move employees laterally, assigning them to special projects, leadership roles and investigate internal and external training opportunities.
The second key element is putting in place an effective upskilling program. This needs to be the duty of each manager.
Succession plans are crucial to the long-term success of your business. They benefit not only your employees but also your business. To have an effective succession plan it’s important to identify the business’s long-term goals. You need to understand the development needs of your business and your employees.
If you’re looking for superior employees you can incorporate into your succession plan, why not post a job ad with us? To see a list of clients we have found key staff for click here.
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